Ghost Bird Shrines
In early December of 2016, an unusually strong winter storm blew across Montana, pushing 10,000 snow geese off-course. In the midst of a blizzard they were forced to land on the superfund cleanup site that is the Berkeley Pit, which looms large over the nevertheless charming town of Butte. Thousands of birds died. This distressing incident inspired this Ghost Bird series.
Each bird and landscape shrine are slightly abstracted, so while you may recognize an owl, a wetlands bird or a songbird, they’re still nonspecific. The birds look like pillars of salt, frozen in time, while the landscapes are vibrantly colored and ordered into the color spectrum. In the end I just wanted to offer these poor, petrified birds some cheerful shelter.
I am influenced and inspired by the high craftsmanship and subdued kitsch of Mexican retablos, nichos and shrines, with their embellishments made of simple, everyday found materials such as nails and screws, the kind of random junk you find around old mines, dry dumps and ghost towns.
The Ghost Bird Shrines were shown in a group invitational at Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River, Oregon in March, 2016. Their annual Art A Day exhibit asks artists to create 30 small-scale pieces that are hung together, salon-style.