BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art

DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (SAAM) -- Exhibit: Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Description of Pictures: The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art
October 31, 2014 – February 22, 2015
Some 50 works by more than a dozen contemporary artists who employ avian imagery as a conduit for understanding contemporary culture are on view. The exhibition explores the following themes:
* How we identify and describe birds.
* What birds reveal about our evolving relationship with the environment and about our competing impulses to control and conserve nature.
* How birds are significant in our imaginative and emotional lives as emblems of the great American wilderness.
* Why the search for avian life has become a sacred ritual in secular society and how this search effects the way we see ourselves as individuals and as a society.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 3.146.221.52 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] SIPGSI_141018_05.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[2] SIPGSI_141018_08.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[3] SIPGSI_141018_11.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[4] SIPGSI_141018_20.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[5] SIPGSI_141018_21.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[6] SIPGSI_141018_23.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[7] SIPGSI_141018_28.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[8] SIPGSI_141018_31.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)

[9] SIPGSI_141026_01_STITCH.JPG

Medium (Email) (Bigger?)

[10] SIPGSI_141026_03.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[11] SIPGSI_141026_07.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[12] SIPGSI_141026_12.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[13] SIPGSI_141026_16.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[14] SIPGSI_141030_003.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[15] SIPGSI_141030_007.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[16] SIPGSI_141030_010.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[17] SIPGSI_141030_013.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[18] SIPGSI_141030_015.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[19] SIPGSI_141030_028.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[20] SIPGSI_141030_029.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[21] SIPGSI_141030_036.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[22] SIPGSI_141030_041.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[23] SIPGSI_141030_048.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[24] SIPGSI_141030_052.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[25] SIPGSI_141030_057.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[26] SIPGSI_141030_061.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[27] SIPGSI_141030_066.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[28] SIPGSI_141030_069.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[29] SIPGSI_141030_075.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[30] SIPGSI_141030_088.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[31] SIPGSI_141030_097.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[32] SIPGSI_141030_099.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[33] SIPGSI_141030_102.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[34] SIPGSI_141030_107.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[35] SIPGSI_141030_114.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[36] SIPGSI_141030_120.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[37] SIPGSI_141030_124.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[38] SIPGSI_141030_128.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[39] SIPGSI_141030_132.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[40] SIPGSI_141030_140.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[41] SIPGSI_141030_146.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[42] SIPGSI_141030_150.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[43] SIPGSI_141030_160.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[44] SIPGSI_141030_173.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[45] SIPGSI_141030_184.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[46] SIPGSI_141030_185.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[47] SIPGSI_141030_189.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[48] SIPGSI_141030_193.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[49] SIPGSI_141030_198.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[50] SIPGSI_141030_203.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[51] SIPGSI_141030_213.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[52] SIPGSI_141030_215.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[53] SIPGSI_141030_224.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[54] SIPGSI_141030_235.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[55] SIPGSI_141030_240.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[56] SIPGSI_141030_241.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[57] SIPGSI_141030_245.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[58] SIPGSI_141030_250.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[59] SIPGSI_141030_261.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[60] SIPGSI_141030_267.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[61] SIPGSI_141030_279.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[62] SIPGSI_141030_288.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[63] SIPGSI_141030_290.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[64] SIPGSI_141030_294.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[65] SIPGSI_141030_299.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[66] SIPGSI_141030_305.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[67] SIPGSI_141030_310.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[68] SIPGSI_141030_316.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[69] SIPGSI_141030_326.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[70] SIPGSI_141030_329.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[71] SIPGSI_141030_334.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[72] SIPGSI_141030_338.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[73] SIPGSI_141030_346.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[74] SIPGSI_141030_351.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[75] SIPGSI_141030_354.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[76] SIPGSI_141030_358.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[77] SIPGSI_141030_360.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[78] SIPGSI_141030_366.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[79] SIPGSI_141030_370.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[80] SIPGSI_141030_374.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[81] SIPGSI_141030_375.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[82] SIPGSI_141030_381.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[83] SIPGSI_141030_384.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[84] SIPGSI_141030_387.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[85] SIPGSI_141030_389.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[86] SIPGSI_141030_396.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[87] SIPGSI_141030_399.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[88] SIPGSI_141030_402.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[89] SIPGSI_141030_404.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[90] SIPGSI_141030_412.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[91] SIPGSI_141030_414.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[92] SIPGSI_141030_422.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[93] SIPGSI_141030_425.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[94] SIPGSI_141030_428.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[95] SIPGSI_141030_430.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[96] SIPGSI_141030_438.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[97] SIPGSI_141030_441.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[98] SIPGSI_141030_452.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[99] SIPGSI_141030_455.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[100] SIPGSI_141030_463.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[101] SIPGSI_141030_469.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[102] SIPGSI_141030_476.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[103] SIPGSI_141030_484.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[104] SIPGSI_141030_487.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[105] SIPGSI_141030_492.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[106] SIPGSI_141030_495.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[107] SIPGSI_141030_498.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[108] SIPGSI_141030_502.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[109] SIPGSI_141030_506.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[110] SIPGSI_141030_515.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[111] SIPGSI_141030_518.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[112] SIPGSI_141030_525.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[113] SIPGSI_141030_533.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[114] SIPGSI_141030_545.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[115] SIPGSI_141030_552.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[116] SIPGSI_141030_553.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[117] SIPGSI_141030_561.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[118] SIPGSI_141030_572.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[119] SIPGSI_141030_578.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[120] SIPGSI_141030_584.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[121] SIPGSI_141030_592.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[122] SIPGSI_141030_598.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[123] SIPGSI_141030_607.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[124] SIPGSI_141030_618.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[125] SIPGSI_141030_632.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[126] SIPGSI_141030_638.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[127] SIPGSI_141030_650.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[128] SIPGSI_141030_659.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[129] SIPGSI_141030_666.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[130] SIPGSI_141030_670.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[131] SIPGSI_141030_676.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[132] SIPGSI_141030_691.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[133] SIPGSI_141030_694.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[134] SIPGSI_141030_698.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[135] SIPGSI_141030_701.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[136] SIPGSI_141030_708.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[137] SIPGSI_141030_711.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[138] SIPGSI_141030_719.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[139] SIPGSI_141030_724.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[140] SIPGSI_141030_727.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[141] SIPGSI_141030_730.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[142] SIPGSI_141030_733.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[143] SIPGSI_141030_739.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[144] SIPGSI_141030_746.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[145] SIPGSI_141030_751.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[146] SIPGSI_141030_757.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[147] SIPGSI_141030_763.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[148] SIPGSI_141030_771.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[149] SIPGSI_141030_788.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[150] SIPGSI_141030_798.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[151] SIPGSI_141030_805.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[152] SIPGSI_141030_811.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[153] SIPGSI_141030_826.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[154] SIPGSI_141030_836.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[155] SIPGSI_141030_844.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[156] SIPGSI_141030_848.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[157] SIPGSI_141030_853.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[158] SIPGSI_141030_857.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[159] SIPGSI_141030_866.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[160] SIPGSI_141030_868.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[161] SIPGSI_141030_872.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[162] SIPGSI_141030_879.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIPGSI_141018_08.JPG: The Singing & The Silence Birds in Contemporary Art "When an individual [bird] is seen gliding through the woods and close to the observer, it passes like a thought, and on trying to see it again, the eye searches in vain; the bird is gone." -- John James Audubon, 1840 Birds have long been a source of mystery and awe. Today, their magic endures amidst an increasingly fragile landscape. The steady rise in environmental consciousness has fostered a growing desire to connect with the natural world and a resurgence of interest in the winged wonders that surround us daily. The Singing and the Silence dovetails with two significant environmental anniversaries -- the extinction of the passenger pigeon in 1914 and the establishment of the Wilderness Act in 1964. Separated by a mere fifty years, these two events serve as mileposts in our journey from conquest of the land to conservation of it. Although human activity has affected many species, birds in particular embody these competing impulses. Audubon's prescient description of a passenger pigeon in flight suggests the ephemeral nature of all birds. Darting from one perch to the next, they hover between earth and sky, city and wilderness, abundance and extinction. They are at once familiar yet foreign, sharing our world but always out of reach. Their flight, their feathers, their singing, and their silence have inspired artists for centuries. This exhibition brings together a dozen artists who explore the complex interplay between human and avian life from the ecological and ornithological to the allegorical and spiritual.
2. SIPGSI_141030_003.JPG: Monuments to the Pigeon "Men still live who, in their youth, remember pigeons. Trees still live who, in their youth, were shaken by a living wind. But a few decades hence only the oldest oaks will remember, and at long last only the hills will know." -- Aldo Leopold, 1947 On September 1, 1914, a twenty-nine-year-old passenger pigeon named Martha died at the Cincinnati Zoo. She was the last of her kind. Once the most populous bird in North America -- numbering in the billions -- passenger pigeons vanished with startling speed. Habitat destruction and large-scale hunting were chiefly to blame. More than any other extinct species, the passenger pigeon has come to symbolize the natural abundance of early America and the changes wrought by human intervention. The story of these birds has captivated ornithologists and artists for more than a century. Paintings, poems, and personal accounts vividly describe their mass migrations when millions of pigeons crossed the countryside in search of food and forest habitats. These immense flocks were often likened to rivers, torrents, and tornadoes. The sense of wonder and disbelief provoked by such sightings lives on today in the work of artists James Prosek, Rachel Berwick, and Walton Ford. Their monumental works reimagine the lost bird and ponder its haunting disappearance.
3. SIPGSI_141030_007.JPG: A Bird in the Hand "I don't know whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands. It is in your hands." -- Toni Morrison, 1993 The conservation of America's avifauna is still a relatively new pursuit. The first significant bird protection legislation was passed less than one hundred years ago, and since the mid-twentieth century, the popularity of bird watching has produced a vocal constituency of preservationists. Today, bird conservation thrives on a synergy between academics and amateurs, science and hobby. The rise of "citizen-science" has brought ornithology back to its amateur origins, and in turn, brought people closer to birds. Photographers Barbara Bosworth and Joann Brennan explore this connectedness in their work. Both artists focus on the integral role that humans play in preserving the environment. According to Brennan, "Wildlife has been forced into a strange symbiotic relationship with humankind: when we intervene, we take away part of what is wild; if we do not intervene, then wildlife itself may disappear." Their images transcend scientific study to explore moments of contact between humans and birds, emphasizing the importance that our touch now plays in sustaining the wildness around us.
4. SIPGSI_141030_029.JPG: Fables for Tomorrow "It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds." -- Aesop Although artists have been depicting birds for centuries, many would argue that John James Audubon was the first to effectively connect the art and science of avian imagery in his landmark publication, The Birds of America. Unlike earlier ornithological catalogues, Audubon's illustrations favor realism over didacticism and imbue the bird subjects with human emotion and expressivity. Audubon's birds recall the literary tradition of animal allegory that has inspired the work on view here. In a sense, artists Walton Ford and David Beck are heir to Audubon's legacy. With one foot in the art world and another in the natural world, their artworks tell stories that are as human as they are avian. Over the last twenty years, Walton Ford has created more than one hundred paintings and prints with birds as the primary subject. Ford's avian portraits double as complex allegories, blending depictions of nature with historical events and sociopolitical commentary. David Beck's empathetic depictions of the extinct dodo have their own moralizing message about an ill-fated bird whose life and death are now intertwined with human history.
5. SIPGSI_141030_041.JPG: La Historia Me Absolver� 1999 color etching, aquatint, spit bite and drypoint on paper Walton Ford born Larchmont, NY 1960 Courtesy of the artist and Paul Kasmin Gallery La Historia Me Absolver� features the now-extinct Cuban red macaw as a personification of Communist leader Fidel Castro. The title, which translates as "History will absolve me," references the closing lines of a speech delivered by Castro before being jailed in 1953 for the attack on an army barracks. Castro's subsequent release and rise to power led to numerous attempts on his life. Ford represents these threats as flies and snares surrounding the defiant macaw. He portrays the bird as a dying breed -- like Castro himself -- gripping tightly to a broken tree branch that might symbolize Cuba's beleaguered state or Castro's legacy
6. SIPGSI_141030_048.JPG: Visitation 2004 color etching, aquatint, spit bite, and drypoint on paper Walton Ford born Larchmont, NY 1960 Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2010.3 In Visitation, a large flock of passenger pigeons gorge themselves in a field strewn with fruit and nuts. Ford's scene recalls a written description by Audubon, "Whilst feeding, their avidity is at times so great that in attempting to swallow a large acorn or nut, they are seen gasping for a long while as if in the agonies of suffocation." The birds' ravenous feasting on the bounty of the land could symbolize the profligate exploitation of natural resources perpetrated by European settlers in the New World, which ultimately led to the extinction of the passenger pigeon. Ford also notes that the image alludes to the human tendency of blaming victims for their own destruction.
7. SIPGSI_141030_052.JPG: Dodoes En Suite 2010 seven bronze sculptures David Beck born Muncie, IN 1953
8. SIPGSI_141030_066.JPG: Dodo Museum 1980 mixed media David Beck born Muncie, IN 1953
9. SIPGSI_141030_088.JPG: Zugunruhe 2009 cast copal, wood, two-way mirror, moss, metal, and polyester resin Rachel Berwick born Somers Point, NJ 1962 Courtesy of the artist Zugunruhe simulates the wonder of a passenger pigeon flock amidst a vast forest. Despite the illusion, the sculpture is composed of a lone tree supporting hundreds of cast pigeons. As one walks around the piece, the birds appear to multiply and vanish in the mirrored surface, suggesting their historic migrations and ultimate extinction. The term zugunruhe describes the nighttime restlessness that all birds exhibit before migration. But here their movement is arrested. The passenger pigeon is frozen in time like a specimen preserved in amber. In a poignant twist, Berwick's motionless birds can only be reanimated by our own movement around the glass
10. SIPGSI_141030_097.JPG: Eothen 2001 watercolor, gouache, and pencil and ink on paper Walton Ford born Larchmont, NY 1960 The Cartin Collection Made in the wake of 9/11, Eothen is one of Ford's most brooding and enigmatic paintings. The title is a Greek word meaning "from the east" and also a reference to a nineteenth-century travel account of the Ottoman Empire. According to the artist, the besieged peacock represents the conflicts waged on Middle Eastern soil over the centuries. The bird's smoldering train might also reference the ancient belief that peacocks were immortal. It is unclear if Ford's bird is rising from the ashes or being devoured by them. In either case, it is a powerful commentary on death, resurrection, and geopolitics.
11. SIPGSI_141030_099.JPG: The Eternal Dodo "She drew her head down against her body, fluffed her feathers for warmth, squinted in patient misery. She waited. She didn't know it, nor did anyone else, but she was the only dodo on Earth. When the storm passed, she never opened her eyes. This is extinction." -- David Quammen, 1996 Like most accounts of the dodo, the scene described above is an invention. We have no idea how or when the last dodo perished. In fact, we know very little about the bird itself. It was first discovered on the island of Mauritius around 1600 and was extinct eighty years later. Having no natural predators, the dodo was a "disastrously trusting bird," easily hunted and unfairly maligned as a dim-witted creature. Unfortunately, these early, unscientific assessments of the species linger today. Despite the scarcity of information about the dodo, or perhaps because of it, the bird has become a veritable icon of extinction. Countless artists, authors, and entrepreneurs have gravitated to the story of this ill-fated bird. Artist David Beck has been depicting the dodo in drawings, paintings, and sculptures for nearly forty years. Beck's diminutive sculptures evoke the surprise and discovery of childhood, but these playful curiosities belie a serious message about vulnerability, loss, and longing.
12. SIPGSI_141030_114.JPG: Beauty 2011 mixed media including fake fingernails, nail polish, barrettes, false eyelashes, jewelry, Swarovski crystal, and walnut base Laurel Roth Hope born Concord, CA 1973
13. SIPGSI_141030_120.JPG: Regalia 2011 mixed media including fake fingernails, nail polish, barrettes, false eyelashes, jewelry, Swarovski crystal, and walnut base Laurel Roth Hope born Concord, CA 1973
14. SIPGSI_141030_124.JPG: "It was a flicker, asleep, tired from migration... It came instantly to life, looked for me with wild eyes and dashed away in a flash of golden wings. It was like resurrection. Ever since, birds have seemed to me the most vivid expression of life." -- Roger Tory Peterson, 1996
15. SIPGSI_141030_132.JPG: Biodiversity Reclamation Suit: Passenger Pigeon 2008 crocheted yarn, hand-carved pigeon mannequin, and walnut stand Laurel Roth Hope born Concord, CA 1973 Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2013.76.1A-B Before embarking on a career in the arts, Laurel Roth Hope worked as both a park ranger and a natural-resource conservator. Her time spent protecting and restoring habitats inspired a body of work that examines the adaptive abilities of some species versus others. In Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons, the artist lovingly crochets "sweaters" that mimic the plumage of extinct or endangered bird species. Despite their humor and charm, these works force us to confront the futility of recovering lost biodiversity. Roth Hope displays each suit on a hand-carved pigeon mannequin as a reminder that the animals we most revile are often the ones capable of surviving in a human-made environment .
16. SIPGSI_141030_146.JPG: Birds of a Feather "The great diversity of feather structures leads to a great diversity of function, both in nature and in the realms of human invention." -- Thor Hanson, 2011 Birds boast some of the most extraordinary biological and behavioral patterns in the natural world. One of the first steps to identifying a bird is to look for field marks -- distinctive stripes, spots, and colors that distinguish one species from another. For ornithologists and enthusiasts, these marks signal whether an individual is male or female, molting or mating, captive or wild and provide an important tool for classification and cataloguing. Much like a work of art, a bird's appearance can change dramatically based on the structure and arrangement of its feathers. For artists Laurel Roth Hope and Fred Tomaselli, the variegated forms of the avian world are a source of inspiration. Both artists employ a meticulous process of collage and assemblage to create richly patterned works that conflate nature and popular culture. In one artwork, Tomaselli addresses the ways that humans adapt to and interact with the environment by superimposing L.L. Bean outerwear on images of birds, while Roth Hope uses objects intended for human adornment to mimic peacock plumage. These ironic inversions encourage us to contemplate how adaptation and instinct manifest in our own lives and behaviors
17. SIPGSI_141030_150.JPG: Natural Selection 2000 leaves, photo collage, acrylic, and resin on wood panel Fred Tomaselli born Santa Monica, CA 1956
18. SIPGSI_141030_160.JPG: Penetrators (Large) 2000 photo collage, acrylic, and resin on wood panel Fred Tomaselli born Santa Monica, CA 1956
19. SIPGSI_141030_173.JPG: Migrant Fruit Thugs 2006 leaves, photo collage, gouache, acrylic, and resin on wood panel Fred Tomaselli born Santa Monica, CA 1956 Glenstone Nature has long been part of Fred Tomaselli's work, both physically and conceptually. Not only is he a regular bird watcher, he is also an accomplished gardener, amateur beekeeper, and regular fly fisher. The dazzling array of collaged images is drawn from camping and sporting catalogues, gardening books, and field guides. Tomaselli also collects and incorporates the plants he grows. Migrant Fruit Thugs includes huge fig leaves from the artist's garden and references an incident when he witnessed two rose-breasted grosbeaks devouring his figs.
20. SIPGSI_141030_185.JPG: The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art "When an individual [bird] is seen gliding through the woods and close to the observer, it passes like a thought, and on trying to see it again, the eye searches in vain; the bird is gone." -- John James Audubon, 1840 Birds have long been a source of mystery and awe. Today, their magic endures amidst an increasingly fragile landscape. The steady rise in environmental consciousness has fostered a growing desire to connect with the natural world and a resurgence of interest in the winged wonders that surround us daily. The Singing and the Silence dovetails with two significant environmental anniversaries -- the extinction of the passenger pigeon in 1914 and the establishment of the Wilderness Act in 1964. Separated by a mere fifty years, these two events serve as mileposts in our journey from conquest of the land to conservation of it. Although human activity has affected many species, birds in particular embody these competing impulses. Audubon's prescient description of a passenger pigeon in flight suggests the ephemeral nature of all birds. Darting from one perch to the next, they hover between earth and sky, city and wilderness, abundance and extinction. They are at once familiar yet foreign, sharing our world but always out of reach. Their flight, their feathers, their singing, and their silence have inspired artists for centuries. This exhibition brings together a dozen artists who explore the complex interplay between human and avian life from the ecological and ornithological to the allegorical and spiritual.
21. SIPGSI_141030_189.JPG: Nin Mamakadendam 2011-2012 oil on linen Tom Uttech born Merrill, WI 1942
22. SIPGSI_141030_193.JPG: Wild America "In wildness is the preservation of the world." -- Henry David Thoreau, 1862 "Our grandchildren deserve to hear a springtime chorus of meadowlarks calling from the fenceposts, to see wave after wave of sandpipers dancing along the surf, to be amazed by nature not just in its presence, but in its multitudes." -- The State of the Birds, 2014 On September 3, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law. This landmark legislation created a way for Congress and Americans to safeguard the country's last remaining wild spaces by designating them "wilderness areas." Today the National Wilderness Preservation System protects 110 million acres of unspoiled land and the species that thrive there. The Wilderness Act was the first in a wave of environmental reforms that swept across America in the late 1960s and 1970s. The culmination of these was the far-reaching Endangered Species Act of 1973, which offers protection to listed groups. The efforts to preserve what Roger Tory Peterson called "Wild America" stand in stark contrast to the conquering impulse that led to the demise of the passenger pigeon one hundred years ago. Thanks to Peterson and many other influential naturalists, wild America does still exist, and we need not travel to the country's remotest regions to witness it. We need only direct our gaze skyward
23. SIPGSI_141030_198.JPG: A Wing and a Prayer "Hope" is the thing with feathers -- That perches in the soul -- And sings the tune without the words -- And never stops -- at all -- -- Emily Dickinson The sight of a bird winging across the sky has inspired artists, poets, scientists, and visionary thinkers through the ages. In many cultures, the buoyant passage of a bird is not just a thing of beauty but also a sign of something greater than ourselves. In the days of the pharaohs, birds adorned the interiors of Egyptian tombs to guide the deceased into the next world. In ancient Rome, prophets called augurs helped foretell the will of the gods by observing birds in flight. Native American mythology features dozens of birds, each with its own power and meaning, as does Christian iconography. And, of course, art history is full of avian imagery inspired by the significance of birds in religion, myth, and legend. Although none of the artists on view here focus directly on these ideas, spirituality is an important theme, particularly in the work of artists Petah Coyne and Tom Uttech. Both Coyne and Uttech create dense, otherworldly works that resonate with the emotional and spiritual power of nature.
24. SIPGSI_141030_203.JPG: Birds & Flowers 2008 gelatin silver prints Lorna Bieber born Cleveland, OH 1949 Courtesy of the artist Working from stock photographs she finds in books and articles, Lorna Bieber investigates the role that photography plays in fixing images in our consciousness. Her Montage works comprise monumental grids of manipulated images that focus on some aspect of nature. The photographs are abstracted through a layered process of manipulation and rephotographing. In Birds & Flowers, she combines two of the most popular subjects in nature photography to examine how archetypal images become stand-ins for the actual things.
25. SIPGSI_141030_215.JPG: Blueshift 2014 cast crystal and metal Rachel Berwick born Somers Point, NJ 1962 Courtesy of the artist Blueshift is inspired by Berwick's ongoing research into the biology and behaviors of migratory birds, particularly the indigo bunting. Berwick learned that the vivid plumage of this small bird comes not from pigmentation but the structure of the feather itself, which refracts incoming light in much the same way that scattered light makes the sky look blue. Berwick replicates this phenomenon in crystal spheres, creating two different shades of blue that symbolize day and night. On the interior of each globe, cast impressions of songbirds give the illusion of a topographical map that suggests the birds' ability to navigate both earth and sky. The delicate forms hover like continents, connecting the terrestrial and celestial as only birds can.
26. SIPGSI_141030_224.JPG: Bird Watching "Bird watchers carry an unspoken hope in the heart: not to be in a world where everything is preserved, but to be in a world where nothing needs to be preserved. To feel that watching birds is not an artificial pursuit but a natural one." -- Jonathan Rosen, 2008 Humans have been watching and enjoying birds for thousands of years. Early colonists encountered a landscape teeming with wildlife and became astute observers of birds while hunting and farming. Over time, Americans began venturing into the nation's fields and forests to experience birds as something other than a resource or commodity. And in the years following World War II, bird watching became a national pastime thanks to improved lenses, more leisure time, and a general sense of postwar freedom. Today it is the fastest growing form of outdoor recreation. Many of the artists in the exhibition have been watching birds for years and have created significant bodies of work inspired by these mysterious creatures. Paula McCartney began her own Bird Watching series in 2003. Her images of densely wooded landscapes punctuated by colorful songbirds mimic the look of naturalist photography. But McCartney's lush scenes are not as "natural" as they first appear. Close inspection reveals that the trees are populated with craft-store birds that the artist purchased and posed in various settings. This subversive twist on the practice of bird watching examines our urge to impose order on the natural world and create an idealized vision of the landscape.
27. SIPGSI_141030_235.JPG: Common Yellowthroat 2003 chromogenic print Barbara Bosworth born Cleveland, OH 1953
28. SIPGSI_141030_245.JPG: Researchers, Exploring Strategies for Managing Black Vulture Populations, Prepare to Draw Blood From a Captured Black Vulture. National Wildlife Research Center. Gainesville, Florida 2001 chromogenic print Joann Brennan born Philadelphia, PA 1962
29. SIPGSI_141030_250.JPG: Mallard Egg Contraception Research, located in the "Simulated Natural Environment Room." Natural Wildlife Research Center. Fort Collins, Colorado 2000 chromogenic print Joann Brennan born Philadelphia, PA 1962
30. SIPGSI_141030_279.JPG: Dodo Museum 1980 mixed media David Beck born Muncie, IN 1953
31. SIPGSI_141030_366.JPG: Dodo 2007 graphite on paper David Beck born Muncie, IN 1953
32. SIPGSI_141030_370.JPG: Falling Bough 2002 watercolor, gouache, and pencil and ink on paper Walton Ford born Larchmont, NY 1960 Private Collection In Falling Bough, Ford depicts one of the great migratory events of the nineteenth century as a nightmarish scene of overpopulation and self-destruction. A branch laden with passenger pigeons is momentarily lifted skyward as it splinters beneath the weight of the snaking mass. Scenes like this were well documented by hunters and naturalists alike. John James Audubon witnessed the astonishing sight while traveling through Kentucky. He wrote, "The pigeons, arriving by thousands, alighted everywhere, one above another, until solid masses were formed on the branches all round. Here and there the perches gave way under the weight with a crash, and, falling to the ground, destroyed hundreds of the birds beneath."
33. SIPGSI_141030_412.JPG: Beauty 2011 mixed media including fake fingernails, nail polish, barrettes, false eyelashes, jewelry, Swarovski crystal, and walnut base Laurel Roth Hope born Concord, CA 1973
34. SIPGSI_141030_438.JPG: It was a flicker, asleep, tired from migration. ... It came instantly to life, looked at me with wild eyes and dashed away in a flash of golden wings. It was like resurrection. Ever since, birds have seemed to me the most vivid expression of life. -- Roger Tory Peterson, 1996
35. SIPGSI_141030_452.JPG: Natural Selection 2000 leaves, photo collage, acrylic, and resin on wood panel Fred Tomaselli born Santa Monica, CA 1956
36. SIPGSI_141030_469.JPG: Penetrators (Large) 2012 photo collage, acrylic and resin on wood Fred Tomaselli born Santa Monica, CA 1956
37. SIPGSI_141030_498.JPG: Migrant Fruit Thugs 2006 leaves, photo collage, gouache, acrylic, and resin on wood panel Fred Tomaselli born Santa Monica, CA 1956 Glenstone Nature has long been part of Fred Tomaselli's work, both physically and conceptually. Not only is he a regular bird watcher, he is also an accomplished gardener, amateur beekeeper, and regular fly fisher. The dazzling array of collaged images is drawn from camping and sporting catalogues, gardening books, and field guides. Tomaselli also collects and incorporates the plants he grows. Migrant Fruit Thugs includes huge fig leaves from the artist's garden and references an incident when he witnessed two rose-breasted grosbeaks devouring his figs.
38. SIPGSI_141030_518.JPG: La Historia Me Absolver� 1999 color etching, aquatint, spit bite and drypoint on paper Walton Ford born Larchmont, NY 1960 Courtesy of the artist and Paul Kasmin Gallery La Historia Me Absolver� features the now-extinct Cuban red macaw as a personification of Communist leader Fidel Castro. The title, which translates as "History will absolve me," references the closing lines of a speech delivered by Castro before being jailed in 1953 for the attack on an army barracks. Castro's subsequent release and rise to power led to numerous attempts on his life. Ford represents these threats as flies and snares surrounding the defiant macaw. He portrays the bird as a dying breed -- like Castro himself -- gripping tightly to a broken tree branch that might symbolize Cuba's beleaguered state or Castro's legacy
39. SIPGSI_141030_572.JPG: American Goldfinches 2008 chromogenic print Paula McCartney born Pittsburg, PA 1971
40. SIPGSI_141030_578.JPG: Peregrine Falcon. Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Zoology Department (over 900 specimens in the collection), Denver, Colorado 2006 chromogenic print Joann Brennan born Philadelphia, PA 1962 Courtesy of the artist In addition to picturing bird conservation in the field, Joann Brennan's Managing Eden project documents scientists and specimens in museums. The falcon pictured here is in the collection of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Its powerful wing extends upward as reminder of the bird's former speed and strength. Brennan hopes that images like this will raise appreciation for the valuable role that museums play in the stewardship of nature. The solutions to tomorrow's environmental crises could lie in the specimen drawers of today's museums
41. SIPGSI_141030_584.JPG: King Fisher Specimen with Arsenic. Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Zoology Department (over 900 specimens in the collection), Denver, Colorado 2005 chromogenic print Joann Brennan born Philadelphia, PA 1962
42. SIPGSI_141030_659.JPG: Birds & Flowers 2008 gelatin silver prints Lorna Bieber born Cleveland, OH 1949 Courtesy of the artist Working from stock photographs she finds in books and articles, Lorna Bieber investigates the role that photography plays in fixing images in our consciousness. Her Montage works comprise monumental grids of manipulated images that focus on some aspect of nature. The photographs are abstracted through a layered process of manipulation and rephotographing. In Birds & Flowers, she combines two of the most popular subjects in nature photography to examine how archetypal images become stand-ins for the actual things.
43. SIPGSI_141030_691.JPG: Orange Thrush 2004 chromogenic print Paula McCartney born Pittsburgh, PA 1971 Paula McCartney's Bird Watching photographs playfully parody the bird watcher's desire to identify and inventory their avian finds. Although she does not consider herself a birder, McCartney collects field guides and uses them to help name her craft-store birds and provide believable attributions. Like the photographs themselves, the accompanying specimen labels are a combination of truth and fiction. They lend a sense of authority, albeit false, to the images and enhance the illusion. The labels also serve as a reminder that our experience and understanding of nature is mediated through a wide range of tools and cultural conventions, like the field guide
44. SIPGSI_141030_711.JPG: Can you spot what's missing from this exhibition? There are no bird calls to be heard. Instead, we've captured the voices of the artists. We hope you'll linger here and listen to their songs.
45. SIPGSI_141030_719.JPG: Nin Mamakadendam 2011-2012 oil on linen Tom Uttech born Merrill, WI 1942
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
2014 photos: Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Winchester, VA, Nashville, TN, and Atlanta, GA), Michigan to visit mom in the hospice before she died and then a return trip after she died, and my 9th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City, Sacramento, Oakland, and Los Angeles). Ego strokes: Paul Dickson used one of my photos as the author photo in his book "Aphorisms: Words Wrought by Writers". Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Number of photos taken this year: just over 470,000.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].