“Hotels” for wild bees created by artist Thomas Gartside.

Philadelphia artist Thomas Gartside has created a set of “hotels” for wild bees – temporary lodgings that can provide shelter for bees threatened by population loss across the region. These works – part art sculpture, part garden-ready functional habitat – will be on exhibit at the Art on the Avenue Gallery in West Philadelphia, and be silent-auctioned over the run of the exhibit.

The exhibit, Inhabit: three variations on domesticity, kicks off this Thursday, Sept. 2 at 5 p.m. at the gallery located at 3808 Lancaster Ave. It will feature 16 unique “bee hotel” art pieces by Gartside that will be auctioned off. The proceeds of the auction will support PennEnvironment’s work to fight bee die-offs through tackling bee-killing pesticides, habitat loss and climate change.

Thomas Gartside is mainly known as a fine art photographer, but this latest body of work brings his artistic sentiment to an important environmental issue.

The exhibit, which will run until September 11, also features works by artists John Lindsay and Jason Thompson.

More information is available here.