Right off Route 13, nestled in the Sapsucker Woods Bird Sanctuary, sits the Lab of Ornithology, its wooden and steel architecture blending seamlessly with the bridges and pathways through the forest that surrounds it. But the true beauty of the building is found in its opening hall, where two murals face each other from opposite walls.
The first is a work consisting solely of silhouettes, accompanied by numbers. It is a piece created by James Prosek in 2015, it includes over 140 avian species, and is aptly titled Wall of Silhouettes.
The second mural is over seventy feet wide and forty feet tall and is a map of the world with various bird species layered on top. This piece was painted over the course of sixteen months from 2014 to 2015 by Jane Kim with little to no help beyond the help of a scissor lift and the occasional assistant. The mural is complete with over 270 currently living bird species as well as five extinct bird species, and a black caiman (the animal most closely related to modern birds). Each bird is life sized, painted in painstaking detail, and fully colored, with the exception of the extinct birds who were painted on a grayscale. Titled From So Simple a Beginning after Darwin’s Origin of Species, Kim expressed her hopes for the piece to connect viewers with nature and remind us of the constant race that is evolution. Fittingly, she calls her work “a frozen point in time.”
When discussing her challenges in creating the piece, Kim mentioned the sheer scale and time required to paint the ten foot wingspan of the Wandering Albatross and the nine foot frame of the Ostrich. Due to their overwhelming scale and the intricate detail of each individual species these giants in the bird world were among the most time consuming. The most difficult aspect for the artist however, was to remain inside for more than a year. To complete the piece, Kim had to paint more than one bird each day, contrasting her belief that artists should connect with nature. The constant bird song played from speakers throughout the Lab of Ornithology simply did not make up for the real thing. Yet, she persisted, her efforts creating a beautiful piece that combines scientific accuracy with a bright and joyful love of nature through the intricate detail in each form.
With such a breath-taking work so close to home, it’s a must see for art and bird lovers alike.
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