Book Release December 1st, 2007

This exhibition features 40 artists and their artistic illustrations of more than 40 species of native Southern California bird species. Accompanying this exhibition is a publication/bird guide In Above and Around Park Santiago.

The Project:
This book will consist of thirty or forty different birds, interpreted by 30 or 40 different artists. Each artist, in their own medium will showcase the bird of their choice. The finished image will be laid out in a bird watching catalogue with the information necessary for identification of the species. Although there are more than forty birds to be found in Park Santiago, only 40 artist will be participating so that leaves out many of the more common species.

Statement from curator David Michael Lee
The idea came to me while living in Park Santiago, my wife Julie and I had just moved home from South America. It just may be the way things work but we moved into the most perfect neighborhood, into the perfect house, at the end of a street, onto the edge of a park filled with birds. It felt like we were all alone, it was just so quiet. Looking back I think that it was the quietness that started to really bring out my appreciation for the birds. Several years ago, before this experience, I was interested in birds. When I think about it maybe it was not birds at all, it was flight.

Humanity has always coexisted with the birds and perhaps that is why they often fade into the background and often go unnoticed. I watch them fly, swoop, dive and dodge. I get so excited when I see the motion of flight or hear a unique bird call. This exhibition does more than simply catalogue bird species; it demonstrates other artists' interpretations of how they see flight. We (Santa Ana) have an amazing park and I don't want people to overlook the sights and sounds which surround them. Just take a walk, listen, keep those eyes open and enjoy.