Savannah Bee Company
Savannah, Georgia
The Location
Starting in November 2023 and finishing in Spring of 2025, Matt Willey brought The Good of the Hive to one of its most naturally fitting homes yet — Savannah Bee Company, a business that shares his deep reverence for the honeybee while recognizing that all bees are critically important for human health. The mural was created for the company’s new location at 313 Stiles Ave, across from the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia, marking another stop in his estimated 25-year mission to hand-paint 50,000 bees around the world.
The pairing of artist and venue felt almost inevitable: a company built entirely around the wonder and generosity of bees, now adorned with the work of a man whose entire life had been redirected by a single one.
Scroll through the photo gallery below to view images from the project.
Why Honey Bees?
Willey invited the Savannah community to come out and talk with him as he painted, believing deeply in the connective power of public art — using the bee as a metaphor for a bridge back to nature, and trusting that even those who never spoke with him directly would feel the message, because bees are present wherever humans are. He also gave a talk titled “The Intersection of Art & Conservation” at Laney Contemporary, bringing the story of The Good of the Hive to the people of Savannah in person. As Willey himself put it, “the project has always been about more than painting — It’s really about these collaborations, and what happens when other people come into the story, because that’s the hive. I’m just one bee.”
