“Birds of a Fiber”: Call to Artists from the Birds of Vermont Museum

Do you create with fibers? Do you have a thing for birds, science, or conservation? We do too. Please consider sharing your artistic and craft skills with us and our visitors!

The Birds of Vermont Museum seeks both art and craft for our 2015 season Art Exhibit, “Birds of a Fiber”. The show runs from May 1 to October 31 in the Museum’s multi-purpose room, halls, and foyer. Art should speak to or about birds and conservation. Our goal is to show a wide yet harmonious variety of work and media.

We seek fiber-based submissions from art trading card size to double-bed quilts, from felting to weaving to collage to…. Most art will be hung on the walls. We have shelf space for three-dimensional works and some ceiling space if your work is suitable there. Feel free to visit and scope out the options.

A few Birds of a Fiber from a google search. Let these inspire!
A few Birds of a Fiber from a google search. Let these inspire

You may submit up to 3 works, by sending not more than three (3) .jpgs showing your work to museum@birdsofvermont.org ; please put “Submission for Birds of a Fiber” in the email subject. If you do not have email, you may send up to three prints to the Museum, attention Birds of a Fiber. Please include your contact information and a description of fibers/media, size, and weight. Entries are due by March 1, 2015.

Museum staff will select pieces by March 21 and will let artists know by email if possible. We are looking to showcase diverse interpretations from both new and returning artists. The Museum asks for permission to reproduce images of the selected works in print and online as part of publicity for the exhibit; if you prefer partial or cropped images for this, or have preferred images, please tell us or supply those.

Selected pieces should arrive at the Museum during the first weeks of April and be ready to hang (if applicable). Artists are responsible for shipping, or drop-off/pick-up. Pick-up should occur by November 30, 2015.

Artists who show their work here are invited to sell originals, prints, and/or cards through us (on consignment). We often arrange artist workshops at the Museum as well.

Please call or email Kir Talmage or Allison Gergely with any questions. We can be reached at 802 434-2167 or museum@birdsofvermont.org. We look forward to seeing your work!

Call to Artists: Perilous Passages

The Birds of Vermont Museum seeks artwork for an exhibit commemorating the Passenger Pigeon. In the 100 years since the last Passenger Pigeon died, a deeper and more passionate comprehension of extinction compels us to conserve and protect. The Museum’s exhibit intends to highlight different aspects of the Passenger Pigeon’s story and its consequences. If you have (or will be making) art that speaks to this, please let us consider your work for our exhibit.

The exhibit will be a part of Project Passenger Pigeon’s 2014 centenary observation of the extinctions of the passenger pigeon. It will be open from May 1 – October 31 at the Birds of Vermont Museum (http://www.birdsofvermont.org). For more on the project: http://passengerpigeon.org/

How to submit: send up to 3 digital images (by link to your online portfolio or attach a JPG) to museum@birdsofvermont.org . Recommended size: about 800-1600 pixels on the longest side. Deadline for submission: March 15. Artists will be notified between March 16 and 31. We will be hanging the art between April 15-30.

If you are interested in selling your art (or cards/prints) during the exhibit, please let us know that as well.

A Call to Vermont Bird Artists!

Do you do birds? The Birds of Vermont Museum and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies are collaborating on an exhibit for this year at the Birds of Vermont Museum. We are celebrating the VCE’s updated Breeding Birds of Vermont atlas and its release as a printed book (see more at http://www.vtecostudies.org/vbba/). This atlas is a gigantic citizen-science project and the result of hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours of birding observations and data analysis.

We seek art to complement the data-rich maps and species descriptions. The exhibit will run from May 1 through October 31.

The birds we’re looking for are these:

  • American Kestrel
  • Bank Swallow
  • Blackpoll Warbler  
  • Merlin
  • Red-bellied Woodpecker  
  • Tufted Titmouse  
  • Whip-poor-will  

The art we seek is ready to hang, and is at least 10” x 10” (up to say, 3’x3’). We’re happy to consider sculptures (especially if it fits on a small wall-mounted mantle-style shelf or can be hung on a wall). We are hoping for a diversity of media, and we’re happy to carry some prints and cards of yours in our gift shop as well for the season. The original work can be for sale or not, at your discretion.

Are you interested? Do you have something you’d like to exhibit with us? Do you want to check out our exhibit space? Call or email us, tell us about it, and send us an image (.jpg preferred) by Friday, April 5. We’ll be choosing up to 15 works of art for this exhibit. We’ll need to hang the artwork by the first weekend in May. You can reach us (Erin, Kirsten, and Allison) at (802) 434-2167 and museum@birdsofvermont.org.

We look forward to seeing your work!