“You gotta think about who you’re attracting” by Mark Addison Smith, one of the many artists displaying their works at the Nave Gallery Annex’s latest exhibition, “The Birds and the Bees.”

By Rebecca Danvers

As the cold winter months and the cruel storms that came with them thankfully fade into memory, the clever folks at Nave Gallery Annex will be celebrating the onset of spring by examining the buzzing of bees, the chirping of birds, vibrantly colored flowers, and just about everything else that nature’s bounty provides us in their new exhibit, The Birds and the Bees, running April 17–May 10.

The exhibit will help attendees to brush up on bee lore, botanical illustration, nest building techniques, avian husbandry, honey hunting and ornithological sleights of hand.

Featured artists include Erika Adams, Victoria Arons, Susan Arthur, Jim Baab, Resa Blatman, Neil Brigham, Christine Collins, Lizzy Dargie, Grant Figura, Barbara Fletcher, Blair Folts, Matt Forrest, Ania Gilmore, Mary Goldthwaite-Gagne, Cynthia James, Julie Lapping Rivera, Robert J. Long, Maz Mahjoobi, Ralph Mercer, Elise Joy Nyenhuis, Lynn Peterfreund, Rosamond Purcell,  Sarah Shallbetter, Mark Addison Smith, Miranda Vitello, Evan Voelbel, and Rebecca Volynsky.

The exhibit is curated by Annie Silverman, a printmaker, book artist and urban beekeeper. She is the proprietor of Abrazos Press, a teaching and professional print shop in Somerville, MA.  She has been a part-time teacher at Mass College of Art and Design in Boston for over 20 years.

Silverman has been working with imagery concerning birds and bees since 2007. Her print and wire installation Vanishing Pollinators, about bees and hummingbirds, has been exhibited at Brickbottom Artist Gallery in Somerville, The Boston Public Library, and at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA.

Silverman is also an avid urban gardener, and was Somerville Artist of the Month in September 2013. Her artist books and prints have been exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently in Naples, Italy, Utrecht, Holland, and Peterborough, NH.

An opening reception for the exhibition will take place on Friday, April 17; 6:00–8:00 p.m., and the show will run through May 10.

Some special events slated to take place in conjunction with the exhibit include a book talk and signing with Rosamond Purcell on Wednesday, April 29, 7:30–8:30 p.m., with free admission. On Friday, May 1, 6:00–9:00 p.m., a honey tasting session will take place hosted by Caneen Canning, Honey sommelier from Follow the Honey, admission for this event is also free.

Nave Gallery Annex is located at 53 Chester St, Somerville. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Friday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.; Saturday, 2:00-8:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 2:00–6:00 p.m. Extended hours during Somerville Open Studios are Friday, May 1, 6:00–9:00 p.m.; Saturday, May 2, 12:00–8:00 p.m.; and Sunday, May 3, 12:00–6:00 p.m.