Bird exhibit takes flight
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by William Rhodes tackles the threat to those birdlike as well as human.
Lynne Parks, curator of "Birdland and the Anthropocene," an art exhibition at the Peale Center, stands in front of her art installation "Missing Birds."
Artist Cathy C. Cook, center, and Peale Center visitors MaryEllen and Carl Bowser of York, Pa., interact with Cook's art installation, "Mimicking Whooper," to appreciate the ways cranes communicate by gesture and vocalization. This virtual interaction, using gaming software, was made in collaboration with the Imaging Research Center at UMBC.
The installation by Laure Drogoul, titled "friend of friends of friends (Diceros bicornis longipes)," invites contemplation of the extinct West African black rhinoceros and the cattle egrets.
A detail from "The Flying Gardens of Maybe," an installation by transdisciplinary artist Andrew S. Yang, is part of the Peale Center exhibit.
A feather laser etched with the word "pesticide" is part of "Ten Bird Deaths."
Photos and text by Amy Davis
The Baltimore Sun
A thought-provoking exhibition, “Birdland and the Anthropocene,” scrutinizes birds even more seriously than devoted Ravens and Orioles fans do on game day. The art, which fills four floors of the Peale Center, ponders ornithology from numerous perspectives, but the overriding theme is extinction. For declining bird populations there is no consolation that next season will be better.
Anthropocene refers to the current geological period, in which the impact of humans on our planet is pervasive. Birds are disappearing due to loss of habitat, pesticides, invasive species, building collisions, commercial demand for wild birds, and even free-roaming cats. Baltimore artist and bird conservation advocate Lynne Parks has curated the show, which brings together more than 30 artists and performers to look at the different ways we are failing birds, an essential and beautiful part of our ecosystem.
For this ornithological examination, the former Peale Museum on Holliday Street is the perfect habitat. The 1814 building has deteriorated from years of neglect, and like our birds, is a living dinosaur on life support. Now called the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture, the museum started by Rembrandt Peale is undergoing major renovations. Plans call for a range of cultural activities and innovative approaches to history, education and artistic expression. The Peale, which was dedicated to art and natural history, has come full circle with this ambitious show.
Artist talks will take place at 2 p.m. today, and a program of early bird recordings will be presented at noon Sunday. Gallery hours are Thursday and Friday, 6 to 9 p.m., Saturdays, 12 to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m. A closing costume party begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 28, before the final day of the show on Oct. 29.