A Bird in the Hand - Art Gallery of Alberta

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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramHidden BirdsFOR THE TEACHER John James Audubon (1785-1851)is one of many illustrators who drew birds and animals.Audubon (for whom the Audubon Society is named) madeit his life’s quest to record every bird in North America. Hedid large, detailed paintings, frequestly traveling for monthsat a time. His paintings were reproduced in Audubon’s Birdsof America, The Elephant Folio. In it, birds were depicted intheir natural habitat of swamp, tree, reeds, grasses, nests,water, or the seashore.Vocabulary:sgraffito: An Italian word for ‘little scratch’ and used to describe adecorative technique where the surface is scratched away with asharp tool, often revealing a contrasting underlying colour.Arctic Tern, 1835, John JamesAudubon, St. Louis MercantileLibrary at the University of Missouri,St. Louis.Preparation: Audubon’s Birds of America paintings are the inspiration for this project.Depicting birds accurately and with sufficient detail is important, so unless you cantake students to a zoo, you may have to rely on small black and white photocopies. Aminiature of The Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio of Audubon’s Birds of America isinexpensively available in most museum shops. (Colour is unimportant in this project.) Tryto have a variety of photos so that no two drawings are the same. Encourage the studentsto draw the birds accurately , then encourage them to use wildly unrealistic colours in theirdrawings.Interdisciplinary Connections:Science: Species in Danger. This Project is a natural for students to investigate what hasbeen done to rescue bird species in danger of extinction (such as the Whooping Crane)or to analyze flight. Students might even be able to participate in the Audubon Society’sannual backyard bird count.Social Studies: Artists and Pioneers. Students could investigate the opening of the West,and the part that explorers, surveyors and naturalists (such as Audubon) played in luringadventurous people to move Westward. Or students could do biographies of some of thesefamous explorers and pioneers.These bird drawings bystudents were brightlycoloured with crayon.They were then coatedwith India ink mixedwith a small amountof liquid detergent.When dry, the ink wasscratched using a rulerand nail.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramHidden Birds continuedSTUDENT PAGEMaterials:9x12 inch paperphotocopies of various birdscrayonsIndia ink mixed with liquid detergentrulers2 inch finishing nailsDirections: John James Audubon was a famous illustrator who made a painted record ofall the birds and animals of North America. Your job is to illustrate an actual bird.1. Work from a photocopy or photo of a bird. Draw the size as accurately as possible, andbe careful with details such as the legs, wings, beak. Place the bird in an environmentsuch as a jungle, water, seashore, or forest.2. Now that the bird has been accurately drawn, use your imagination to colour it brightly.The bird can be in very bright colours. Background items such as trees and leaves can bedone in blues, yellows, turquoise, light green, and dark green. Put paper underneath theedges as you colour to protect the table. Colour intensely, not allowing the paper to showthrough.3. Before doing this step, make sure your name is on the back of the paper. Brush Indiaink mixed with detergent (to keep it from “crawling”) on top of the entire composition. Allowthis to dry overnight.4. Use a ruler and a nail to scratch straight vertical lines through the ink from the top to thebottom of the paper. These lines shoudl be approximately 1/16 inch apart. The more carefullythis is done, the better the result will be. The brightly coloured bird will shine throughthe black “cage”. These lines may be done diagonally, but the use of the ruler is importantbecause the straight lines contrast nicely with the curves of the bird.AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca
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A Bird in the Hand - Art Gallery of Alberta

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