Birds of Uncommon Feather

Images from a studio show with Katherine Farris

August 25–26, 2012

What began as a project to keep Katherine painting during cancer treatment grew into a year-long exploration of avian themes. Lifelong bird lovers, Katherine and Louise were drawn to express that remarkable combination of strength and fragility so familiar in the birds around them.

They started on small canvases, focusing on a single bird, a small group, or an aspect of bird behaviour. Louise, an abstract painter, often drew inspiration from Katherine's impressionistic subject matter. Katherine, in turn, was stimulated by Louise's atmospheric mark-making.

As they continued their dialogue, each influenced the other, and the works in Birds of Uncommon Feather assumed different formats and styles, evolving to include multiples, sculptures, and works on paper. While Katherine's work, which centres on B.C. bird species, is exuberant, playful, and energetic, Louise's is meditative, poignant, and sometimes haunting.

Forty-four percent of the birds studied in the State of Canada's Birds report have declined since 1970; a sobering statistic Katherine and Louise learned as their project reached the one-year mark. Thus, this studio show is both a celebration of the birds in our midst and an appeal for awareness of the impact our activities have on them.

Katherine and Louise will be donating a percentage of their sales to Bird Studies Canada, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to education, research, and conservation activities.