PREM ARThailand
As part of his sabbatical in fall 2024, Mark participated in the ARThailand Residency Program at Prem Tinsulanonda International School in Northern Thailand. The school serves about 500 students in grades 1–12, representing approximately 30 nationalities.
During the residency, he developed workshops introducing students to the ecological and cultural importance of honeybees and collaborated with social practice artist Janeil Engelstad on a project exploring empathy and design for grades three and four.
He also conducted research on beekeeping practices in Northern Thailand and met with entomologists and beekeepers in Southern Thailand, Hanoi, and Tokyo to gain broader regional insights into apiculture and biodiversity.
Mark with students at the Prem Tinsulanonda International School in Mae Rim, Thailand.
A workshop for thirty two fifth-grade students to introduce them to the structure of a honeybee colony.
Honeybee workshop materials.
The class became a hive, and each student had to define their role within the hive.
A “rock, paper, scissors” competition to determine who was going to be the queen.
The hexagonal shapes – with the student’s role within the hive and drawings of their bees – are designed to hang like a mobile in he classroom creating a swarm of bees. Macro-photography workshops of the stingless bee colonies on on the school campus, engaged students to observe the natural world in unexpected ways.
Macro-photography workshops of the stingless bee colonies on on the school campus, engaged students to observe the natural world in unexpected ways.The fantastic and other-worldly interior of a stingless honeybee hive.
The fantastic and other-worldly interior of a stingless honeybee hive. The students collaborated on a large-scale collage using the images they took.
For a honey tasting and sensory evaluation workshop, thirty five English-language learners evaluated three different honeys from local beekeepers; Longan, Lychee and Wildflower.
For another workshop, over the course of several sessions nearly seventy five students explored what empathy means to them.
Using design methodologies, students mapped the key words they developed for empathy with color to give meaning.
Teams of students then collaborated to co-create their flags.
The flags were digitally printed as banners and displayed on “Global Way,” a walk on campus which also features a flag from each country the students at the school come from.