Category Archives: News

A Celebration of BIPOC Outdoors!

This is a blog post by Sarah Howdy, an amazing educator and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) specialist at the Museum of American Bird Art and Mass Audubon’s Metro South Hub. 

Mass Audubon understands the existing and increasing need to dismantle both the symptoms and causes that lead to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) feeling unwelcomed in outdoor spaces. We understand the healing power of nature, and are working to create healing spaces throughout the land that we occupy. 

The lack of representation when it comes to racial diversity in the outdoors, in social media depictions of nature, in our workplaces and beyond leads to a lack of understanding and empathy for people from all walks of life. So often missing from popular narratives and imagery of the outdoors, BIPOC are environmentalists and nature lovers deserving of greater representation and active inclusion.

Recently, our first in a series of BIPOC hikes occurred at the wildlife sanctuary at the Museum of American Bird Art.

We began our hike by discussing and connecting to the native land we occupy, which welcomes us while belonging to the Wampanoag people. We then identified species of birds who nested in bird boxes of the meadow during last season, learned about owls and amphibians of the vernal pools, created land art in the pine grove, and listened to the healing sounds of the brook. 

Rabbit Land Art – Made by Oliva (5)

We connected through discussing our favorite dishes of the lands we came from, our favorite species of birds from our ancestors’ lands (hummingbirds won!), and the beauty of our children’s curiosity with nature as well as  love of art. We said goodbye to each other and said thank you to the land we occupy, looking forward to more opportunities to gather safely.

This group aims to spread body positivity, provide a healing connection to nature for all. To highlight BIPOC individuals in outdoor spaces is to celebrate our cultures, experiences, identities, and abilities. 

The kick-off BIPOC Outdoors! Group for Mass Audubon’s Hike-A-Thon

Art in Nature: “How to Catch a Walrus in the Woods”

This is a guest blog post by Deborah Stone.

I’m a professional political scientist and an amateur naturalist. These days I wish it were the other way around, so I’ve been spending a lot of time in the woods, where mercifully, I can forget about politics. On a walk in Great Neck Wildlife Sanctuary (Wareham), I noticed a fallen branch that looked like a Pterodactyl. Then, with the idea of animal look-alikes in my head, I began to notice more creatures. One thing led to another. I spent summer and fall hunting for hidden creatures and with the help of the Library Arts Center in Newport, NH, I made a video about my adventures: “How to Catch a Walrus in the Woods.”

Nature in a Minute: Beauty in Bogs

According to the dictionary, “A bog is a mire that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, Sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands.”  Bogs have wet, spongy ground that floats over a body of water.  

Flora found in bogs is showiest in mid-summer. On a recent visit to Black Pond Bog I was rewarded with these choice beauties.

Rose pogonia  Pogonia ophioglossoides

Nestled in a bed of Spagnum moss, this delicate orchid is a rare beauty. The fringed lip is a distinctive feature. Many species of Bumblebees pollinate Rose pogonia.

Purple Pitcherplant  Sarracenia purpurea

The Purple Pitcherplant is the only pitcherplant native to New England.  Having the unique capacity to derive nutrients from sources other than soil enable this plant to grow in poor conditions. Insects are drawn to the open “mouth” of a pitcherplant. Once inside they are blocked from leaving by downward pointing hairs. A sticky fluid breaks down the inset body and “feeds” the pitcherplant.

The genus name (Sarracenia) comes from Michael Sarrazin (1659 – 1734), who was the first botanist to suggest the pitcherplant devoured  insects.

Purple pitcherplant flower

Purple pitcherplant growing in Sphagnum moss

Swamp azalea  Rhododendron viscosum

Swamp azalea is a deciduous woody shrub that grows in bogs. It is upright, reaching a height of 5-8 feet. The flowers vary from white to pale pink in color. In mid-summer the flowers are fragrant giving off a spicy aroma. The leathery, dark green leaves appear before the flowers. In the fall the leaves turn a colorful yellow/orange.

Julianne Mehegan at Arches NP

Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.

Mammals at MABA by Maris Van Vlack (RISD Student and MABA Intern)

For me, one of the best things that can happen on a hike is finding an unusual animal, and there are many unusual animals that live on the MABA property. I see squirrels and chipmunks every day, but have encountered much bigger animals also. You will see many more animals when walking quietly. If you spot something running away from you, keep still because it might return later. 

This groundhog (pictured below) waddled under the bird blind as I approached. Animals like this disappear quickly, so I have to have my camera at the ready.

Groundhog among the milkweed

A more unusual spotting: while sitting by the pond on the Main Loop Trail at the back of the sanctuary, I noticed this American Mink run into an old piece of metal pipe. I waited quietly, and a few minutes later the mink popped his head out of the pipe, allowing me to snap the picture below. He then left the pipe and disappeared into the long grass. Minks are in the weasel family and have dark brown bodies with pink noses. 

American Mink peeking out of a pipe

Last week, I crossed paths with this curious White-Tailed Deer. It initially ran away, but then came back to finish its meal. It continued eating while staring at me warily. I have found that one of the hardest parts about photographing woodland wildlife is getting an angle without branches blocking the way. 

White-Tailed Deer while chewing its lunch

These deer photos made good reference images for a watercolor painting:

When painting realistic animals, it is important to pay attention to the shapes created by bones and muscles. They will help make the drawing seem more 3-dimensional. Below are some of the simple curves that show the shape of the deer:

I paid special attention to the lines that show the neck twisting. The deer was turning its head to look at me, so I tried to capture that movement with curving lines. Paying attention to subtle motions like this can make your drawings come to life. 

Strong diagonal lines make a painting more dynamic. I noticed that the deer’s body had some lines that leaned to the left. To give the painting balance, I added thin tree trunks in the background that lean to the right.

These unique animals all living so close together show that you don’t have to travel far away to find some really cool wildlife. Keep an eye out for wildlife locally! Animals that live close by can be a great source of inspiration. 

My name is Maris Van Vlack, and I will be blogging for the summer of 2020! I am a rising sophomore at the Rhode Island School of Design, with a major in Textiles and a concentration in Drawing. I used to take homeschool classes at the Museum of American Bird Art and have had my artwork exhibiting in their Taking Flight Exhibit for young bird artists.

I am especially interested in working with unusual materials in my work, and am inspired by plants, animals, and the patterns found in nature. This summer, I will be creating a guide for the MABA trails with sketches and paintings. I will be recording and writing about my observations, and sharing them through these blog posts. Hopefully this will be an educational and inspiring resource, and will motivate you to sketch what you see when you visit MABA this summer!

Flower Hunt on the Main Loop by Maris Van Vlack (RISD Student and MABA Intern)

Wildflowers catch the eye during a walk in the woods; most have a pop of color that stands out against the background of green leaves. Below is a collection of wildflowers that grow along the sides of the Main Loop Trail at MABA. This post is a wildflower timeline, starting at the beginning of June and ending with the flowers that are just beginning to blossom now. 

Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule)

June 10, 2020

6-8” tall

These striking flowers are in the orchid family and are invasive to North America. Unfortunately, they bloom in May and June, so you are unlikely to see them for the rest of this year. 

Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)

June 11, 2020

3-6” tall

These small white flowers are also out of bloom, but you can still spot the wilting blossoms by the edge of the path in many places along the Main Loop Trail. The leaves are still growing all over the ground (pictured above.)

Multiflora rose (Rosa Multiflora) – Invasive Plant

June 22, 2020

2-4’ off the ground

These flowering shrubs grow along the brook; the white flowers grow in clusters. In the painting above, I filled up a sketchbook page by painting the blossoms and leaves from many different angles. 

Hawkweed (Hieracium)

June 25, 2020

12-30” tall

Not only do these flowers grow on the main loop path by the brook, they are also some of the first flowers you see when you pull into the parking lot, growing along the stone wall! Their bright color contrasts beautifully against the stone.

Swamp Dewberry (Rubus hispidus)

June 25, 2020

4-8” tall

These small white flowers grow all along the Main Loop Trail. I normally see only one or two plants in one place. They often grow amongst lots of other plants. 

Common Selfheal (Prunella Vulgaris)

June 29, 2020

4-6” tall

These are the only purple flowers I have seen so far. They grow very low to the ground.

Whorled Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia)

July 1, 2020

12-24” tall

These yellow flowers with red centers are just beginning to bloom in large patches by the trail edges. These plants can be found by the brook and actually produce oil that is collected by some bees (Macropis) that collect oil. Look for their tall stalks, like the one pictured above. 

Round-leaved Wintergreen (Pyrola Rotundifolia)

July 1, 2020

5-9” tall

I saw the first of these flowers recently. It was growing by the edge of the path, hidden in some grass. They can be identified by their downward-facing blossoms.

My name is Maris Van Vlack, and I will be blogging for the summer of 2020! I am a rising sophomore at the Rhode Island School of Design, with a major in Textiles and a concentration in Drawing. I used to take homeschool classes at the Museum of American Bird Art and have had my artwork exhibiting in their Taking Flight Exhibit for young bird artists.

I am especially interested in working with unusual materials in my work, and am inspired by plants, animals, and the patterns found in nature. This summer, I will be creating a guide for the MABA trails with sketches and paintings. I will be recording and writing about my observations, and sharing them through these blog posts. Hopefully this will be an educational and inspiring resource, and will motivate you to sketch what you see when you visit MABA this summer!

The Vernal Pool: Part 3 by Maris Van Vlack (MABA Intern and RISD Student)

This summer the Museum of American Bird Art is thrilled that Maris Van Vlack, a rising sophomore at the Rhode Island School of Design, will be interning at MABA. She will be sketching and painting in the wildlife sanctuary. She will be blogging about her experience. Enjoy her post about a week spent at the vernal pool. –Sean Kent

I have noticed the vernal pool has changed a lot over the past few weeks. The water level has gone down 2 or 3 feet since the beginning of June, the weather has gotten hotter, and the humidity has gone up. I tried to capture the feeling of moisture in the air by painting the trees in the early morning fog. 

Differentiation of value is what gives this painting depth of field. The trees in the foreground are darker and more saturated than the trees in the background. When water is brushed over dry paint, the pigment can then be lifted up with a paper towel, which is how I achieved the light foggy effect in the background. 

I tried to show the change in weather with the two paintings below by focusing on the reflections on the vernal pool’s surface. The one on the left was painted in the direct sunlight. The reflection of the trees in the water was strong and bright. The painting on the right was done a week later, when it was cloudy.  A lot of pollen had washed down from the trees onto the vernal pool’s surface. There was a gray film over the surface of the water, with lots of tiny pieces of orange pollen floating in it. I tried to show these differences by focusing on the abstract shapes and colors of the constantly changing water reflections.

Sunlight reflection vs. cloudy reflection with pollen

I wanted to make sure that this blog series didn’t forget an important member of the vernal pool ecosystem: the frogs! They can be spotted peeking their heads up out of the water or sitting on nearby logs. (NOTE: In my sketch, I wrote that the frogs were green frogs, but I later decided that they were probably pickerel frogs because of the black stripe by the eye.) 

The last drawing for today is a bit of an artistic experiment where the vernal pool plays a more active role in the drawing. For this piece, I used some mud and leaves from the edge of the vernal pool to make a drawing.

Drawing tools

The mark making tools I used for this drawing were a pinecone, a piece of wood, and some muddy leaves. The end of the pinecone was good for making scratchy lines. The wood was so wet that I could physically squeeze water out of it, so I used that like a watercolor paint. The leaves were the most useful to draw with because they were caked in mud and provided most of the “pigment” that I used in this drawing. 

The subject of drawing is some of the maple leaves on the trees above. I thought this was fitting because decomposed leaves were the medium for the work. It is hard to get dark tones from the mud, but I like the light abstract quality that the piece has. 

This week, go out and be creative with the materials around you! Remember how nature is always changing and use that as the motivation for your drawing, painting, sculpting, music, or whatever else you decide to create!

My name is Maris Van Vlack, and I will be blogging for the summer of 2020! I am a rising sophomore at the Rhode Island School of Design, with a major in Textiles and a concentration in Drawing. I used to take homeschool classes at the Museum of American Bird Art and have had my artwork exhibiting in their Taking Flight Exhibit for young bird artists.

I am especially interested in working with unusual materials in my work, and am inspired by plants, animals, and the patterns found in nature. This summer, I will be creating a guide for the MABA trails with sketches and paintings. I will be recording and writing about my observations, and sharing them through these blog posts. Hopefully this will be an educational and inspiring resource, and will motivate you to sketch what you see when you visit MABA this summer!

The Vernal Pool: Part 2 by Maris Van Vlack (MABA Intern and RISD Student)

This summer the Museum of American Bird Art is thrilled that Maris Van Vlack, a rising sophomore at the Rhode Island School of Design, will be interning at MABA. She will be sketching and painting in the wildlife sanctuary. She will be blogging about her experience. Enjoy her post about a week spent at the vernal pool. –Sean Kent

Many different kinds of birds live in the vernal pool area, making it a great bird watching spot! Below is a list of some of the most common species that I have seen there:

Baltimore Oriole– They are black and orange, so are easily seen in the trees above the vernal pool.

Northern Cardinal– the males are bright red, but the females are dull brown and camouflage well in the trees. I typically see them perched on branches that are low to the ground.

Mourning Dove– They are usually seen hopping about on the fallen tree near the back of the vernal pool (pictured below). I’m guessing that they have a nest in that area.

Black Capped Chickadee– They don’t have any bright colors, so they are harder to see. They are found anywhere in the trees or brush by the vernal pool.

Common Grackle– They appear to be completely black, but the feathers on their heads have a bluish iridescent quality. They are often in the mud by the edge of the water.

Grackles at the vernal pool foraging for food, watercolor

Of the birds that spend their time around the vernal pool, grackles are the most prominent because they make quite a lot of noise. They are omnivorous and hop around the vernal pool, looking for insects to eat. I decided that grackles were a good bird to draw because they are willing to get pretty close to me, unlike other birds who keep their distance and are obscured branches.

Drawing from life is a useful habit to form because it will help your drawings capture the movement and 3-dimensionality of your subject. When working on a painting of an animal like the grackle, which holds a position for just a few seconds at a time, I started by observing the bird and doing many quick sketches.

These drawings are all done from the observation of one grackle, which was hopping from branch to branch in the middle of the vernal pool. Each sketch took three to six seconds because I wanted to capture each position in the moment. I kept my eyes on the grackle, not on the paper, so I could draw the lines and shapes that I actually saw, and not the shapes that I remembered when I looked away. The goal of an exercise like this is not to create a beautiful finished drawing, but to quickly sketch as many gestures as I could. Some of my sketches don’t even look like birds! What they are meant to do is capture the shapes of a bird in motion. Here are a few things I learned while doing this exercise:

-You don’t just have to draw birds in profile, like so many drawings do. You can draw them straight-on, upside-down, from below, from above, sideways, flying, and more!

-There is a lot of movement in a bird’s tail. Sometimes it points up, other times it points down. When the grackle was turned sideways, the tail looked like a thin line, but when he turned backwards or was flying, it was fanned out.

-It is useful to draw a line representing the direction of the bird’s spine. It will help show the kind of movement that the bird is making, and will also help you draw the rest of the bird proportionally. This line is usually going to be curved like an S or a C, not a straight line.

This finished piece was painted with gouache. Gouache (it rhymes with squash) comes in small tubes and is very similar to watercolor. The main difference is that it is more opaque, so light colors can be painted over top of dark colors. As I was working on this painting, I was thinking about a dark color scheme that reminded me of the shadowy areas around the vernal pool. I reserved light colors for the highlights on the beak, eye, and parts of the branch. Even though the trees in the background contained a lot of bright yellow where the sun comes through the leaves, I chose to exclude those bright colors to keep the painting moody and dark. Adding little bits of red to the green paint keeps those shades from becoming too vibrant.

Birds are everywhere, so I encourage you to go outside and sketch one this week! Start with a practice exercise to capture basic shapes, and take a photo or two if you need help remembering the colors. Birds occur so often in art, and there is good reason! They have such a variety of colors, sizes, patterning, and shapes that they provide an endless list of possibilities for drawings and paintings.

Ginnie Hibbard on Barry Van Dusen’s New Book: Finding Sanctuary

Join Barry Van Dusen for a virtual live book launch of his new book Finding Sanctuary on June 24, 2020 at 7 pm. This is a free event.

Finding Sanctuary: An Artist Explores the Nature of Mass Audubon, written and illustrated by Barry Van Dusen, is a true treasure. It is the second book published by MABA. Amy Montague, the museum’s director, knew she was embarking on a very special project when she invited Barry Van Dusen to be an Artist in Residence at MABA for a period of two years. Amy was well aware of Barry’s great artistic talent, having seen his work for many years in Mass Audubon’s  renowned Sanctuary magazine. What she did not know was his gift for writing. This is the first book Barry has both written and illustrated, and it is a gem. The text is as remarkable as the artwork.

Barry’s two year residency eventually stretched into a four and a half year endeavor, as he visited all sixty of Mass Audubon’s sites: wildlife sanctuaries, nature centers,  museums  and nature camps. He worked under a wide variety of weather conditions, observing, sketching, taking notes and in some cases painting watercolors. Other works he painted in his studio in Central Massachusetts, utilizing his field notes, sketches and, perhaps most importantly, relying on his extraordinary visual memory.  While working as MABA’s resident artist, Barry submitted frequent blog entries which eventually were incorporated into his book. 

The result is more than a record of his visits to Mass Audubon sites. It is a delightful experience for the reader to sense Barry’s excitement as he contemplates what he might discover on an individual site visit, his appreciation for the beauty of nature and his ability to convey what he sees and feels in such an authentic, genuine way. Barry also explains in detail his artistic process which is of interest to the artist and non-artist alike. It shows his thorough preparation, years of study and practice and his openness to unexpected surprises. Barry’s unique, impressionistic painting style captures his subject matter in a refreshing and engaging way.

Finding Sanctuary is a celebration of both Barry’s writing and artistic talents as well as the diversity and natural beauty of Mass Audubon’s properties.  The book is available online through the Audubon Shop in Lincoln.

Our guest blogger, Ginnie Hibbard, is a longtime friend of MABA, a member of the Mass Audubon Council and MABA’s Executive Advisory Committee.

Nature in a Minute: What’s blooming on MABA trails – Starflower

Trails at the Museum of American Bird Art in Canton are open.  Come walk the Main Loop trail and look for these wildflowers.

Starflower   (Trientalis borealis)

The delicate white flowers grow on sturdy little stems above the whorl of leaves. The Latin name for Starflower refers to its size and location. Trientalis means one-third of a foot.  Starflowers grow low to the ground to a height of about 4 inches.  The species name borealis refers to north. Starflowers are abundant in the northern United States.

Starflowers form floral constellations on woodland trails in springtime. This cluster of three Starflowers reminds me of the constellation Orion which is easy to find by three bright stars that create Orion’s Belt. 

Starflower   (Trientalis borealis)

Orion  Constellation 

Julianne Mehegan at Arches NP

Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.