66 Birds/ 3 Degrees Statement

“66 Birds/3 Degrees" is a visual and sound environment of Western Washington birds that are at risk if global warming is not mitigated.  I first conceived of the project after seeing the publication "Survival By Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink" by the National Audubon Society.  This study assesses the impact of climate warming at up to 3 degrees on North American bird species.   With the intention of using birds to make a visceral impact about the consequences of global warming, I refined a list of Western Washington birds identified as at-risk in the Audubon study and birds listed as endangered or threatened by WDFW. I enlisted the help of Dr. John Bower, who wrote the text about each bird in the display based on the study and his extensive knowledge of Northwest birds. A diverse set of birds were chosen, with species representing forest, grassland, montane, freshwater, and marine habitats.  In our choices, well-known and common species were favored over transient or rare birds, as the intention of the project is to make an impact on the viewer through what is familiar, known, and possibly deeply felt.

I painted each bird with a neutral back ground in a portrait style, with each bird looking the viewer in the eye, and 3° is silkscreened somewhere on the canvas. The paintings are accompanied by a motion sensor player playing the bird’s song, so the viewer will hear the bird’s song while making eye contact with the image. I was aiming for a confrontation, one in which the bird is not sentimentalized, nor anthropomorphized, but respected. In the words of Henry Beaton, “They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time.” Although the exhibit is inspired by concern about the current and future risks to birds, they represent all nature at risk, and the “morning chorus” bird recordings contrast with the silent void of a world without the music of the natural world.