In the spring of 2009 Thadeus Reed and I created these 5 birds out of paper mache and magazines as a par of New Town's On the Trail of... The show asked for artists to create works in multiples that could be placed throughout the Hahamonga Watershed park for a weekend in June.
Our birds have cardboard phonograph-like horns on their faces and small 8 ohm speakers housed inside their heads along with a battery pack and an mp3 player. They played re-imagined birdsongs that we created using viola, voice and/or digital processing. They also played voices reading the names of various birds from around the world.
The birds were placed throughout the park so that visitors would happen upon them as they wandered through the trails. The cones on the faces of the birds created a kind of sound tunnel so that often you would hear the birds before seeing them. This meant that we could hide them in the trees for listeners to discover. This was the desired effect as it is almost impossible to compete with nature when you are putting on a sound installation and instead we opted to sightly color the already full auditory palette. Thadeus and I work together often and we create works that invite the listener to be drawn in and listen more closely- if they so choose.
New Town offers grants and shows to local artists in Pasadena, CA