Birds of the Chicago area prairies and open spaces are included in this landscape referencing the musical genre of “Pastorales”. Kestrel, Cedar Waxwing, Indigo Bunting, Scarlet Tanager, Swainson Thrush, Warblers, Kinglets, and Hummingbirds co-mingle amid prairie plants and many native pollinators essential to birds and butterflies.
A diverse group of shorebirds found in the Chicago area are represented through sound wave patterns and incorporated into a lake side landscape and over the turquoise waters of Lake Michigan. Included are the calls of Snowy Owl, Piping Plovers, Sandhill Cranes, Common Loon, and several Warblers.
Bird Migration over Chicago is recorded through a project called CALM Chicago Avian Listening at Midnight. These bird call sound waves are from this project and set against a nighttime landscape - Nocturnes referring to musical compositions that evoke night as this bird “music” does as well.
pigment print
30” x 20”
Archival recordings courtesy Cornell Ornithology Lab, recorded by Martha Fischer, Stewart D. MacDonald, Bob McGuire, Sture Palmér Peter Svingen, and Gerrit Vyn
©Eye in the Park Photography
A visual transcription of 1:18 minutes of a Nightingale sharing its beautiful voice.
The Nightingale an iconic, poetic, mystical, and magical bird has inspired poets, musicians, and mesmerized the soul since the beginning of time and across borders. A messenger of love, loss and all things in between. Known for its emotionally overwhelming range, this imagery depicts the complexity of its notes - an almost hieroglyphic-like rosetta stone for the Nightingale.
80” x 12”
The sound wave patterns of bird calls are brought together to recreate groupings of birds that the artist either saw or imagined in a world of fluid and harmonious communication.
The sound wave patterns of bird calls are brought together to recreate groupings of birds that the artist either saw or imagined in a world of fluid and harmonious communication.
The sound wave patterns of bird calls are brought together to recreate groupings of birds that the artist either saw or imagined in a world of fluid and harmonious communication.
dimensions and media contingent on exhibition space
produced as pigment prints
photo ten
jacquard silk
semi-transparent shear fabric
linens
2018
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Matthew D. Medler
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Matthew D. Medler
Putting the Work to Work - raising funds for The Cornell Lab of Ornithology - see more in Commissions Section of Web Site
image for wallpaper installation
150” high x 21.5 feet
A compilation of migratory birds that the artist came across during one particular spring migration.
SILENCED — IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER compiles all that remains of this species, both still images and video.
It is an homage to an extinct species, last seen and recorded in 1968 and was officially declared extinct in 2021 along with 21 other species. The film footage of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker was made by Arthur A. Allen, the founder of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
“Hearing an archival recording of the last male summoning a non-existent female was absolutely chilling. The incredible sense of loss, and the poignancy of a library containing this evidence of biodiversity past, was deeply moving to me, inspired this project, and led me to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology with whom I am collaborating for this body of work.” Alice Hargrave
The Kauai O’o bird was the bird that sparked the project “Last Calls” —
“Hearing an archival recording of the last male summoning a non-existent female was absolutely chilling. The incredible sense of loss, and the poignancy of a library containing this evidence of biodiversity past, was deeply moving to me, inspired this project, and led me to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology with whom I am collaborating for this body of work.”
This video is an homage to an extinct species, and is a compilation of all the imagery / footage that still exists in the Macaulay Library of the bird. The Kauai O’o was last sighted in 1987 and was recently, officially moved from the endangered list to the extinct list in 2021.
View of photographic silks and sound installation
Sonnenschein and Albright Galleries, Lake Forest College
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and Arthur A. Allen, Gregory Budney, and Vincent Gerwe
Installation includes eight silk panels representing the sound wave patterns of three species that were native to Southern China - 2019 - 10’ x 25’ x 25’
Sound Installation - Sound Editing By Alex Drosen
Work on paper study for installation
14” x 42”
Detail
Detail
Detail
To honor the 100 year anniversary of women’s right to vote in 1920 -
I thought about the parallel between women gaining their voice just as the passenger pigeon lost theirs and became extinct. that
I want to honor Martha the last surviving Passenger pigeon as well as the women of the Suffragette movement.
30” x 40” (pattern detail)
work on paper / fabric / or aluminum
Installation - Sound and Image
bird calls are semi transparent in front of the landscape gathering place
Semi transparent fabric and opaque fabric
Sizes variable according to venue
2020
Cover of the Sufi epic poem written in 1177
Illustration from the Sufi epic poem written in 1177
This is Martha — you all may know her — she is a star among birds …
She was the last surviving passenger pigeon (her mate George had passed several years before her — they are of course named after George and Martha Washington … )
Sadly since there are no recordings of the voice of the passenger pigeon I sought out the closest living relatives.
Biosphere
solvent print on silk
10' x 22.5'
2017
Layered in front approx 4' out from Biosphere:
California Condor
solvent print on semi transparent sheer fabric
10' x 12.5'
2018
Archival recordings of species vocalizations all courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and recorded by Vincent Gerwe
solvent print on semi-transparent shear fabric
10' x 12.5'
2018
Archival recordings of species vocalizations all courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and recorded by Vincent Gerwe
Biosphere
solvent print on silk
10' x 22.5'
2017
Layered in front 3' and 6' are:
American Bittern
solvent print on semi-transparent fabric
7' x 9'
2018
California Condor
solvent print on semi-transparent fabric
10' x 4'
2018
Archival recordings of species vocalizations all courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and recorded by Vincent Gerwe and Steven R. Pantle
dimensions and media contingent on exhibition space
produced as pigment prints
photo ten
jacquard silk
semi-transparent shear fabric
linens
2018
Archival recordings of species vocalizations all courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and recorded by Vincent Gerwe
Snowy Egret, Goldfinch, Indigo Bunting, Song Sparrow, Black and White Warbler, Palm Warbler, Song Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Song Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Pileated Woodpecker
Esperanza, Pigment Print
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Arthur A. Allen and Gregory Budney
Snowy Egret, Goldfinch, Indigo Bunting, Song Sparrow, Black and White Warbler, Palm Warbler, Song Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, Song Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Pileated Woodpecker
The Luxury of Night
Scarlet Tanager and female Indigo Bunting, calls
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Arthur A. Allen
Violet Night, Migration Season, Snowy Egret
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Arthur A. Allen
Violet Night, Migration Season, Scarlet Tanager
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Arthur A. Allen
Violet Night, Migration Season, Scarlet Tanager and Snowy Egret
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Arthur A. Allen
Prairie Dusk and Scarlet Tanager
Sizes variable
pigment on jacquard silk or photo-tek
2017
Images of archival recordings of sound waves of calls and other vocalizations courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology / Nene recordings by Gregory Budney
Migratory Bird calls, spring
Veeck Gallery Installation, 2018
pigment print on silk
36” x 149”
Archival recordings of species vocalizations all courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
University Galleries
Alice Hargrave: New Works
Photographs, Photographic Fabric Walls,
and Sound Installation
Archival recordings of species vocalizations all courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Installation View at The Arts Club of ChicagoSound component plays from a parabolic speaker above
consisting of archival field recordings from the 1950's
Re-contextualized and re-compiled, In collaboration with Artist Walter Kitundu.
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Arthur A. Allen
Pigment Print on Silk
40" x 30"
2018
Sound component plays from a parabolic speaker above
consisting of archival field recordings from the 1950's
Re-contextualized and re-compiled, In collaboration with Artist Walter Kitundu.
Archival recordings courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Arthur A. Allen
Pigment Print on Jacquard Silk
40" x 30"
Semi-transparent shear fabric or jacquard silk
4' x 6'
Phototek Wallpaper (sizes variable due to venue specifications)
10’ x 25’
Archival recordings of species vocalizations courtesy The Cornell Ornithological Lab and recorded by Arthur A. Allen
dimensions and media contingent on exhibition space
produced as pigment prints
photo tek
jacquard silk
semi-transparent shear fabric
or linen
2018
Archival recordings of species vocalizations all courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
dimensions and media contingent on exhibition space
produced as pigment prints
photo tek
jacquard silk
semi-transparent shear fabric
or linen
2018
Archival recordings of species vocalizations all courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and recorded by Justin Hite
dimensions and media contingent on exhibition space
produced as pigment prints
photo tek
jacquard silk
semi-transparent shear fabric
or linen
2018
Archival recordings of species vocalizations all courtesy of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Steven R. Pantle
Some of my first interests into the avian world was through the eyes of my mother as I re-photographed stills from her home movies shot on super 8 mm film.
30"x40"
2004
pigment print
Some of my first interests into the avian world was through the eyes of my mother as I re-photographed stills from her home movies shot on super 8 mm film.
30"x40"
2004
pigment print
Some of my first interests into the avian world was through the eyes of my mother as I re-photographed stills from her home movies shot on super 8 mm film.
30"x40"
2004
pigment print