home to birds

BIRDS ARE FREE  to fly about. They make their homes in trees. They navigate thin air. They eat, well, like a bird. They sing songs whenever they like. Direct ascendants from the dinosaur, they hold the wisdom of the ages. They are gifts of hope and happiness.

MY FASCINATION with birds continues to grow. Aside from the real ones, I see birds in art everywhere I look—Twitter's logo (follow me here), the symbol of the country where I live and even the name of one of my favorite local places to eat, Ria's Bluebird.

FITTINGLY, I met my friend David Schump at Ria's for a delicious brunch this weekend and he graciously brought along a piece from his folk art collection for me to photograph. I had long admired his bird tree—a natural limb decorated with a flock of nine unique birds. Hand-carved and painted (circa 2004) by American folk artist John Carlton (in Delaware), this celebration of birds is quite a beautiful work of art.

ARTISTS CELEBRATE birds in their artwork in every discipline it seems. Two other artist's works I'm picturing here are an illustrated book by Australian artist Jeffrey Fisher and hand-turned birdhouse ornaments by local Georgia woodworker Betty Fugate.

ACKNOWLEDGED as having influenced a generation of designers and illustrators world wide, with birds being his preferred muses, Jeffrey Fisher's book offers up 46 different bird species in illustrated portraits. Each bird is painted in his unique style—unexpected, colorful and beautiful—and paired with quirky musings by his wife, Christine Fisher on each species' history and lore. Jeffrey states in the preface of Birds: "This book is nothing but an enthusiasm for birds. There being a bevy of collective terms for our winged friends—a murmuration of starlings, a ubiquity of sparrows, an unkindness of ravens, an exultation of larks, a pandemonium of parrots—here be an enthusiasm for birds."

WOODWORKER, Betty Fugate of Whirlingwood Studio in Georgia made the birdhouse ornaments pictured alongside the book. A crafter with a myriad of materials from embroidery to pyrography since childhood, Betty hand-turned these ornaments out of exotic woods. They will be beautiful and fun additions to a decorated tree. I've long thought of designing a tree with nothing but birds, and since trees are homes to many types of birds, it only makes sense. What better way to celebrate nature than to celebrate a home in nature?

FOLK ART FLOCK | (Above, top) This tree of birds was crafted by American folk artist John Carlton in 2004. The bird vase is from Target several seasons ago. The cast iron basket (filled with moss) was purchased in the Garden Gift Shop at Atlanta Botanical Garden.

FOR THE BIRDS | (Above, bottom) The illustrated book simply titled Birds is by Australian artist/illustrator Jeffrey Fisher (Chronicle Books) contains some of the most unique celebrations of birds in art I've seen. The hand-turned wooden birdhouse ornaments were made by woodworker Betty Fugate who resides locally in Georgia.

©2010 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

photography and styling by Darryl Moland, 
folk art bird tree by John Carlton, 
birdhouse ornaments by Betty Fugate

BEYOND WORDS | A heartbreaking scenario played out all-too-often because of Big Oil's unbridled greed, corruption and self-regulation: An oil-soaked bird against the side of the HOS, an Iron Horse supply vessel, at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on May 9.

spring forward

This pale green goose feather tree is abundant with spring-themed ornaments from my collection. Topped with a patterned ceramic bird, the effect is magical.

THE  POLLEN  COUNT  this past Wednesday in Atlanta was 5,733 (particles of pollen per cubic meter of air). The count was more than 2,000 higher than last spring's peak and only 280 below the record reading of 6,013, set on April 12, 1999. The major pollens present are from trees of course (birch, oak, pine and sweetgum), so this is an especially fertile year, which makes one feel like Dorothy must have felt on the yellow brick road crossing the poppy field to find Oz. Nature is having a full-tilt orgy all around (pollen is essentially the "sperm" of trees). While my allergies are not yet going haywire, I do feel a certain edgy lethargy in breathing air heavy with pollen. Everything is dusted with a powdery yellow-green. And the air is thick with the stuff of life.

MAYBE  I'VE  BEEN  too effective in my spring-inducing ritual of decorating trees. The wet and cold winter here (in Atlanta) suddenly gave up the ghost, and everything is blooming at once instead of in stages as it usually does. Everywhere you look, there's something sprouting new life, from the tiny white strawberry blooms in the strawberry pot on my deck to the spring bulbs showing their vibrant colors. The holiday tree I decorated a few years back as a harbinger of spring tells such a story of abundant life. I was thinking of my father when I was creating it, because his favorite season was spring. Down to the white picket fencing around the base and the long ribbons suggesting a summer Maypole dance around the tree, this was a fresh and cheerful presence during the winter holidays that year—a direct representation of the lore of the origins of the decorated tree and a pre-season celebration of the return to brighter and warmer days.

AN  ARTIST  FRIEND,  (Ande Cook), whom I have been fortunate enough to work with in a past job was also commissioned to paint a number of works for Atlanta Botanical Garden a few years ago. I bought a print of one of the paintings pictured (left) which illustrates the mythology of the spring season with a blackbird serving as a canvas for all the life of the season. Like this painting, spring is truly the most forward-looking season of the year—an abundant promise. And I'm loving spring's warmth, despite the lethargic reaction to the pollen. It's a chance to appreciate the surprise of new life in every form, once again.

WINTER INTO SPRING |  (Top and above, right) This pale green goose feather tree (from the defunct Martha by Mail catalog) is abundant with spring-themed ornaments from my collection. Topped with a ceramic bird patterned much like the painting shown above, the effect was winter magic.

HARBINGER OF SPRING |  (Above, left) A blackbird lands on the winter forest floor and spreads her wings with a promise of spring to come. The original painting by talented artist Ande Cook is gouache on panel and one of 16 works commissioned by Atlanta Botanical Garden. You can buy a high-quality digital print like mine in her Etsy shop.

©2010 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

photography by Claudia Lopez, styling by Darryl Moland

painting by Ande Cook