‘Birds in Art’ interview by Rob Duns at WAOW

Click on image to watch interview.

Marla Brenner and I were interviewed at the Birds in Art opening weekend. Watch the interview!

The part Rob left out of the interview was that the turkeys that I “liberated” were actually, originally intended for Thanksgiving dinners for friends and family. I raised the turkeys to use
as models AND for meat, just as I’d done years past with the Broad Breasted Bronzes and Giant Whites. But wild turkeys can fly (which I didn’t think about ahead of time), and they had a different agenda, so I started clipping their wings once I realized they were all going to fly away.

But then, through my own  need to have beautiful models, their wings were allowed to grow out (after a clumsy, unsightly wing clipping –hey c’mon, my models were escaping one-by-one daily!– that left my models looking like strange, ungainly, flightless birds that were not exactly fit for modelling). I decided then that wild turkeys flying off to be wild kind of made sense, and I sketched and photographed the birds like crazy once their wings grew out, knowing they were going to take off any day. And then, one by one over a few days they flew over the fence to freedom. They definitely earned it! Well, they also got a long, safe-from-predators, well-fed childhood before they took off.

And it was awesome the following spring to go on jogs with the dogs, when all-of-a-sudden we’d scare up a mama turkey and her rafter/gobble/flock of tiny little poults flapping like mad to follow her up into the trees. This happened often that spring. I felt proud–like they were my grandkids or something.

Edgerton Book and Film Festival 2011, schedule of events

CLICK CHART to enlarge

Jon Scieszka (rhymes with Fresca), author of “The Stinky Cheese Man…” and others, will be the guest speaker (one of my all-time favorite children’s book authors). Other presenters include Andrei Codrescu(!), Mary Bergin (and her latest green travel guide), Susan Troller and I giving presentations about CLUCK: From Jungle Fowl to City Chick (and book signings, card and print sale afterwards), and many other authors and events. This is the most concise and up-to-date schedule I’ve been able to find so far, so I’ve posted it here.

The carcasses are going to NYC!!

The email said:
IPCNY is thrilled to notify you that Carcasses from “The Meat Locker” has been selected for New Prints 2011/Autumn, our 40th New Prints show. Congratulations! I am attaching an image to confirm the selection….

8ft long carcasses from 'The Meat Locker' an installation featured in May, 2011 MFA show: 'Pattern to Processing.' Woodcuts on masa, adhered to painted styrofoam insulation panels.

I can’t believe it. I never thought I would make the cut…. The message on their website earlier apologized for the delay in notifications because they’d received over 2,500 submissions(!)–the deadline for sending submissions was August 1, and we still hadn’t heard any results by the end of the month. Total bummer with those odds–I figured there was no way, since typically less than 50 artists are accepted for the show.

Just about went crazy when I found out. Of course the timing was perfect. Rules were that the work submitted had to have been created within 1 year of submission date. Just so happens, my MFA show (and the 8ft carcasses) were finished in May, 2011, so they fit easily within the time limits. And typically, I wouldn’t have been carving/printing 8ft carcasses for a non-MFA gallery show at (Artisan Gallery), since they’re not really commercially viable.** But for New York, for IPCNY’s “new prints” they were perfect. Here’s their mission statement for the New Prints Program:

NEW PRINTS PROGRAM
International Print Center New York’s New Prints Program was created to bring artists’ prints of the highest quality from the widest possible range of sources to the attention of the viewing public. By establishing this unique and ongoing forum for exhibiting prints by artists at all stages of their careers, IPCNY continues its work to enlarge audiences for the visual arts.

Now, I need to figure out how to crate up these four 8ft carcasses. Getting advice thankfully from some curators and carpenters….

**Ironically though, I just might be showing something related at Artisan next June, 2012, in the form of a life-size tunnel book. Stay tuned!

Museum acquisition for “Turkey Promenade”

Just got a call today from Jane from Collections at the Woodson Art Museum, and they’ve selected “Turkey Promenade” for their permanent collection. I’m just thrilled–it’s a dream come true for me.

The Birds in Art exhibit is up now through November 13, 2011.

You can read more about the exhibit, and 2 friends who are also in the exhibit, local Madison artists Clarence Cameron and Marla Brenner in this Wisconsin State Journal article.

“Turkey Promenade” and 59 other “Birds in Art” works selected to go on tour…

…to Kansas, South Carolina, Michigan, Colorado, and Alaska. Full list of venues here.

The Birds in Art exhibition is currently showing at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum (the big opening weekend was last Saturday, Sept. 10th), and is on display through Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011. After that, the 59 selected will continue on to the national tour (which ends in Anchorage, Alaska, January 20, 2013). I feel very honored to have had my piece selected!

Here’s more info about Woodson Art Museum, Birds in Art and so forth:

What is Birds in Art?

(From the Woodson Art Museum):
Introduction
Since 1976, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum has organized Birds in Art annually, seeking to present the very best contemporary artistic interpretations of birds and related subject matter. Two- and three-dimensional artworks in all media other than crafts and photography are eligible for submission. Approximately 100 works are selected by a jury review of digital images. 

As the Museum’s flagship exhibition, Birds in Art enables the Museum to meet its goals of presenting and collecting art of the natural world having birds as the primary or secondary focus. A fully illustrated, four-color catalogue accompanies each Birds in Art exhibition. Catalogues are available for purchase online.

In conjunction with Birds in Art, the Woodson Art Museum selects an artist to receive its Master Wildlife Artist Award. The award honors artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in using bird imagery in their artwork. The individual recognized as the Master Wildlife Artist is further honored by a mini-retrospective (approximately 10 to 12 artworks) during Birds in Art.

Each year, 60 works are selected from Birds in Art to be included in a national or international tour. This tour considerably expands the exhibition’s reach to broader audiences.

Birds in Art opens to the public on the first Saturday following Labor Day every year and is on view for nine weeks. Specific Birds in Art education programs and special events will be available online by August 15 each year.