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June Issue 2006
Burroughs-Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC, Features Works by John James Audubon and Installation by Janet Orselli
The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC, will present two new exhibitions including: John James Audubon: American Artist and Naturalist, on view from June 9 through Aug. 16, 2006, and Attic Habitat: Conceptual Art Installation by Janet Orselli, on view through Aug. 13, 2006.
Compiled from the archives and collection of
the John James Audubon Museum in Henderson, KY, the exhibit includes
78 of Audubon's prints of birds and mammals plus 10 of the artist's
oil and watercolor paintings, which range in subject from an American
bison to frontiersman Daniel Boone. Also included are a number
of historical artifacts, including letters, portraits and plaster
busts of the artist and members of his family; Audubon's gold-and-carnelian
seal ring with wax impression; and a commemorative sterling silver
goblet given by Audubon in affluent times to the British publisher
of Birds of America.
In marked contrast to the staid, scholarly image his name invokes,
naturalist John James Audubon's life and career had more in common
with a roller-coaster ride than an afternoon of bird watching.
Born the illegitimate son of a French sea captain and a West Indies chambermaid, Audubon reinvented himself as aristocrat and world-renowned naturalist. From a life so precarious that at one time he was jailed for bankruptcy, Audubon would become a sought-after author and lecturer who hobnobbed with heads of state and wealthy philanthropists.
Audubon's now-familiar bird prints would become the model for such twentieth century bird artists as Roger Tory Peterson and David Sibley. They were a striking departure from the work of Audubon's contemporaries, in that his birds were depicted in lifelike poses set in their natural habitats. Audubon achieved these poses by first shooting the birds - often 100 or more a day - then posing them with wire and other materials in the lifelike poses which he would later sketch.
Modern-day conservationists would perhaps be shocked to read an account by Audubon biographer Duff Hart-Davis in his work, Audubon's Elephant: America's Greatest Naturalist and the Making of The Birds of America. "The rarer the bird," Hart-Davis noted, "the more eagerly he pursued it, never apparently worrying that by killing it he might hasten the extinction of its kind."
Ironically, a number of the birds Audubon captured - literally as well as in print - did become extinct or endangered, among them the Carolina Parakeet, the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker and the Passenger Pigeon. (Prints of the latter two are included in this exhibit.) Such exploits aside, Audubon took pains to learn about the behaviors of the birds he depicted. The artist is credited with the first known bird-banding experiments in America, tying strings around the legs of Eastern Phoebes to determine that the birds returned yearly to the same nesting sites.
Despite numerous obstacles in gaining recognition for his work, Audubon ultimately achieved both popular and professional acclaim. He was elected to London's Royal Society, gave lectures and demonstrations to such luminaries of the day as Charles Darwin and Robert Knox, and counted Britain's King George IV among his fans.
Although Audubon achieved much of his notoriety while traveling in Europe, he had strong connections with the Carolinas. The artist first visited South Carolina in 1831. Among the friends he made in Charleston was John Bachman, a Lutheran minister and enthusiastic naturalist who assisted Audubon in obtaining specimens.
Bachman's sister-in-law Maria Martin, a gifted artist, assisted Audubon with the botanical background to a number of his paintings, and two of Audubon's sons married Bachman daughters. Audubon would later collaborate with Bachman on a series of plates illustrating North American quadrupeds, which was first published in folio in three volumes.
Sadly, Audubon's later years were plagued by ill health and a near-complete loss of sight, which brought his artistic career to an end. Despite the artist's critical success, following his death his widow was left in such reduced straits that she was forced to sell Audubon's original watercolor paintings, his personal copy of the four-volume Birds of America, and the copper printing plates for his great work - to the Phelps Dodge Copper company, for their value as scrap metal.
For the true Audubonophile, the Museum gift shop will have a large selection of Audubon- and nature-themed items available for purchase during the exhibit's run.
Works of art often evoke a sense of place -
think landscapes. But what if the art itself were the environment:
a place you could step into and experience first-hand? That's
the idea behind installation art, and visitors to the Franklin
G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum will get a chance to
experience it through the exhibit, Attic Habitat: Conceptual
Art Installation by Janet Orselli, on view through Aug. 13,
2006. The exhibit was created in the attic-like second floor gallery
of the Museum.
Orselli, a Columbia, SC-based installation artist, builds her
creations in and for a specific site from "found" items
and natural materials or items made by animals, such as birds'
nests. She is especially partial to objects that have emotional
significance apart from their functional purposes. For example,
a prior installation, titled Baggage, included pieces of
luggage plus objects that carried emotional "baggage"
as well, such as a small child's rocking chair.
"Through my installations, I want to create a dialogue between the viewer, the objects and a particular space," Orselli said. "My installations are a way for me to stimulate each viewer's imagination and sensory experience."
The concepts for these installations sometimes come from the space and sometimes from the objects themselves, which Orselli is continually making and which she often re-uses from one project to the next. Her favorite man-made items, she said, are old things that have been changed or achieved a unique character through years of handling and use.
When Orselli first visited the Museum's second-floor gallery, she said, its small rooms and dormer-like windows suggested an attic, hence the title Attic Habitat. That suggested a place that holds memories as well as objects from the past, some of which may have substantial value and others which may be thought of as old junk - but which their owners have difficulty parting with, nonetheless.
"In my work, I am always questioning what is valuable, and why do we value what we do," Orselli said. "That's why I (often) use things from nature, because I feel sometimes that we don't value nature enough."
For further info check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at 843/238-2510 or at (www.myrtlebeachartmuseum.org).
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