The James A. Michener Art Museum presents “Sarah Kaizar: RARE AIR,” an exhibition featuring original gouache and ink artwork from the book “RARE AIR: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies, and Bees,” an illustrated work about diminishing flighted species and citizen science, authored by Sarah Kaizar with writing by A. Scott Meiser, to be published by Mountaineer Books in September.
The exhibition, running May 13 to Nov. 5, expands on the book’s stories and research with playful interactive installations. “RARE AIR” connects audiences of all ages to the diversity of our ecosystems and the extraordinary creatures that populate them.
Kaizar’s work enables audiences to recognize and appreciate the winged creatures that share our world. It offers strategies—big and small—to slow or reverse the threats that face them. Visitors can discover, explore, play, and create while learning about urgent issues in wildlife conservation.
Kaizar says, “I hope that my work with endangered species will slow people down and deepen their empathy for the world that we live in, even by just a shade or two. I think these individual portraits create small spaces for a personal connection around them. Showing them collectively, starts to make it feel more powerful and forces you to stop and look at them.”
Chief Curator Laura Turner Igoe adds, “There is a lot to discover in Kaizar’s meticulous, yet playful, drawings of the creatures that inhabit the air around us. Visitors will enjoy learning more about these endangered species and their fight for survival.”
In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum will host Unplugged Family Days – Make and Take Sundays, Nesting Balls, from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, May 21.
Families are invited to participate in fun make-and-take activities inspired by current exhibitions and facilitated by museum education staff. Create a little gift for the feathered friends in your neighborhood by making a nesting ball filled with helpful home-building materials for birds.
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