for the birds

We love our artful avian friends, and Humidity is filled with beautiful bird craft and art. So we're celebrating April with a nod to all the birds populating the 'humid zone.'

Here's a sampling:

Gorgeous embroidered birds adorn handmade leather purses, made by the Bashir family of Kashmir. Local family members brought these to our attention and told us that the proceeds from these purses benefit 19 of their family members, who work together in a cottage industry.

Leslie Cohen is a fun fiber artist tuned in to the world of sock monsters and soft sculpture. She has brought in piecework birds walking around on long spindly legs. She's also concocted felted cardinals to dangle from your ceiling.

Water fowl are featured in Linda Clark's boxed sets of notecards. Herons and other water birds wade in quiet shallows. Her notecards are reproductions of her original watercolors, and come in sets of six cards.

Potter Mary Rault's charming ceramic birdhouses feature graceful leaves on their roofs. Hang these on your porch or in your garden for a beautiful accent.

Mary Jo Spector's prints and notecards are from her pen and ink drawings. She suggests beautiful birds (and other wildlife) in a minimum of pen strokes. Black and white, the prints are matted.

Starr Payne fabricates great little birdhouses from fine silver. Starr is a master at the precious metal clay process and this little series of bird-friendly work is unique. Necklace and earrings with little round birdhouses and beads are great wearable pieces.

Alicia Rosanske works with her husband, Dick, on such ephemeral things as folded-paper boxes and gift bags. Now they have brought in bird mobiles that flutter on the breeze and swing around, never failing to amuse us. One is of cardinals, one of hummingbirds and one is of pelicans.

Courtney Prahl's original collages and reproductions in little prints and notecards feature birds regularly. She has an of-the-moment flare, and creates images that are quite lovely.

Susan Frisbee and Carol Nahoom have invented beautiful mosaic birdbaths that sit on iron stands. Susan's is a bold teal with lime green dragonflies, while Carol's is an earthy pink with mauve dragonflies. Both have incorporated recycled glass, old pottery and other ingredients. These will bring beautiful color and birds to outdoor living spaces.

Carlos Montano is famous for reproducing the beautiful designs of Christine Sibley in cast concrete. Now he has added Lovebirds to the collection. These come in romantic little pairs, to sit anywhere you want a small, natural accent in your world.

Kathleen Wilcox has made a career in copper enamel. She has long featured aquatic birds in her pieces, large and small. We are featuring her marvelous wearable brooches that perch on a special wall tile when not being worn. Many have bird motifs.

Humidity features mainly one-of-a-kind craftworks and so all of these things are offered in very limited editions. Blink, and they've flown! So fly on in to the gallery today to collect these fine-feathered friends!