Another hundred birds! A little context: Stockyard Institute is an arts education nonprofit where we worked for years. Part of the work that we did was through Jim Duignan’s students at DePaul’s College of Education. One of Jim’s student workers suggested doing an all-call for 100 starlings as a way to get some other birds on the walls, and here’s the end result.
If you’re not familiar, starlings are tiny birds that fly in huge 100+ undulating and warping flocks called murmurings. The movement of a murmuring is hypnotic, but also they tend to devour crops in large numbers, and are seen as an invasive species. They have shiny plumage, and like the similar myna bird, can mimic and imitate the sounds of things like car alarms and human speech.
Unfortunately, I do not have the credits for this particular install, which went up on a day that we were out of the museum. I do have the one-off shot of the wooden starling sculpture on the right as my only closeup, and if anyone knows the name of this fine artist, please let me know! Thanks for tuning in this week and last as I wrap up the featured artists. We’ve covered 1,215 birds and two eggs the last two weeks, and I’ll be showcasing the last two birds in our Sanctuary tomorrow before moving on to the events. See you then!
Faiz
