During my September 2024 residency at Hog Island Audubon Camp, instructor Maggie Dewane found this Red-eyed Vireo deceased during its first migration along the coast of Maine and graciously brought its body to me to paint. At one of my artist talks on the island, I had a special moment arranging the bird among foliage with attendees. Normally I perform these burials alone, so it was special to have connective human moments about death, grief, and a shared love and awe for birds and their incredible migrations.
"Vitreum" is latin for "of glass," evoking the cause of this songbird's death, a window collision, as well as the bird's simultaneous strength and fragility. I find that words associated with the Latin "vitrum" (glass) are evocative of this bird's life and death: vitriol (criticism, as in my feelings about preventable bird death), in vitro (most often associated with fertilization, life beginnings, and scientific study), and vitrine (a cabinet especially for specimens, of which there are plenty housed at Hog Island). Not to mention, the word also stirs a particular similarity to "vireo," the subject of the painting, meaning "to be green."
Vitreum
Oil on canvas, 2025, 16" x 24"
"Vitreum" is latin for "of glass," evoking the cause of this songbird's death, a window collision, as well as the bird's simultaneous strength and fragility. I find that words associated with the Latin "vitrum" (glass) are evocative of this bird's life and death: vitriol (criticism, as in my feelings about preventable bird death), in vitro (most often associated with fertilization, life beginnings, and scientific study), and vitrine (a cabinet especially for specimens, of which there are plenty housed at Hog Island). Not to mention, the word also stirs a particular similarity to "vireo," the subject of the painting, meaning "to be green."
Vitreum
Oil on canvas, 2025, 16" x 24"
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