OCR Text |
Show on the modern Utah scene. Its power, however, is much altered. Once the beehive was an evocative symbol of a fervendy-held faith, capable of eliciting sacrifice from believers and anger from their enemies. Now it is a neutral traditional motif and is used easily and widely, but at the cost of much of its emotional force. The older mystical symbols of Mormonism have been replaced by sego lifies, handcarts, seagulls, and the Mormon temple in silhouette. The very neutrality of the beehive has made available to us yet another incarnation of the motif. Contemporary folk art and craft combine the traditional with the new to bring about a personal and creative use of the beehive. The variety of artistic expression the beehive now permits is remarkable: the son of a Navajo medicine man used the beehive in a sand painting; a Tongan Mormon family imports native materials to Utah in order to create tapa cloth which uses the beehive motif; an instrument-maker creates a banjo embellished with the beehive in mother-of-pearl; painters and sculptors are inspired by the patterns which are part of the beehive shape. All are working not only with the beehive design but also with the ideas and history it symbolizes. The beehive endures as an adaptable and lively folk symbol in Utah. |