Uptown alley abuzz with activity as artists paint honeycomb mural

For years, local artist Joe Prescher has been trying to bring public art to Oxford. Now, he’s turning an alley into his canvas.

This summer, Prescher started work on the Oxford Hive Mural, a massive work of art spanning two walls that will turn the alley with Mac & Joe’s into a beehive. The Hive will cover the walls of U-Shop and the former Jimmy John’s with honeycomb and giant bees.

“The whole concept of this is community,” Prescher said. “We’re a college town. There’s no public art — nothing for the townspeople to look at, very little for the students of Miami to come out and feel about the local culture. So this is all kind of a push to try and do something interesting.”

The Hive is the largest single project Prescher has led. He spent three years looking for property owners to partner with him before property managers Donna and Christine Gross suggested the alley walls and got the local businesses to agree. After that, he got approval from the Historic and Architectural Preservation Commission in May and started to raise money on GoFundMe.

The idea of painting a beehive comes from Oxford’s own history with beekeeping. Lorenzo L. Langstroth, “The Father of American Beekeeping,” invented the Langstroth hive which revolutionized the honey industry while living in Oxford. Langstroth Cottage is now a National Historic Landmark.

Because the alley walls are close together, Prescher said he worked out a concept that doesn’t have to be viewed at a distance. When the mural is done, people walking down the alley will feel like they’re inside a giant beehive themselves.

“It had to be something a little more experiential, something a little more sensory,” Prescher said. “Pattern came up, and from pattern … the idea of a honeycomb came to mind. It was pretty much set from there.”

To finish The Hive, Prescher has enlisted the help of other artists and volunteers including Elise Megremis, Natasha Isaeva and L.A. artist Jay Schuette. Prescher hopes to get help from volunteers at Miami University and the Talawanda School District, as well. The whole project has been a community endeavor, he said, with everyone from the property owners to other local artists offering their support.

The mural is being done in three phases. The first phase, which painters are working on now, is to fill the bottom half of each wall with honeycomb. In phase two, they’ll move up to the top half of the mural, while in phase three they’ll add the giant bees. Prescher said he has other concepts for expansion, too, like bringing in sounds or adding more artwork along the alley in the future.

Amber Franklin, a city council member and member of the Public Arts Commission of Oxford (PACO), said PACO hasn’t been involved in The Hive because it’s on private property. Prescher presented his idea to the commission, though, and Franklin said they’re all supportive.

“Murals tell stories in ways that are creative and can be interpreted differently by different people,” Franklin said. “So I think they become gathering places, conversation places, things that visitors can interact with … I think that vibrant art can make a place a healthier place to be.”

PACO, which was formed in 2018, is finalizing the details of its first commissioned mural project near Peffer Park this year. Franklin said once the commission has more experience, the process for commissioning future works should get easier. The city does still have more barriers in commissioning work on private properties, but Franklin said she hopes projects like The Hive and PACO’s mural near Peffer Park will encourage more people in the community to buy in.

“When people see the joy and the interest that’s sparked by public art,” Franklin said, “hopefully more private building owners will be interested in pursuing murals on their property.”