Three beds sat along a wall of Cindy Kane’s studio. The beds gave off the mood of a refugee or army camp, but instead of people the beds held images of bird heads, hand painted onto each pillow. The heads were black, red, and blue, a stark contrast to the snowy white of the pillows.
In print, at the foot of each bed, was the bird’s species name and the year of its extinction.
For a one-day-only show, Ms. Kane will place 15 of these creations in the old Marine Hospital in Vineyard Haven. The show is called Empty Skies and it will land briefly here on Friday, July 15, from noon to 8 p.m. at the future home for the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.
Ms. Kane admits that she is no “birder” but that she was inspired by her neighbor and serious birder, Robert Culbert, who conducts bird tours on the Island, and Su Rynard’s documentary, The Messenger, which tells the story of the depletion of songbirds around the world. “We won’t see a slow trajectory of the birds dying off,” Ms. Kane said. “We are very likely to see just one species, just gone in one day.”
Ms. Kane has a passion for using her art to communicate. She originally thought that she would focus on hawks in flight, but when she was flipping through old bird books for inspiration, she realized that many of the species in the books were extinct.
“When I latched onto the idea of the birds, I thought, wow, why don’t I paint extinct birds on each pillow, because all that is remaining of these birds is in our psyche now. They are all gone. We have no record of them, many of them not even in photographs they are so long ago.”
Ms. Kane selected the 15 birds in her installation for their attractiveness and their stories of extinction.
“The passenger pigeon used to blacken the skies,” she said. “It is just hard to fathom; it is really hard to fathom.”
This is not the first time Ms. Kane has felt the need to make a statement with such unique artwork. Just last year, she created an exhibit called the Helmet Project as a traveling show. For that work she collected 50 helmets from Viet Nam war journalists, complete with their handwritten notes from the war. The helmets were hung from the ceiling for a chilling sense of remembrance.
“Some part of my artistic temperament feels connected to telling some story that has a sociological impact,” Ms. Kane said. “It has to be relevant.”
According to Ms. Kane, this desire can be inhibiting. However, she has never let anything hold her back. She quit high school at age 17 because she disliked institutional learning. She headed west and worked as a guide in the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and other parks. She then lived in Paris for a year, followed by Berkeley, Calif. and New York city. She moved to the Vineyard 20 years ago.
The Island has proven to be a fruitful place for Ms. Kane’s artistic sensibilities. Her eyes lit up at the thought of her work in the old Marine Hospital.
“One of the great things about living here as an artist is that we have access to such spaces,” she said. “It’s just incredible how people say yes to things around here. I really wanted to show the exhibit at this particular time, when we have access to such a wonderful old building.”
Ms. Kane will arrange the white beds in three rows of five in one of the upstairs hospital rooms. She will also allow space for people to walk down the aisles for more intimate views of each bed so participants can create their own interpretations.
“I think people will take whatever experience they want,” she said. “I don’t want to dictate that. Visually, I am looking for an experience.”
Ms. Kane will present Empty Skies on Friday, July 15 from noon to 8 p.m. at the former Marine Hospital at 151 Lagoon Pond Road in Vineyard Haven.
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