Aganetha Dyck

Aganetha Dyck (September 12, 1937 – July 18, 2025) was a Canadian sculptor residing in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Dyck is best known for her work with live honeybees, that build honeycomb on objects that she introduces to honeybee hives. In 2007 Dyck was awarded both Manitoba's Arts Award of Distinction and Canada's Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.

Background Dyck was born Aganetha Rempel, in 1937, to Mennonite parents in Marquette, Manitoba, a French-Canadian farming town 50 km north of Winnipeg. While at Prince Albert, Dyck had the opportunity to be mentored by Professor George Glen and studied Art History.

Career Dyck's early work is described as transforming domestic processes into fine art, thereby validating activities that are traditionally considered feminine. Dyck placed objects into beehives, or beehives into objects, and allowed the insects to build honeycombs on the objects, sometimes over the course of years.

Dyck's work with bees has been featured in Troyes, Paris, Rotterdam, and at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in England. In 2018, Close Knit was included in Thunderstruck: Physical Landscapes, a Canada Council exhibition about contemporary dance.

Dyck was on the board of directors of Plug In ICA and served as a board member and mentor in Mentoring Artists for Women's Art.

Awards Manitoba's Arts Award of Distinction (2007). 2011 – Guest Workers (solo), Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. 2014 – Surreal Transformations (two-person show with Richard Dyck), Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. 2014 – You've Really Got a Hold on Me, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario, Canada. 2014 – Aganetha Dyck: Honeybee Alterations, Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 2017 – Cross Pollination, 516 Arts, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. 2017 – AlterNation, Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. 2017 – Animal Intent, apexart, New York, USA. 2019 – Displacement, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC. 2019 – Something More Than Nothing, The Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, and touring to the Art Gallery at Evergreen Cultural Centre, Coquitlam, BC.

Collections Dyck's work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON; the Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby, BC; Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Charlottetown, PEI; Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, SK; Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna, BC; Oakville Galleries, Oakville, ON; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC; Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, ON; Saskatchewan Arts Board, Regina, SK; Manitoba Arts Council Art Bank, Winnipeg, MB; Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, ON; Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB; Art Gallery of Guelph, Guelph, ON; and the Art Gallery of Windsor (now Art Windsor-Essex), ON, amongst others.