where natural history meets art
The First (and possibly Annual) Community Art Show is open! Members, Volunteers, Interns and Staff display their artworks at the museum. Drop by and admire our local talent.
The show is open with the Museum: Daily 10 am – 4 pm until October 31st.
If you are a member or volunteer and would like to display a piece, please give us a ring (802 434-2167) or an email (museum@birdsofvermont.org). We still have some space.
Join us for an old-fashioned ice cream social to celebrate Bob Spear, the Museum’s founder and Master Woodcarver, and another glorious year!
We’re hosting this event at the Museum on Sunday, August 22, 2010. We’ll serve ice cream and cake at 1:00 or so, right after Bob blows out the candles.
While here, visit all the new carvings from the past year. Eat good food. Spend some time with old and new birders, carvers, and other friends. Great fun for everyone.
Free with museum admission – and of course all current members get in for free. Just show us your card! (Not yet a member? Become one on Sunday—just in time.) If you let us know you’re coming, we’ll be sure to have enough ice cream. Looking forward to seeing you!
Guest Post by Nic Cormier, Education Intern
Last week we got a responses to our post that we had put on the Front Porch Forum asking if anyone had any flowers or plant donations for our gardens. Ms. Janet Labelle, who lives just down the road from the museum, invited us to her home to see if there were any plants she had that we wanted. By the end of the visit, she had kindly donated Pink Penstemon, Wild Columbine, Hazelnut/Filbert crosses, and Bee Balm. That same day Mr. Bill Mayville donated some red and purple Bee Balm and planted them himself. This week Bill also brought us old slabs of rock, which had been a foundation to a house, for our rock paths and keyhole garden. Erin’s neighbors, the Zimmerman’s, recently cut down and chipped a few old trees in their yard. They said we can go anytime and take as much as we need for mulch, which we have been using steadily for the past few days. Thanks to all for the donations.
We still have a bucket of Irises brought to us by Rick that have yet to be planted. A few Trumpet Vines need a trellis before they can be planted near the viewing window, and a couple of Stonecrops that will be going in near the rock wall in the feeding yard. We are currently working on creating a keyhole garden with a stone walk-way for a fun element to the garden as well as a walk-way to a compost pile and another to the sewage pipe, both of which will be rock pathways. In the center of the keyhole we plan to erect either a bird bath that we make or a bird house with a roof that holds soil and can be planted with a short flowering plant.
Some plants that are still on the wish-list are Spicebush, Coreopsis, Turtlehead, Cardinal Flower, Winterberry Holly and Butterfly Bush, but we would also take almost anything that is donated.
On rainy days I have been working on the signage and guide that will be used. It is exciting seeing the whole project come together from thoughts to paper to reality.
Guest post from Dr. Stewart Kirkaldy, Museum Volunteer
Every once in a while one has an experience that is profoundly moving. This happened to me recently on International Migratory Bird Day at the Birds of Vermont Museum where I was working at the viewing window. A young couple came in with three children, the eldest of whom was a serious birder. She was 10 years old or less but had a “life list” of fifty-eight on arrival. Very soon she saw her first Hummingbird to which she responded with incredible vocal enthusiasm, jumping up and down and rushing across the room to give her father the news. (She added two new species to her list that afternoon.) Her interest and enthusiasm was evident all day. She was an inspiration and rejuvenated hope in my heart for the future of humanity.
The realization dawned on me that she is at one end of the spectrum of human activity and, sadly, too many are at the other end as exemplified by Big Oil Company Executives whose actions and indifference led to the recent catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But what she left me with was the hope well expressed in a hymn that ends “… when man’s crude acts deface no more / the handiwork of God.”
Guest post from Shirley Johnson, Board President, Birds of Vermont Museum, and today’s Guide on the Early Morning Bird Walk
We had good views of a Louisiana Waterthrush this morning during the weekly Sunday morning bird walk at the Birds of Vermont Museum. The bird was seen in the woods on the south side of Sherman Hollow Road, on the nature trails open to guests of the museum, on the hillside in the watershed area above the duckpond.
Early Morning Bird Walks: http://birdsofvermont.org/events.php
Lousiana Waterthrush: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Louisiana_Waterthrush/id
Bob Spear, Master Woodcarver and Founding Director of the Birds of Vermont Museum, turned 90 on February 21st!
Bob’s first carving was completed in 1938 when he carved a parakeet with just a penknife. This carving is on display at the Museum. He is also the author of the book, The Birds of Vermont, published in 1969 by the Green Mountain Audubon Society. In 1979 he started creating a collection of bird carvings in hopes of someday establishing a location where people could come to see them and learn about birds. In 1982 he was active in establishing the Green Mountain Audubon Center in Huntington and served as its first director for seven years. In 1987 the Birds of Vermont Museum opened. In addition to creating all the bird carvings on display, Spear also built the museum building and all the display cases. At the time of the opening, the museum housed only 231 bird carvings.
Spear continued to carve more species of birds and the museum’s collection has since swelled to more than 486 carvings. The length of time required for Spear to complete a carving varies widely, depending on the size of the bird. Prior to completing a wild turkey carving, which required 1,230 hours, Spear’s carving of a California condor had held the honor of having required the most hours to complete (500 hours). Bob continues to carve for the Museum and recently completed two shorebirds for the Wetland Diorama.
For more information about Bob’s accomplishments see http://www.birdsofvermont.org/carver.php
Many people have already donated $90 to the Museum to honor Bob on his birthday. The Museum greatly appreciates these donations. For those wishing to make a donation in honor of Bob please send a check to Birds of Vermont Museum, 900 Sherman hollow Road, Huntington, VT 05462. Thank you!!
Northeast Delta Dental has been sponsoring our newsletter since 2005. Their support is very important.
Jeff Landa is a former Board of Trustees member and Board President. He currently serves on the Museum Advisory Board. His advocacy and support for the museum is greatly appreciated.
We’d like to take this chance to express our gratitude. Thank you!
Enter your bird art in the Birds of Vermont Museum 2010 Art Contest.
Entries will be grouped by age of contestants.
First, second, and honorable mention prizes will be awarded in each of the following groups:
Winning entries will be displayed on the BOVM website and/or our FaceBook page with the artists’ permission.
Winners will be announced at the Museum at the Fall Festival, October 9, 2010 (see more events on our calendar).
Guy’s Farm and Yard, Williston, Vermont
Artists’ Mediums, Williston, Vermont
Ingrid Riga, Museum Curator, has finished painting the puzzle piece for puzzlePalooza. For more infromation about puzzlePalooza see http://vermontartscouncil.org/ProgramsInitiatives/ArtFitsVermont/tabid/67/Default.aspx.