Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Group
2007, 27.5 in x 21.5 in
Slight variations are available.
$1000 framed, $800 unframed
Bright, verdant green images on a Modern black field depict a family group of Ivory-Bill Woodpeckers in this Woodcut. Two different blocks were used to create the green woodgrain pattern and the black and white relief image of chisel-billed woodpeckers, printed at Mannaken Press. These family groupings were likely made extinct when their habitat of trees was removed for the manufacture of Singer sewing machines. Many efforts have been made to located remaining populations to no avail.
Realizing that the immediate conservation of critical habitats is essential to our survival has become the focus of my life and my art. Themes explored since childhood have developed into a commitment to protect wildlife and to preserve natural habitats. An Audubon Society field trip to the Florida Everglades provided my first significant insight into the diminishment of natural habitats and the resultant depletion of freshwater, increasing my desire to use my art as a vehicle to promote conservation. Subsequent travels to Africa, the Amazon, Belize, the Galapagos, Costa Rica, Brazil’s Pantanal, and Trinidad and Tobago informed and expanded my world view, impacting subject and content choices in my painting and prints.
Because it is one of the rarest birds in the world, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is exceedingly appropriate for inclusion in my work. For more than half of a century this species has existed only as study skins stored in museum cases throughout the world. Most were collected in the 19th century when the birds were fairly common, but the species has been classified as “probably extinct” since the 1940’s.
In February of 2004, in the Bayou de View area of the Cache River and White River National Wildlife Refuges of southeastern Arkansas, two experts saw an Ivory bill, but were unable to document their sighting, the first in more than 60 years. In December of 2005 and 2006, when visiting these vast bottomland forests, I realized that photographing these birds to provide documentation of their existence will be difficult, given the inhospitable habitat and their extremely wary and illusive nature.
Imagining the small population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers that may still exist reminds us of the hope for rediscovery, renewal and survival. This woodcut represents specimens from Chicago’s Field Museum, collected in Florida between 1883 and 1888. Viewing and sketching them as I did can make one dream of when Ivory-bills lived in pristine, old growth forests and swamps of the southeastern United States with panthers, wolves, and passenger pigeons. What was true then is even more crucial today, great natural treasures need our protection.
2007, 27.5 in x 21.5 in
Slight variations are available.
$1000 framed, $800 unframed
Bright, verdant green images on a Modern black field depict a family group of Ivory-Bill Woodpeckers in this Woodcut. Two different blocks were used to create the green woodgrain pattern and the black and white relief image of chisel-billed woodpeckers, printed at Mannaken Press. These family groupings were likely made extinct when their habitat of trees was removed for the manufacture of Singer sewing machines. Many efforts have been made to located remaining populations to no avail.
Realizing that the immediate conservation of critical habitats is essential to our survival has become the focus of my life and my art. Themes explored since childhood have developed into a commitment to protect wildlife and to preserve natural habitats. An Audubon Society field trip to the Florida Everglades provided my first significant insight into the diminishment of natural habitats and the resultant depletion of freshwater, increasing my desire to use my art as a vehicle to promote conservation. Subsequent travels to Africa, the Amazon, Belize, the Galapagos, Costa Rica, Brazil’s Pantanal, and Trinidad and Tobago informed and expanded my world view, impacting subject and content choices in my painting and prints.
Because it is one of the rarest birds in the world, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is exceedingly appropriate for inclusion in my work. For more than half of a century this species has existed only as study skins stored in museum cases throughout the world. Most were collected in the 19th century when the birds were fairly common, but the species has been classified as “probably extinct” since the 1940’s.
In February of 2004, in the Bayou de View area of the Cache River and White River National Wildlife Refuges of southeastern Arkansas, two experts saw an Ivory bill, but were unable to document their sighting, the first in more than 60 years. In December of 2005 and 2006, when visiting these vast bottomland forests, I realized that photographing these birds to provide documentation of their existence will be difficult, given the inhospitable habitat and their extremely wary and illusive nature.
Imagining the small population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers that may still exist reminds us of the hope for rediscovery, renewal and survival. This woodcut represents specimens from Chicago’s Field Museum, collected in Florida between 1883 and 1888. Viewing and sketching them as I did can make one dream of when Ivory-bills lived in pristine, old growth forests and swamps of the southeastern United States with panthers, wolves, and passenger pigeons. What was true then is even more crucial today, great natural treasures need our protection.
On some proofs the upper right shows sewing machine needle pattern. Ivory-bill habitat in Louisiana was destroyed to create Singer Sewing Machines.