Activity Guide by Kate Kwasneski
Intern, Grinnell College Museum of Art
Look and Learn
What was the last bird you saw? There are around 10,000 known species of birds on Earth. Birds come in many shapes and sizes, from tiny chickadees to giant ostriches. Birds have wings, but they cannot always fly. They also have feathers and a beak and lay eggs. Birds can live in many habitats, such as in fields, on the water, or in cities. Artists often represent birds in their art. Birds make a good artistic subject, because they represent a variety of animals living in many habitats. Brightly colored songbirds can give an image a happy mood, but crows and ravens can give an image a spookier mood. The Grinnell College Museum of Art has many works featuring beautiful birds, which we will look at in this activity guide.
It’s not clear exactly what kind of birds these are, but they are definitely some type of songbird. Songbirds are the most common kind of bird, making up more than half of the kinds of birds on Earth. This painting is in a realistic style: it tries to depict the birds as they actually appear in real life. You can see individual feathers in the wings of the birds. What do you think is happening in this painting? Do you like the art style?
This etching shows a crow, an owl, a falcon, and a bat. While a bat is not a bird, the other creatures are. This piece demonstrates a kind of bird we have not yet looked at: birds of prey. These birds hunt for small animals like mice and songbirds. That might be why the birds depicted here are portrayed in dramatic black and white: they are not as cute and cuddly as the songbirds in the last image. Why do you think there are so many different kinds of birds in this image? What are they doing?
These storks appear in a fairly realistic style. Their feathers are very detailed, the colors on their bodies are vibrant. The background they appear on, however, is a flat green. What does having such a plain background do to the storks in this image? What do you think the storks are doing here?
The ducks in this image are floating on a snowy pond. There are two of them, and they look very different even though they are the same species: one is male and the other is a female duck. This woodcut has a very two dimensional and detailed style. Look at the care with which the artist has marked out all of the individual feathers! What do you think of the detail in this image? Where do you think these ducks are going?
This image is much more abstract than some of the other birds we have looked at, but it is still very clearly a rooster. He is crowing, maybe to mark the morning. His feathers are represented by individual brushstrokes. Most of the birds we have seen so far are wild, but roosters are domesticated. That means they are kept by humans, in this case on a farm. What do you think of this art style? What do you think of the background used here?
Create
Draw or paint your own bird (or several birds)! The birds you choose can be real species of birds, or completely made up. It’s up to you! Think about what style you want to create in. We have seen several today, ranging from realistic to more abstract. Consider what details you should include! What kind of beak does your bird have? Is there a pattern in its feathers? When drawing your bird, it might help to start by drawing basic shapes like cylinders, triangles, and ovals. You could use a triangle to sketch out the beak, or the oval to begin the body.
My example image shows two kinds of penguins in Antarctica. Or maybe they are in a zoo. They can be wherever you think they are! When you create your birds, think about the background of the image. penguins live where it is cold and icy. The bird you draw might live somewhere tropical, or in a desert, or it might be a pet in a house.
Write
Tell the story of your birds. Where are they? What are they doing? Birds are living creatures, so they lend themselves to telling a story. You could also make some observation notes about the birds in your image. Pretend you saw them in the wild. What location did you see them in? What time of year were they there? If you drew an imaginary bird, you can make imaginary observations.