The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature will present Bird’s Eye View: Four Perspectives on view March 18-Sept. 4, and featuring new and recent works by artists Chris Maynard, David Tomb, Shae Warnick, and Chester Wilcox.
Community members are invited to an opening reception at the Wildling, 3-5 p.m. Sunday, March 19.
People live among more than an estimated 10,000 bird species worldwide. These animals uniquely inform the works of the four artists featured in the exhibition.
Realistic wood carvings by Wilcox; intricately shaped and carved feathers by Maynard; a hand-crafted fabric bird doll aviary by Warnick, and an immersive wetland environment installation by Tomb all express the magic, mystery and diversity of the avian world.
“We are excited to share these four artists with our community,” said Stacey Otte-Demangate, Wildling Museum executive director.
“We hope that the exhibition will encourage our guests to better appreciate birds. They are crucial to ecosystems everywhere and are a constant reminder of the joys and importance of nature wherever you live,” she said.
Bird’s Eye View will also explore the impact of birds in our world – many bird species serve as valuable pollinators; some eat insects and rodents that would otherwise decimate gardens and vegetation; and others help to disperse plant seeds, playing a vital role in biodiversity.
Birds were always a part of Maynard’s childhood. In his youth, he took refuge in the woods around his home in Washington State where he watched birds up in the tall trees. He began working with feathers at age 12.
Today, Maynard carves feathers into intricate art. His work highlights the patterns and colors of the feathers themselves, inviting the viewer to look and look again.
Maynard works with feathers from turkeys, parrots, peacocks, and other birds and crafts them into scenes that are displayed in shadow boxes. A conservationist at heart, Maynard’s feathers are legally obtained. Many are naturally shed which means the birds they came from may still be alive today.
Tomb received a BFA in painting and drawing in 1984 from California State University, Long Beach. Since then, he has maintained studios in Oakland, New York, San Francisco, and currently Marin county.
He has exhibited in 100 group exhibitions and nearly 40 solo exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. His most recent solo exhibition: Rock and Rockfowl was exhibited at the Fresno Art Museum in 2018.
His work is currently in a three-person show at the College of the Desert, Monumentally Fragile: Large Scale Works. Tomb’s work has been published and reviewed in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper’s, Art LTD, and The San Francisco Chronicle,.
Warnick is an artist and naturalist whose multi-disciplinary study combines scientific subjects such as ornithology and botany with printmaking and painting.
In addition to time spent in her studio, her dedication to natural history has led her to work with museums and research institutions, including the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Punta Cana Foundation Group in the Dominican Republic, and Lloyd Library and Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Warnick’s recent work examines the increasingly decorative and curated role nature plays in the lives of humans, and the importance of balancing science with sentiment, fiction and folklore.
Wilcox’s fascination with woodcarving began at the age of eight after winning his first pocketknife at a Boy Scout competition. He quickly took up carving small animals and boats out of any wood he could find, and by 1982 he began focusing his work on carving duck decoys.
Today, Wilcox’s detailed lifelike carvings include every kind of bird species, from songbirds to shorebirds, waterfowl and raptors. He is a member of the Pacific Flyway Decoy Association and teaches private decoy and bird carving classes.
Wilcox’s ultra-realistic bird carvings can take up to several years to create, using a range of tools such as chisels, X-Acto knives, wood-burning instruments, and even dental drills.
Wilcox earned his master’s degree in outdoor education with an emphasis in field research and is an avid outdoorsman and conservationist.
For more, visit www.wildlingmuseum.org/news/birds-eye-view. Direct questions to info@wildlingmuseum.org or call 805-686-8315.
Exhibit sponsors are: The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, Pete & Becky Adams, Kevin & Terrie Patterson, George & Denise Rose, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, and donors to the Patti Jacquemain Exhibition Fund.
Learn more about the artists at the following websites:
Chris Maynard – www.featherfolio.com
David Tomb – www.davidtomb.com
Shae Warnick – www.shaewarnick