Campus news and events

News Releases

Contact: Julie Navejar
kajam03@tamuk.edu or 361-593-2590

Birdhouses featured in museum exhibit

KINGSVILLE (October 18, 2005) — The John E. Conner Museum at Texas A&M University-Kingsville will look like it has gone to the birds starting Saturday, Oct. 22, as it plays host to Out of the Nest: Artists’ Birdhouses. The exhibit, which closes Tuesday, Nov. 22, features 27 birdhouses of three distinct types: the purely functional, birdhouse, the hobby birdhouse and the fine art birdhouse. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Out of the Nest introduces several types of practical birdhouse designs, looking at elements of shape and utility that attract different species of Texas birds. A sample profile of a bird that would inhabit each house teaches visitors about attracting birds in their own areas.

Constructing and painting birdhouses is an extremely popular hobby, but many of these homemade creations are not intended for actual occupancy by birds. Instead, they are used principally for home and yard decoration. Out of the Nest shows several birdhouses that expand on the ideas of typical hobbyists by being made of a variety of materials like leather, clay, tile and ribbon.

The exhibit also features birdhouses created by artists and designers from across the country. These “fine art” birdhouses typically abandon any conventional notion as a domicile for birds. The artists mix unorthodox materials to demonstrate a vast range of creativity and create birdhouses for purely aesthetic purposes.

Out of the Nest is curated by Robert Logan and Robert Cugno, directors of the Media Gallery in Garnett, Kansas. The exhibit is organized and toured by ExhibitsUSA and is made possible in Kingsville through a special museum assistance project, Texas HELP. The mission of ExhibitsUSA is to create access to an array of arts and humanities exhibitions, nurture the development and understanding of diverse art forms and cultures and encourage the expanding depth and breadth of cultural life in local communities. ExhibitsUSA is a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance, a private, nonprofit organizations founded in 1972.

The Hands-on Experiential Learning Project (HELP) is a four-year project specifically designed to assist small and midsize museums in Texas with professional development. HELP, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance in partnership with the Texas Association of Museums, is made possible through the combined vision and generosity of The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, The Don and Sybil Harrington Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc., The Meadows Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning.

For more information on the exhibit call 361-593-2810.

This page last updated 21 October, 2005