Overview

A sweeping look at 30,000 years of art depicting birds—from Paleolithic images to those of the Information Age—viewed through a science lens This book invites readers to enter a two-floor virtual “gallery” where 60-plus images of birds reflecting the accomplishments of human pictorial history are on display. These are works in a genre the authors term Science Art—that is, art that says something about the natural world and how it works. Darryl Wheye and Donald Kennedy show how these works of art can advance our understanding of the ways nature has been perceived over time, its current vulnerability, and our responsibility to preserve its wealth. Each room in the gallery is dedicated to a single topic. The rooms on the first floor show birds as icons, birds as resources, birds as teaching tools, and more. On the second floor, the images and their captions clarify what Science Art is and how the intertwining of art and science can change the way we look at each. The authors also provide a timeline linking scientific innovations with the production of images of birds, and they offer a checklist of steps to promote the creation and accessibility of Science Art. Readers who tour this unique and fascinating gallery will never look at art depicting nature in the same way again. Published with assistance from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Public Understanding of Science and Technology Program.

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9780300158625

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Reviews

The authors' use of birds as a binding motif gives their book appeal and coherence, and the selection of art is eclectic and apt. -Timothy Goldsmith, Yale University The authors take us in a new direction-an edgy new direction-and force us to consider broadly the relation between art and science -Alan Brush, University of Connecticut Tells a powerful and well-documented story of the interconnectedness of creative expression and birds, building a sound case for recognizing Science Art as a genre. -Kathy Kelsey Foley, Director, Woodson Art Museum A half-century ago, George M. Sutton's essay Is Bird-art Art?' began the rehabilitation of avian art in fine art circles. Humans, Nature, and Birds, in an elegant survey of the grand interplay of bird art and ornithology, makes the definitive case. -H. Douglas Pratt, Research Curator of Birds, North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences -- H. Douglas Pratt Birds were there-on cave walls and rock shelters thirty millennia ago, on Egyptian tombs, in Joseph Wright's painting from the dawn of the Industrial Age, in Roger Tory Peterson's first biodiversity guide, and today, where art is the only record of many species now gone forever. Wheye and Kennedy assemble the ultimate exhibition of bird art, with detailed notes that say so much about our world and our view of it. -Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology, Duke University The authors lead us through a wonderland where science and art intersect. -Thomas E. Lovejoy, co-author of Climate Change and Biodiversity -- Thomas E. Lovejoy Beautifully examines where science and art overlap through the common territory of observation-and the human urge to both make sense of and embrace the great unknown. -James Prosek, painter and author Masterfully demonstrates how art connects people to nature, advances science, and helps protect our environment. I'll never look at nature art the same way again. -John Flicker, President, National Audubon Society Reading this book is like having a friend with a key to the natural history art museum. The authors take us on an excursion, conveying palpable delight in works of art from across the spectrum of time and around the world. -Julie Zickefoose, artist and author of Letters from Eden Just as a glass of a fine wine is meant to be enjoyed sip by sip, this book will be enjoyed page by page. Its . . . thought-provoking images depict our age-old fascination with birds, ranging from the owl traced 30,000 years ago in Chauvet Cave, to the goshawk attacking grouse in a dramatic modern painting. -Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography at UCLA and author of the Pulitzer-prize-winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel Informative and stimulating, a must-read book for any who have derided bird art in the past. It will change your thinking. -- Dave Gagon Deseret News (07/20/2008) 0;The authors7; use of birds as a binding motif gives their book appeal and coherence, and the selection of art is eclectic and apt.1;2;Timothy Goldsmith, Yale University -- Timothy Goldsmith

Informative and stimulating, a must-read book for any who have derided bird art in the past. It will change your thinking. -- Dave Gagon Deseret News (07/20/2008)

Author Information

Darryl Wheye is a freelance artist and writer specializing primarily in birds and Science Art. She lives in Woodside, CA. Donald Kennedy is editor in chief of the journal Science. He is president emeritus and Bing Professor of Environmental Science emeritus, Stanford University. He lives in Palo Alto, CA.

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