Bowerbirds of a Feather - An Evolution of Love
Hi everyone. It's Heidi. Here's a little love story for you.
I was sitting in the last session of an inspirational four-day conference at SketchKon 2018 in Pasadena. I was already changing gears in my mind, bracing myself for a return to snowy subzero temps ... calling the uber, getting to the airport, and arriving back home at midnight. I almost opted out of going to this talk.
Almost.
New York artist Gigi Chen's talk was called "Collection of Love". She began with the question: What have you done for love? Then she shared with us her personal totem - the bowerbird.
The bowerbird is the ONLY animal (other than human) with an aesthetic sensibility. The lovesick male curates colourful collections of things near and dear to him, and works diligently to arrange an enticing alter in front of a special bower (which he's also constructed), all in the name of love.
I'll let David Attenborough tell you about the bowerbird.
While Gigi talked, I drew.
She asked us to pull out our sketchbooks and list the precious things we would put in our own bowers. But I was way ahead of her. I had already started a bower bullet list.
Driving home up Highway 7, 1a.m., I had a thought: We could have a BOWERBIRD FESTIVAL! What if we built a bower at Proutopia? We could send photos of it to Gigi Chen, wooing her to come visit in the fall.
This would take a bit of finagling.
The next morning, I was beside myself with this birdbrained scheme. I hadn't had time to meet with her in person after her talk, so I looked her up on Instagram and sent her a message. Within 10 minutes we were chatting on the phone like long lost friends.
So Gigi, my thanks to you for your heartswelling inspiration. On June 8 & 9 we will send you our love from Proutopia, in the form of a beautiful bower.
Now then, Gigi...If we build it, will you come?
PROUTOPIA LINKS
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