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������� ������������������ By Kerry Methner, PhD / CASA
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Photo by Bob Craig, Lotusland
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Photo by Priscilla, SantaBarbaraSeen.com
�������������������������� ������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������� Silent Spring is a collaboration between the curator Nancy Gifford, Lotusland staff, ������������������������������������������������� and volunteers with a special thanks to Jim Foster. ���������������������������������������������������� Artist’s Statement: “For centuries of springs, breeding and nesting birds filled ����������������������������������������������������� the air with their mating songs. Human activities have caused some 500 bird ������������ species worldwide to go extinct over the past five millennia, and 21stcentury extinction rates are predicted to accelerate to approximately ten ���������������������������������������������������� additional species per year. Reflecting these daunting numbers, dangling ����������������������������������������������������������������� bird cages, painted funereal black, form a canopy over the entrance ������������������������������������������������������������������������� to the Pavilion Gallery. Each one is a vacant memorial for a species ����������������������������������������������������������������������� of bird that is now extinct and will not be seen or heard again. Their doors are open in a silent - yet futile - plea for their return.” �������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������� Four Eggs, acrylic on canvas, by Liza Myer (New Mexico) ������������ ������������ Artist’s Statement: “The intricacy of the natural world fascinates me.... ������������ The image of a nest stretches beyond ������������ Citreoline Trogon, oil all linguistic and cultural barriers, �������������� on linen by James conveying the wonder of natural ��������������� F. Hodgson (Santa things and the tenacity of the small, Barbara, Canada) ����� winged creatures that build them. These very same creatures glide over ������������ Jim Hodgson oceans and continents stitching the �������������� began his love of latitudes together with an invisible bird watching at ������������� web of flight patterns.” age eleven when ����������� he went on his first ���������� Audubon trip. He ���������������������������������������������� began sketching and painting wildlife ������������������������������������������������� as part of his lifelong ��������������������������������������������������� study of birds, reptiles, ���������������������� and mammals. ������������������������������������������ Jim believes we �������������������������������������������������� must protect our remaining wild lands �������������������������������������������� and habitats to ensure �������������������������������������������������� biodiversity and the ������������������������������������������������������ ecological health of the planet. “It would be a great loss for ���������������������������������������������� future generations to not know the beauty of these creatures.” He hopes his paintings will help the viewer appreciate what is at ����������������������������������������������� stake and motivate them to protect the environment. ��������������������������������������������������� ������������������
La Leggenda di Bobe, video by Robert Gligorov (Macedonia, Milan) Artist’s Statement: “In Bobe’s Legend, an atmosphere of suspense binds the audience to the events as they unfold. We are drawn into a situation where we cannot predict what will happen next, so our need to know overrides our disbelief of fictional constructs. The single, repeated narrative event - a bird deciding whether or not to leave its nest - is a simple one, and yet it generates an intensity of engagement. The artist’s profile becomes the horizon in a landscape of myths and legends. It is a world where humans and animals share a language and fight, trick or help each other. For the little chicks, there is only the enclosed, safe nest of the man’s mouth, or the seemingly limitless space of flight beyond - of freedom, with all its attendant dangers. For the man, there is either the role of nurturer, who must sublimate his own needs to those of the young bird, or, should he fail to keep his mouth open, the transformation into a monster who betrays the trust of an innocent. As man and bird share this moment, the metaphoric elements shift. If we read the bird literally, the man transforms into a delicate image of paternal grace by showing interspecies respect and benevolence. If we view the man literally, the bird takes wing as speech embodied, or a vision of the soul - at first hesitant, then set free to fulfill its potential. This exploration of safety and danger, care and independence, tenderly illustrates the questions we ask as we attend to our own life stories: not only ‘what will happen?’ but also ‘who am I becoming?’”
Lotusland Executive Director Gwen Stauffer with Flock Curator Nancy Gifford on opening night under Murmuration by David Hochbaum (New York, Boston) and next to Keith Puccinelli’s Burning Crow (Santa Barbara)
Artist’s Statement: “An important element to my bird installations is how they interact and co-exist in the environment in which they are placed. For Ganna Walska Lotusland the inspiration comes from beyond the walls of the pavilion where they hang. Exploring the gardens, I found amongst the trees, flowers, and plants mirrors of the murmuration. The winding pathways bend to the force of nature and wind. The lines of light catch upon a spider’s single thread. The seemingly unnatural and alien looking growths, this relentless push of nature, this urgency is what filled my thoughts as I strung the black birds into their path. What I strive to leave behind is a suggestive glimpse of a fragile moment as in a memory of a dream when everything all at once has fallen into a mysterious harmony.” Upcoming related events: Scott Weidensaul – Living on the Wind: The Miracle of Bird Migration • March 28th, 4-6pm. Linnea S. Hall & René Corado share their passion and knowledge about bird conservation and habitat • April 11th, 2:30-4pm. Birders Travelogue of Belize, Bolivia & Ecuador • April 18th, 3:30-5pm. International Migratory Bird Day • May 9th, 8:30-4:30pm. For more info visit: www.lotusland.org or call 969-9990.