This KC bee sculpture ‘took a beating’ from a vandal. The artist isn’t giving up
Over the course of three weeks and nearly 150 hours, Mike Elder carefully crafted his honeybee sculpture, welding on antennas and legs, sculpting the yellow and black-striped body from foam and precisely designing its intricate wings.
The sculpture, built as part of Kansas City’s annual Parade of Hearts, was made to be nearly indestructible — safe from children dangling from the bee’s antennas or climbing on the structure.
But Elder, a local artist, didn’t prepare for what appeared to be bullet holes and mass destruction of the piece of artwork on display near the intersection of E 8th Street and The Paseo.
Elder’s sculpture was sitting outside of Bee Hive KC over Memorial Day Weekend when a man who was visibly angry allegedly began vandalizing the honeybee, according to Elder.
He first heard about the situation when a friend visiting the sculpture last Saturday called to say a man was attempting to push it over. Initially, Elder didn’t think much of it, considering the structure weighs over 400 pounds.
But things eventually escalated, leaving the honeybee in pieces.
“Pretty much the entire bee is destroyed. Her head is destroyed, the rear body is destroyed, the wings are gone, the legs are broken. There is a bullet hole or two in the heart as well,” Elder told The Star. “She took a beating.”
“He had to have really worked in order to get it to come apart like he did.”
‘It hurts to see your stuff destroyed’
The Kansas City Police Department is continuing to investigate the situation and no arrests have been made, according to Captain Jake Becchina. The suspect allegedly damaged several other things along The Paseo, as well.
For Elder, the honeybee represented much more than just a pollinating creature — it stood for unity, working together and being part of a strong community, similar to how bees operate.
To see that message, along with his hard work, shattered on the ground, hurt, Elder said,
“It sucks. It hurts to see your stuff destroyed, obviously, but I mean, there’s not a whole hell-of-a lot we could do about it,” he said.
As the days since the vandalism have passed, however, Elder has transformed that pain and disappointment into joy and excitement. Instead of giving up, starting from scratch or throwing the remnants of the bee away, he decided to embrace its scars and rebuild as best as he could.
Now, Elder is working to restore the sculpture while leaving remnants of its harrowing journey visible — something he feels represents life even better.
“We’re all broken inside. God knows I’ve been broken so many freaking times in my life, it’s not even funny,” he said. “So it’s kind of like she’s taken on this new meaning.”
Fixing the honeybee sculpture
To fix the honeybee, Elder has to order more supplies worth hundreds of dollars and disassemble it in order to eventually put it back together.
While it’ll take a lot of time, effort and money to do so, Elder said it’s all worth it.
“It would take something pretty mighty to stop me now,” he said.
And in some ways, the destruction of the honeybee was worth it, too.
If it hadn’t been broken, the bee’s message wouldn’t have been seen by nearly as many people, Elder said. He wouldn’t have been able to discover the power of community through the outpouring of support he’s received in the days since the vandalism, either.
And he might not have been able to soon display the sculpture in a place so special to him: His hometown.
The sculpture was previously intended to be auctioned off this week as part of the Parade of Hearts celebration. Instead, once reconstruction is finished, Elder will be able to deliver it to the city of Lexington, just east of Kansas City, where he lives.
The sculpture is set to be back on display just in time for Lexington’s Minnie Mae Day on June 13, which celebrates Minnie Mae Talbott, who fought adversity to become the nation’s first woman elected sheriff in 1919.
In a “complete twist,” what was a hard situation turned into something of a blessing, Elder said.
“It sucks that she got damaged, and people are upset that she got damaged. I’m upset that she got damaged, but it’s hard to actually be mad at this point because it’s been such a good experience, oddly enough,” he said. “It literally couldn’t have worked out, honestly, better than it has.”
