The exhibition “For the Birds,” a seamless collaboration between Featherstone Center for the Arts and Mass Audubon’s Felix Wildlife Sanctuary, is a balm for the soul. Art and wildlife combine to bring us joy in turbulent times.
Felix Neck approached Featherstone Center last summer about coming together to celebrate the art, beauty, and function of wild birds. Together, they reached the community, inviting artists to submit works in any medium. The community responded, and 101 glorious creations now fill the Francine Kelly Gallery. Children from Featherstone’s Garden Gate and Felix Neck’s Fern and Feather preschools joined the mix, and their art, displayed in the John Schule Chapel just up from the gallery, isn’t to be missed.
On the front desk, even before stepping into the exhibit, is Leo Convery’s avian animatron. When cranked, the puppetlike wooden birds sitting in a row amusingly come to life as in a stop-action film.
Many other works will make you smile. Allison Roberts’ emu in “Bonjour” gets up close and personal, seemingly having just uttered the greeting in French and awaiting our response. There is a meeting of the minds, in Cindy Kane’s acrylic-on-board “Check In,” between a silhouetted figure leaning within inches of a large bird who turns back as though they are in silent conversation. Matt Blades’ linocut “Hoodie” zooms close to a crow’s rotund black-and-white head, whose large bright eyes stare right back at us.
The smiles continue with the blue-hued peacock and cassowary in Kelsie Leonard’s gouache “Birds of a Feather” proudly donning their respective headgear. The former’s crest is resplendently delicate, while the latter’s casque is an oddly humorous horny outgrowth. David Joseph’s deeply amusing found-object sculpture “Percival Peacock,” standing just below, makes for a perfect pairing.
The owls dotting the far left wall stare out at us, waiting to see who blinks first. Among them is John Dawson’s “Pandion,” whose immensely round eyes seem to ask what Linda Racaniello’s painted owl does — “Who?” Laura Hearn’s “Quick Sentinel: Felted Barn Owl” stands quietly nearby with a serious countenance.
Other artists express the nuanced beauty of their subjects. Jessie Holtham’s delicate watercolor “King of Spring” is rich with imagination — the medium permits subtle variations in density. The white of the paper illuminates the washes, accented with rich black detailing. Julien Jarreau challenges watercolor’s tendency toward translucency in his strikingly crisp image, where browns, tans, and creams surround a blue-tinged white bird as it takes off, or perhaps prepares to land.
Deborah Black crafts “Flight of the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird” from stunning handmade paper and pencil, drawing us in for a closer view. Daisy Lifton also uses fibrous, handmade paper, but her quiet composition of a single white avian in flight in “Over the Ponds at Sunset” conveys the changing light during the transition between day and night.
In contrast, Tim Johnson’s luminous photograph, “Aquinnah Green,” captures the exact moment a gigantic wave crashes over a massive rock, sending the birds that had flocked upon it into flight. Matt Cosby catches a pigeon in midflight as it approaches the “Jaws” bridge, just as a young diver performs a backflip so that he, too, is suspended over the water below. Denys Wortman, similarly, captures a singular moment in his drone photograph of a spectacular osprey soaring high above the cliffs, looking directly into the lens as Wortman remotely snaps its picture.
“For the Birds” showcases a wide range of media. Washington Ledesma’s charmingly quirky, fantastical clay creations, “Tero-Tero” and “Hornero,” sport his signature colors and designs. A tree adorned with blue birds embraces a ceramic vase in Carol Arrowsmith’s “Birds of a Feather.” Abe Pieciak incorporates driftwood, netting, and other bits of human debris in his striking mixed-media artwork “Island Osprey.” Nisa Mars enhances her reverse painting on glass with an elegantly ornate carved frame, producing a magnificent yet intimate piece of art. Mary Beth Daniels “paints” with fiber in her impressively fantastical work “A Felted Twist on the Tree of Life.” And Ben Cabot’s stunning marble “Shorebird” captivates us, making us yearn to run our hands over the impossibly smooth stone.
Referring to the nurturing collaboration between Featherstone and Felix Neck, Smith reflects, “I love that we can come together and have a common theme in supporting our Island and nature. We’ve covered birds from crows to peacocks, turkeys to pigeons, roosters, egrets, ravens, and cormorants in jewelry, ceramics, felting, stained glass, sculpture, drawing, painting, wood, and collage. I love the variety. I think we’re pretty lucky.” And indeed, we all are, with this joyful sanctuary of an exhibition.
“For the Birds” is on view daily at Featherstone Center for the Arts from 12 noon to 4 pm through April 27. Upcoming programs can be found at featherstoneart.org and bit.ly/FN_ForTheBirds.
