birds of many feathers
Bridget Marcus has been bird watching for most of her life and her wonder and love for birds is only increasing as the vulnerability of our avian neighbors becomes ever clearer. Growing up in South Africa much of her free time was spent in the “bushveld” resulting in a deep knowledge of South African birds. Since emigrating to the midwest United States, she has grown to know and love the birds of eastern deciduous forests and urban gardens.
About five years ago, inspired by her mother’s watercolor painting, she took watercolor and then pastel classes at the Des Moines Art Center. During this time she started doing a watercolor or sketch of the bird depicted on the Audubon ‘bird a day‘ calendar and has now a collection of about 1500 of these birds, some in sketch books and some on watercolor paper. A small sample of these birds are included in this exhibition.
Bridget loves intense, highly saturated color and so has been drawn to pastels. Jack Wilkes, her private teacher and mentor, has exposed her to the magic of this medium. The birds selected in the “Flight Patterns” series shown here are South African birds in flight. The backgrounds either represent an “African” pattern seen in fabric and in indigenous art forms, or seek to depict the birds’ environment, maintaining a tension between bird and background.
Elephants have been another source of wonderment for Bridget and she has been fortunate to have had numerous awe-inspiring – and on one occasion terrifying – elephant experiences in Southern Africa. In addition she and her family adopted a couple of elephant orphans at the Sheldrick Orphanage in Nairobi and were then able to visit this remarkable facility. The plight of African elephants is desperate and Bridget seeks to draw attention to their magnificence using charcoal which seems to capture their majesty particularly well.
As a part of Bridget’s commitment to aid in bird conservation, she will donate 30% of any sales at this exhibition or from online sales to the Audubon Society to assist them in the meaningful work being done by this important organization.
Learn more and purchase her artwork at
www.bridgetmarcusart.com
About five years ago, inspired by her mother’s watercolor painting, she took watercolor and then pastel classes at the Des Moines Art Center. During this time she started doing a watercolor or sketch of the bird depicted on the Audubon ‘bird a day‘ calendar and has now a collection of about 1500 of these birds, some in sketch books and some on watercolor paper. A small sample of these birds are included in this exhibition.
Bridget loves intense, highly saturated color and so has been drawn to pastels. Jack Wilkes, her private teacher and mentor, has exposed her to the magic of this medium. The birds selected in the “Flight Patterns” series shown here are South African birds in flight. The backgrounds either represent an “African” pattern seen in fabric and in indigenous art forms, or seek to depict the birds’ environment, maintaining a tension between bird and background.
Elephants have been another source of wonderment for Bridget and she has been fortunate to have had numerous awe-inspiring – and on one occasion terrifying – elephant experiences in Southern Africa. In addition she and her family adopted a couple of elephant orphans at the Sheldrick Orphanage in Nairobi and were then able to visit this remarkable facility. The plight of African elephants is desperate and Bridget seeks to draw attention to their magnificence using charcoal which seems to capture their majesty particularly well.
As a part of Bridget’s commitment to aid in bird conservation, she will donate 30% of any sales at this exhibition or from online sales to the Audubon Society to assist them in the meaningful work being done by this important organization.
Learn more and purchase her artwork at
www.bridgetmarcusart.com
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