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Local bird card project taking flight

Collaborative effort brings artists and naturalists together
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Metchosin artist Memet Burnett is helping co-ordinate the Arty Bird Card Project, which will feature local birds of South Vancouver Island. The project involves the Metchosin ArtPod, the Metchosin Foundation and Rocky Point Bird Observatory. (Photo courtesy of Memet Burnett)

A project in Metchosin involving local artists and naturalists that will provide the ABCs of birds common to Southern Vancouver Island is taking flight.

The Arty Bird Card (ABC) Project is a collaborative effort that includes the Metchosin ArtPod, the Metchosin Foundation and Rocky Point Bird Observatory.

The community-building venture is gathering a flock of local artists to capture at least 35 birds on a set of cards that will feature the artists’ work on one side and information about their feathered friends on the other side, said Memet Burnett, a Metchosin ArtPod programmer who helped get the idea off the ground. “The response from artists has been great so far,” said Burnett, who is co-ordinating the artistic side of the project. “We’ve received about 25 submissions so far and are looking for more. We hope to bring a large group of artists and naturalists together to work on the project.”

Naturalists with Rocky Point Bird Observatory have been working with the Metchosin Foundation on the pertinent data and information that will be included on the back of the cards.

“Kem Luther with the Metchosin Foundation and Ann Nightingale with Rocky Point have been inspirational and helpful,” Burnett noted. “The Metchosin Foundation did a similar project involving local plants about five years ago and they are paying for most of the printing costs for this project.”

Ann Nightingale, vice-president of Rocky Point Bird Observatory, said they are “delighted” to be involved in the partnership.

“We’ve been active in Metchosin for 25 years,” she said. “This is a great way to mix science with art.”

Burnett said the plan is to have the drawings and paintings completed by April 1 and everything computerized by the middle of the month. The cards will be completed and ready for sale by the end of May. The price will depend on the total number of cards in the deck, she added.

“We’re going to host a launch party at Metchosin ArtPod when all of the details have been finalized,” said Burnett, a Metchosin resident and artist who primarily works with clay.

For more information on the Arty Bird Card Project, fly over to metchosinfoundation.ca, rpbo.org, and metchosinartpod.ca.

rick.stiebel@goldstreamgazette.com


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