godseye

Statement:
Most birds prefer to collect natural materials found close to their nest site, but, as a mixed-media artist myself, I find it interesting that some species commonly incorporate less obvious things like feathers, string, or paper. Recently, it has been recorded that there is an uptick in spotting human detritus, including windshield wipers, all manner of plastics and even anti-bird spikes being chosen for nest materials.

The basic structure of each of my nests are metal bristles from street sweepers that I have been collecting for over a quarter century on my walks. As the steel of these industrial brushes fatigues, they often break off and you find them in the gutters, especially when walking in more urban areas.

As I began working on this project, it started reminding me of a craft activity that was popular when I was growing up in the 1970's: making “God's Eyes” with popsicle sticks and yarn. The God's Eye or Ojos de Dios are commonly found in Central and South America, as well as the southwestern United States and are considered to be a spiritual eye that has the power to see and understand things past, present and future. For this reason, I decided to put a glass eye in the center of each of my nests. The eye is watching you, reminding you to do your part to control waste and restore safe habitats for all living creatures.

I began this project during an artist residency on the Long Beach Peninsula incorporating materials washed up on that beach landscape. The goal for this project was to initially create a few dozen nests, which grew to 150 after learning about the Audubon report that we would lose that many bird species if we did not control carbon emissions at their current levels. I continued the project collecting detritis from my urban surroundings and also at another residency at Pine Meadow Ranch in the Cascade Mountains. The installation of 150 nests will be shown at my mid-career retrospective, with a portion of sales to benefit Mount Pisgah Arboretum.

Upon completion, I learned that in just two years, the number of bird species at risk of extinction has now reached 389. Clearly, this project is not done.

10% of profits in Phase 1 of this project were donated to Mount Pisgah Arboretum.