THE LIFE OF BIRDS AND INSECTS: FOOD

The food here is terrible,
and the portions are too small.

Woody Allen



The diets of  both birds and insects are varied and can be remarkably specific. Their preferences have great impact on the ecosystems where they live.  Their lives in turn are dependent on the qualities of the land they inhabit.

In my Life series I have made it simpler for them by creating a pantry for their use.  The container for this storage unit is a clock case collaged with famous art work depicting birds and insects.  I have used other clock cases as temples so this one could also be considered the Temple of Food.

Inside there are bottles and cans, similarly collaged, which contain dried seeds for future dinners or as reserves for times of famine.  How do the birds survive in Michigan in the winter when the temperatures are so cold and everything seems covered with ice?  They amaze me.

GAME BOARD

I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.

Steven Wright



Loosely based on pages from the Lindesfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells, the Game Board for the Life of Birds and Insects project was not designed to be played but rather to look like it could be played.  Now that it exists, Korinthia Klein and her 3 game playing children have been working on ideas and rules for actually using it.  I believe it is the reverse of how most games have been designed.

St. Cuthbert's Duck (an Eider Duck) resides in the center of the board.
Cuthbert lived in the north of England in the Farne Islands.  He was a Prior and eventually a Bishop but his heart was that of an Anchorite.  He chose to live on Inner Farne Island which no one before him had successfully inhabited.  His close association with, and love for, the waterfowl of the region led him to make laws in 676 protecting the nesting birds.  This might well make him the first conservationist.

Soon after Cuthbert's death the monks created the Lindesfarne Gospels in his honor.

LITERATURE OF THE BIRDS

Classic literature is still something that hangs in the air like a song.

G.K. Chesterton

The covers of all the books that will hang as "literatura de cordel" in the library of the birds and insects are pochoir prints.  The prints of leaves will not blend into the drawing of the owls when they are attached to it,  but they will have a relationship by virtue of their subject matter.  Leaves are either printed directly on some books while others are cut and pasted on the covers.  

Each of the books contains a quote appropriate to the species featured - in human language. The main text is either in musical notations by F. Schuyler Mathews (published in 1904 and still referred to today) or language found in field guides and written in the Roman alphabet. 

OWL ANTHOLOGY:

Five owls are featured in the anthology.  All are drawn with micron pens and and photocopied.

The eyes of four of the birds are hand colored. The Barred Owl, which has dark eyes, has a bit of highlighting to its feathers,  also done with color pencil.

WARBLER:
Four warblers and their songs are featured in this book.  All are depicted in watercolor and color pencil then  reproduced with high quality inkjet prints and tipped in.

WREN:

Three wrens and their songs are depicted in watercolor with some color pencil and metallic gold acrylic in the background.  They are reproduced with high quality inkjet and tipped onto the pages.

This book is dedicated to Hetsy (Henrietta) Slote.

THRUSH:
In a pochoir print done with watercolor and metallic acrylic, a Hermit Thrush sings to a
Wood Thrush.  This illustration is an original print, not a reproduction.

SONG SPARROW:
This book contains a single species of sparrow - the Song Sparrow.  It is in tribute to Margaret Morse Nice whose study of the bird was a great contribution to ornithology.
The illustration is an original pochoir done with watercolor.  The inside of the cover is marbleized paper and is a reference to the water of the Olentangy River which flowed by Mrs. Nice's property in Columbus, Ohio.  The photograph behind the sparrow was taken of trees where she did her work next to the river. 

THE LIFE OF BIRDS AND INSECTS: LITERATURE

O you virtuous owle, 

The wise Minerva's only fowle.

                        

Sir Philip Sidney

The owl, a symbol of wisdom and erudition, is featured as a bird (a Barred Owl) and as a butterfly in a drawing to be installed inside a wall cabinet / library.  It will be obscured in its final state by books attached to the drawing.  There will be five books "written" by different species of birds and five books written by different species of insects.  The text will, indeed, be in their own languages.

Viewers will be able to open the doors of the cabinet and remove the books for reading.  The concept is based on "literatura de cordel," a tradition in northeastern Brazil where books of poetry, songs and stories are hung on strings for sale in marketplaces and at festivals.  These books, with original woodcut covers, are affordable and popular.  They follow a long tradition of chapbook and pamphlet printing in the 18th and 19th centuries.