Fancy of Flights

Listen to the essay here

Vaimo and I have taken to logging a lot of hours on our deck this spring. May has been uncharacteristically warm (and dry) in our little patch of oak savannah and mixed grass prairie; as in giving us late June sunshine summer feels. And after the long winter, we are soaking it up. Vaimo also repurposed a tree that suffered the fate of hungry goats into an eclectic stand for a variety of bird feeders featuring seeds and suet that have brought much wonder into our lives. Nearby, the purple martins have returned and are quite loud in the five am hour - as if they alone are responsible for greeting the sun in vocal salutations. In the evenings we join the birds flitting about from trees to the feeding tree, though we’re stationary observers taking in the joys of lake life from the deck. It’s been fun to see the different types of birds coming through the last couple of months. When we were still snow covered the feeding tree was the woodpecker hangout. While some of them still come by, lately the feeding tree seems covered in red wing blackbirds (which you know are some of my faves) and grackles. Though we’ve also hosted a group of three oriels who Vaimo patiently lured with freshly halved oranges and grape jelly. Lest I not bore you with a detailed field guide of all the bird sightings, I’ll just brag that a couple of weeks ago we had a rose breasted grosbeak enjoying the buffet at the ChicFinn.

In 2004 as a first year graduate student and MacArthur Fellow at the University of Minnesota I experienced an interdisciplinary seminar led by a geographer and maybe a biologist? The details are fuzzy, but the two profs spanned two different disciplinary approaches and the point of the seminar was to learn about the varied approaches of knowledge production from different disciplinary sites. The student fellows, represented all areas of the university from the humanities, social and physical sciences and the interdisciplines (like feminist studies). And we would have energized exchanges facilitated by the different perspectives of our profs. One week we watched and discussed the film Winged Migration (2001) [LINK] which at the time I found to be rather slow, though the cinematography was stunning. Perhaps it was more about the fact that at 22 I was less inclined to be able to sit and take in a film about birds in an uncomfortable institutional chair with attached desk. After screening the trailer to prepare for this writing I was so excited about the birds I saw soaring across the screen. Especially the pelicans who I have recently developed a kinship with, as we’ve had several stop by our lake this week. At 22 I remember we discussed Winged Migration in the context of birds not giving a flying f about nationstate borders. Birds represent and live a freedom of movement unique to them. Birds become fascinating entry points into connection with nature when one stops to hear or see the birds around them. Whether pigeons in a city center or warblers in the country, birds bring us lessons through song or flight if we stop to notice them.

I am not immune to the amount of attention birding seems to be a part of the collective consciousness right now. My observation is that this may be the byproduct of a pandemic era that has forced many of us to turn to nature for healing. Or perhaps, in our current era of climate change some humans seem a bit more primed for noticing our interdependence with the animals and plants around us. Birds are beautiful creatures with quirks and preferences like the rest of us and tend to be most places humans are. I often wonder what the birds think of us as they’re enjoying snacks looking back in our direction as we enjoy snacks. I wonder if the swan’s landing in the lake is as jolting as it feels to us when we enter into a body of water sometimes. I am curious about the different air streams the turkey vultures like versus the blue jays. As Black and brown birding groups pop up across the country we are reclaiming relationships to the birds beyond identification alone. Christian Cooper has recently shared he is hosting a new show Extraordinary Birder on National Geographic and in recent press has shared that learning about birds, “adds another dimension to how you exist in the world.” It makes me think about the historical relationships my communities have had with birds and has me dreaming of Chicanx queer birding merch. Hand-sewn printed binocular cases anyone???

According to my Penguin Reference Dictionary of Symbols, across many cultures birds symbolize the relationship between heaven and earth. And for some, birds represent a channel for communicating with deities. I’ve been digging into birds symbolically and representationally in my current body of work by allowing these moments for birds to serve as a means of connecting my inside and outside spaces within the picture plane of my paintings. These small sewn and painted collages are made and then pinned and later sewn onto my paintings. And are chosen painstakingly not just for their shape and color but for their connection to the geography I’m trying to represent. I’m not a nature painter, though as I write this I wonder if this is completely true. I’m not a nature painter in the sense of having a plein air painting practice, but if what I paint about is our moment in time, and we as humans are nature, are my paintings then, perhaps, about nature? I aim to connect the social to the natural - as in, how we ascribe meaning and make sense of the birds who are in our lives. A feminist social scientist lens meets a humanist’s sensibilities. What are the stories the birds tell us if we can pay attention? What stories do they need us to share?

One goal I made for myself this year was being able to distinguish different birds of the same species from each other. Knowing they are each a unique manifestation of nature, I wanted to see if I could tell them apart from one another. This has resulted in more or less success, but it’s a practice I want to keep engaging throughout the year. It thrills me when I’m able to use my painter’s eyes to hone in on different features of a bird to see if we’ve previously met. Earlier this spring I fell in love with a fat and extra fluffy blue jay who seemed to love one particular branch on the feeding tree. When a family of three pileated woodpeckers were visiting frequently I loved greeting the family as they congregated together or especially when Junior came by themselves without their parents. With time and effort (like most things) I’ve noticed that I can tell these birds apart from each other, by size, shape, markings, or actions. It’s also encouraged me to connect with my intuition through observing if they have come by before or are new to the seed buffet. These little acts of witnessing and communal sharing of space feel needed for my spirit right now. The birds visiting this patch of land I’m deepening my relationship to, are teaching me about using my voice and taking up space. They’re also teaching about learning to love the wind as much as I enjoy the feel of the sun on my skin. They are reminding me that they carry lessons from the divine and that I will do well to turn my ear toward their songs.

What I’m Seeing

Legacy Amendment by Nancy Xiárong Valentine up at the Kaddatz Galleries in Fergus Falls, MN through June 17, 2023

In the spring of 2021 I had the pleasure of viewing twelve of Nancy’s contemporary Chinese paintings, a series of hanging scrolls connecting her family story to the characters of the Chinese Zodiac. Since then, Valentine has dry mounted them to larger silk brocade hanging scrolls and added a series of elemental paintings alongside some daring abstracted works to round out her show Legacy Amendment up at the Kaddatz Galleries in Fergus Falls, MN through June 17th. I had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with Nancy about her work and was immediately struck by her willingness to share about how her painting has evolved over the last couple of years. Nancy is a generous teacher and her paintings full of thick, black Chinese Ink atop colorful watercolor symbols and abstract marks provide varied layers of information to the viewer. One way that she aims to teach is through generously sharing her experience as someone who grew up in Otter Tail County, MN with a Chinese immigrant mother. Her work is a beautiful melding of her Minnesota and Chinese roots, using water sourced from our county’s waterways she facilitates portals for empathy related to her experiences as a mixed-race Chinese American. Nancy shared with me that she makes her work as an intuitive painter. In the zodiac scrolls, this intuitive approach is not informed by pre-sketches or a firm plan, but rather as she works with the paint, water, and paper she works to reveal what needs to come forth. Working from back to front on her paper surfaces, she finds the most fun part is leaning into her heavy hand with the black Chinese Ink to articulate what needs to be shown - whether a goat’s head or the feathers of a rooster, a mischievous monkey, or a more abstracted rabbit, Nancy’s paintings invite deep looking amongst the wide and thin swaths of color and narrow or thickly applied black lines. As a water-medium based painter I love seeing the freedom of flow represented in the making of a mark, the satisfying flourish of the whip of a pointed brush’s tip brings Nancy joy too, especially when the full brush leaves behind evidence of the weight of pigment in its bristles in the forms of spontaneous drips scattered throughout her compositions. When you go to look at the works, keep an eye out for the newest paintings (in frames) that bring together more mixed-media approaches where Nancy opts for less explicit narrative and instead shifts toward the language of abstract mark making informed by the major life transitions she’s made alongside the evolution of her painting practice. Nancy is a lovely human whose show Legacy Amendment is a gift to our communities, as is her nod to the amazing legacy amendment that supports daring work like this within Minnesota. Learn more about Nancy's art here (peep the Audacity tab for images of some of the paintings highlighted here)! 

What I’m Reading

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

Based on the recommendation of the incomparable Cate White, I recently requested this gem from my local library ILL service and have been thoroughly enjoying Rubin’s style of thinking about creativity. A book that would be a good tool in the studio for the times when one might get stuck, Rubin provides bite-size wisdoms rooted in the creative act, whether that’s planting seeds, channeling, or bringing a project to fruition, Rubin appears to be connected to the gift of creativity and not only is he intoned, but he knows the reader can be too. In fact, he asserts creativity is a human right and we would all do better to abide by our need to claim space for creativity in our lives no matter how that might manifest for us.

Artist Offerings

• Loved revisiting these photos and reflections from a Tallgrass Artist Residency fellow a year after me, but peep the mention of the bunkhouse! 
• Mariachi heals and this is beautiful writing by Julyssa Lopez
• Cesar Martinez has had work collected by MOMA this news had me going to revisit his portraits and I want to make some like him!

Creative Ritual

A quick trip to Kansas for work with a side of visiting family resulted in me catching a cold and thus me aiming to lay low for the following week post-travel. I am finally feeling like I’ve turned the corner on this head cold, but all this means I have not been logging much studio time. I have been making tiny baby step progress on the redwork quilted painting I wrote about last time, and did submit a proposal for a solo exhibition (that I’m not counting as an official rejection yet but it’s past the notification timeline so I’m thinking I wasn’t selected), and did get another one of my works submitted for a local juried show. I’ve taken on a freelance writing gig that has been super inspiring and have been mostly enjoying this rare, warm late May in Minnesota by logging hours on the deck with Vaimo on weekends and evenings. The sun feels so glorious, as does listening to bird song. I have to remind myself that this too is part of my creative work, and looking over my list of things I’ve done over the last two weeks is also enlightening because have I been laying low? #ConfessionsOfAWorkaholic For the savvy reader you will have noticed this newsletter is arriving in inboxes one day late. Past KCF would have pushed through last night and got this out after other obligations, I'm proud Current KCF opted to release this a day late instead! The shop is open! Nothing like celebrating Pride Month by supporting independent queer artists - collect some work today! Also, if you've read all these words, please help me celebrate the three year anniversary of this project and the one year anniversary of launching the podcast! Next year we should have a real party. With cake. Lots of cake. 

Questions to ponder

• What song does your heart need to hear?
• How are you in relationship with birds?
• How might observing a bird flying inform your notions of freedom?
• How can you foster interdependence with the birds you interact with daily?

Thanks for journeying with me. I hope, as always, that you take what you need and leave the rest for someone else, or for another time. 

-KCF

The Art of KCF Newsletter is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.