Breaking Free
Marisa Smith
Multi Directional Water
Rachel Belnap
Black and Red
Bryon Jentzsch
Black-billed Magpies (Pica hudsonia)
Laura Despain
I have loved birds for as long as I can remember. One of my first words was “duck,” and we’ve had chickens since I was 3. My mom has always loved nature, and as well as teaching me about trees and plants, she taught me about birds. She taught me how to tell chickadees from juncos, and that a quail call sounds like they’re saying ‘Chicago’. She taught me about robins, and killdeer, and kestrels. And she taught me about magpies.
I was 8 years old when I first noticed black-billed magpies. I’d seen them before, of course, but until that day, when I saw a magpie standing so jauntily in the sun on a neighbor’s driveway, I had never really noticed them. But the long tails, their striking plumage, and that incredible iridescence— I was entranced! I decided then and there that magpies were my favorite animals; more than tabby cats, more than armadillos, even more than robins or ducks! And after I that I became the bird girl. I looked up magpies in the bird book my oldest brother had given me, learned their scientific name (Pica pica, at the time), and started drawing them. My early drawings were rudimentary at best, but one of the things I love about magpies is how distinctive they are! Black and white and green all over, with a tail that doubles their length.
Although in the years since, my favorite bird has changed— from magpies to raptors to owls to hummingbirds to birds-of-paradise to pigeons to waterfowl, and now to whichever bird I happen to be thinking about or talking about in a given moment— magpies have always held a special place in my heart, and have always been a recurring theme in my art. So when I was trying to decide what I should draw for this art show (a bird, of course) it seemed only right to choose the bird I’ve probably drawn more than anything else: a black-billed magpie (now Pica hudsonia).“
Strange Planets
Ian M. Bowen
Queen
Elizabeth Sanford
The Man
Camille Herman
What a View
Nathan Murri
Ocean
Hannah Emerson
Pink Moon
Hannah Emerson
Swirl
Ramona Popescu
The Animal
Jathan Torsak
This is a drawing of my hero persona, the animal, an animal shapeshifter that just doesn't transform into a multitude of animals at once, but can mimic any animal ability no matter what form he is, healing powers, and a powerful electrokinesis and plasmatic breath. I really like making this character and I hope that I can continue making other characters and other things.
