This summer, the Storm King Art Center is hosting an exhibition called “Indicators: Artists on Climate Change.” One of the thought-provoking works on view is Birds Watching by Jenny Kendler, current artist-in-residence with the Natural Resources Defense Council. It’s a site-specific installation of 100 reflective aluminum signs, each depicting a large scaled, realistic bird’s eye. Each represents a species of bird facing the threat of extinction due to climate change. The birds are watching us humans, it seems to say, to find out what we’re going to do about it.
This Sunday, August 12, has been designated the Day of the Bird at Storm King, and it begins with the more familiar, less unsettling dynamic of humans watching birds. Eric Lind, director of the Constitution Marsh Audubon Center, will lead a bird tour at 8 a.m. Preregister at s.winston@stormkingartcenter.org. At 10:15 a.m., Kendler and fellow artist George Boorujy will conduct a drawing workshop titled “Avian Encounters: Retuning the Eye through the Hand,” which also requires preregistration. The artists’ model – posing nude but for feathers – will be a falcon brought in by master falconer Leigh Foster, who will be present from noon to 4:30 p.m. to introduce visitors to this magnificent bird.
Afternoon activities will also include a panel discussion on “Art & Avian Advocacy” featuring Kendler, Boorujy and Natural Resources Defense Council managing director Andrew Wetzler, moderated by Storm King senior curator Nora Lawrence; and a reading and book-signing by naturalist Dr. J. Drew Lanham, author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature. The Day of the Bird wraps up with a live performance by Sandbox Percussion, an ensemble of five percussionists and two piccoloists, of John Luther Adams’ composition songbirdsongs.
All programs in this special event are free with Storm King admission: $18 for adults, $15 for seniors (65+), $ 8 for ages 5 to 18 and students and free for children aged 4 and Art Center members. The Storm King Art Center is located at 1 Museum Road in New Windsor. For more info on the Day of the Bird and other museum offerings, visit https://stormking.org.
Join the family! 
