BirdBrain <strong>The</strong> <strong>Owl</strong> <strong>Eye</strong> delves into... <strong>The</strong> Art of Tony Fitzpatrick
Tony Fitzpatrick Tony Fitzpatrick Studio Visit 1513 N. Western Chicago, IL July 27th 2017 Walking into Tony Fitzpatrick’s studio is like traveling back to a different time and place in Chicago. A time of an older Chicago, the gritty time of gangsters, cultural diverseness, and a time when artists didn’t have to be from a prestigious school - but created out of a vision that only they could see, a culmination unique to their being and experience. As I walk into the main working space, Tony is appropriately drawing what seems to look like a cross between a Great Horned <strong>Owl</strong> and an Eagle <strong>Owl</strong> for a new piece. I ask him what got him started drawing birds. He told me that his father had had a heart attack when he was very young and his grandmother took him and all of his seven siblings in to help care for them with his mother, and she would throw pieces of bread out the door for the birds. As an Irish Catholic family living in Chicago, Tony said they were not fond of wasting food. <strong>The</strong>y were not poor, mind you, but with eight grandchildren, food was still not to be wasted. Tony asked her the reason for this, his grandmother responded, “For a piece of bread you can hear God sing”. And since then, Tony has been completely enchanted by birds, as messagners between worlds. We move into the gallery space of the studio where large paintings of Tony’s work and other artits work were displayed. One of his assistats brings us water, and I notice from our introduction that she has a peice hanging on the wall as well. She is an artist from Moscow. We naturally start talking about owls. Tony has seen many owls in nature, which is a rare thing indeed! Screech owls, Saw- Whet owls, Great Horned <strong>Owl</strong>s. He believes that owls are the messangers from whatever is beyond this life. In many cultural myths, owls are associated with being messengers of death or just vile creatures. Tony and I both agree of course, that this should not be the case, and owls, as observers of nature and the world around them, should be revered as creatures of another world, here to teach us. Tony learned a lot from his Screech owl, named Oliver, when he was a child. Oliver was a baby owl just learning how to fly and branching when Tony and his sister found him on the ground. As an owl expert and reporter, I must include here that this is not a recommened practice and not legal today, and baby owls should be left along to figure out how to fly by themselves. However, as the story unfolds, Tony kept the baby owl and had him in his care for four years before bringing Oliver to a wildlife faciltiy where they integrated him back into his natural habitat. In those years, Tony says he leraned from Oliver to observe, to shut the hell up and look around, and to search. Some of Tony’s favorite owls are <strong>The</strong> Great Horned owls, Saw-Whet owls, and Great Grey owls. Tony is an avid birdwatcher and travels around the US watching and photographing birds, mostly so he can use them in his pieces. I ask him what determines the objects in his pieces, since they are so complex, and at times political. He says, “I determine what does not belong in the pieces first. “ Tony creates a lot of art for music album covers, but many of his works also express a politcal statement. Such as a duo of pieces that address the Isreali/Palestine issue in the Middle East. Both have illustrated birds found in both areas of Isreal and Palestine (since birds don’t regard political borders) and have “Peace be with you” in both Hebrew and Arabic - on their respecitve pieces. He is also a string advocate for the environemnt, and donates to wildlife causes. In this respect, of course, we agree and I tell him that the message of the <strong>Owl</strong> <strong>Eye</strong> is to educate and help donate to owl organizations that help owls with breeding programs and helping them to survive climate change and political/ human interruption. All artwork on these pages, previous and forthcoming, are by Tony Fitzpatrick 31
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