Bird motifs are some of the most common designs I have chosen to paint over the years. I have always loved watching birds, but my interest in them really accelerated once we moved out to Neah Bay, WA in 1980. I was fortunate to be hired as a biology teacher at Neah Bay High School, and the job presented me with the challenge of learning local flora and fauna, and any cultural connections associated with them. Neah Bay was such an excellent place to teach biology as my students and I had access to river, ocean, and forest environments literally outside our door. The Olympic Mountain subalpine and alpine ecosystems also were easily within reach via the road to Hurricane Ridge. One of the units I taught in my Advanced Biology class centered around the annual spring raptor migration: a time in which hundreds of hawks and eagles would congregate at Cape Flattery before making their crossing of the Straits of Juan de Fuca heading north. Teaching this unit required that I improve my identification skills as well as learn as much as possible about bird physiology, behavior, and migration patterns.
Concurrently, I was learning more about Makah (and Northwest Coast Native) culture and art through involvement with my students and the Neah Bay community. I saw many prints, paintings, and carvings representing birds, but all had cultural significance and were much more that purely decorative works of art. They were visual keys to rights and privileges owned by individual families and had a cultural component that I could never achieve. However, many of my first paintings included thunderbird motifs as I was trying to learn the two-dimensional Northwest Coast art style.
Concurrently, I was learning more about Makah (and Northwest Coast Native) culture and art through involvement with my students and the Neah Bay community. I saw many prints, paintings, and carvings representing birds, but all had cultural significance and were much more that purely decorative works of art. They were visual keys to rights and privileges owned by individual families and had a cultural component that I could never achieve. However, many of my first paintings included thunderbird motifs as I was trying to learn the two-dimensional Northwest Coast art style.
THUNDERBIRD TRANSFORMATION Based on a Gitksan origin myth 1980-82
In reading The Transforming Image, by Bill McLennan and Karen Duffek, I ran across a discussion from Marjorie Halpin’s examination of Marius Barbeau’s Tsimshian fieldnotes. This discourse concerned the three levels of meaning in “crest” motifs: the animal itself, the symbolic representation of that animal, and the artifact itself which had strict ownership issues (see page 120 for this discussion). These multiple levels of meaning spoke to me and explained much of what I was attempting to achieve in my own way. Consequently, Northwest Coast art in general, and those showing thunderbirds, eagles, and ravens in particular, continue to be a source of inspiration to me to this day.
When I began to incorporate Celtic art into my designs, I turned to the Book of Kells for inspiration and ideas. In particular, I studied many designs including bird motifs and the Eagle of St. John, and all added to my learning. Again, these bird motifs symbolically had cultural significance, but in this instance were directly connected to medieval Christianity. The Capercaillie Drum I painted in 1995 was the first attempt to blend Northwest Coast Native art with Celtic design elements gleaned from the Book of Kells.
When I began to incorporate Celtic art into my designs, I turned to the Book of Kells for inspiration and ideas. In particular, I studied many designs including bird motifs and the Eagle of St. John, and all added to my learning. Again, these bird motifs symbolically had cultural significance, but in this instance were directly connected to medieval Christianity. The Capercaillie Drum I painted in 1995 was the first attempt to blend Northwest Coast Native art with Celtic design elements gleaned from the Book of Kells.
Ever since, I have attempted to blend Celtic and Northwest Coast Native art design elements in many of my paintings involving bird motifs. The meaning behind the designs still have a spiritual component to me that I hope is evident. These symbols are a material manifestation of spiritual expression.
When I became familiarized with the Arts & Crafts Movement, I continued to add levels of meaning to my choice of painting bird motifs. British architect and designer Charles Francis Annesley Voysey stressed symbolism and meaning in his designs. To Voysey, birds were “a joyful symbol of unspoilt nature” (Isabelle Anscombe in Archibald Knox by Stephen A. Martin, ©2001, page 99). He saw the eagle as “the highest flier and furthest seer”. To him eagles were representative of aspiration and revelation; “the heavenward quest” (see CFA Voysey, Wendy Hitchmough, ©1995, pages 142-143). This supported my belief in birds, through their ability to fly, as symbolizing the interfaces between heaven and earth. Two other British designers also played a large part in influencing my designs: Archibald Knox and M.H. Baillie Scott.
Archibald Knox has greatly influenced my art over the years. Knox’s personal symbol was a bird, and he used it in many forms. The ones that interested me the most were the birds he drew for the Douglas Secondary School Book of Remembrance. One particular page illuminated by Knox lists the names of those from the school who served in the Great War. Knox’s “silent birds” sit on the names of those who died in the war (see page 174 in Stephen A. Martin’s Archibald Knox, ©2001). I used Knox’s “silent birds” in my 2011 painting Patiently Waiting to symbolize the spirits of the dead.
When I became familiarized with the Arts & Crafts Movement, I continued to add levels of meaning to my choice of painting bird motifs. British architect and designer Charles Francis Annesley Voysey stressed symbolism and meaning in his designs. To Voysey, birds were “a joyful symbol of unspoilt nature” (Isabelle Anscombe in Archibald Knox by Stephen A. Martin, ©2001, page 99). He saw the eagle as “the highest flier and furthest seer”. To him eagles were representative of aspiration and revelation; “the heavenward quest” (see CFA Voysey, Wendy Hitchmough, ©1995, pages 142-143). This supported my belief in birds, through their ability to fly, as symbolizing the interfaces between heaven and earth. Two other British designers also played a large part in influencing my designs: Archibald Knox and M.H. Baillie Scott.
Archibald Knox has greatly influenced my art over the years. Knox’s personal symbol was a bird, and he used it in many forms. The ones that interested me the most were the birds he drew for the Douglas Secondary School Book of Remembrance. One particular page illuminated by Knox lists the names of those from the school who served in the Great War. Knox’s “silent birds” sit on the names of those who died in the war (see page 174 in Stephen A. Martin’s Archibald Knox, ©2001). I used Knox’s “silent birds” in my 2011 painting Patiently Waiting to symbolize the spirits of the dead.
Knox worked with another British architect and designer whose stylized bird designs influenced me the most: Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. Baillie Scott’s Blackwell House in England’s Lake District is full of beautiful windows designed by him. Many of these windows include wonderful stylized bird motifs that continue to inspire me. The Houses and Gardens of M.H. Baillie Scott by Ian Macdonald-Smith (©2010) illustrate many of his windows at Blackwell House and other homes he designed. I have used my version of “Baillie Scott birds” in many of my paintings. One example is my Baillie Scott’s Window, painted in 2010.
Now that we are living in the Skagit Valley, I’m happy to be able to witness so much bird activity. From geese and swans whose seasonal visits are celebrated to herons, hawks, and eagles who reside year-round, we are blessed with an abundance of bird activity. They will continue to inspire me to paint.
RSS Feed