CASA Magazine
March 2015
FLOCK: Birds on the Brink
by Kerry Methner
Revealing our human hand- violent, oblivious, and occasionally creative and protective - in relation to our feathered friends, FLOCK: Birds on the Brink turns the tables on Alfred Hitchcock's horror story - from humans as victim to human impact on birds and their flocks.
Perhaps more scary than the cinema narrative, FLOCK activates powerful archetypal resonances. From black, empty bird cages, doors ajar in a futile wish for the return of extinct species, to a display of feather hats that led women to start the National Audubon Society, to a nest woven of sewing needles, to crocheted egg nests, FLOCK moves through the prepositions of relationship - for, against, with, over, and finally asks, "Where does this lead?" (implicitly asking, "Is this where we really want to go?"
Over a year and a half in planning and execution, under the gifted hand of Curator and Artist Nancy Gifford and Lotusland's Executive Director Gwen Stauffer, the exhibition and its supporting programs will be open through May 23rd.
This exhibition importantly takes the work out into the natural world of the 37 acre garden, a space at once leveling and connecting and full of the potential to surprise. There are seven outdoor installations of art, each tackling something important, from caging the uncageable, to non-human community, to hiding in plain sight with a total of over 35 local and international artists contributing work.
Kerry Methner