Above image: 'Meditative Swan', Erin Parsch, 2024

Although birds may be the most rhapsodized creatures in all of existence, in truth their lives are actually quite difficult: building nests from random natural debris, giving birth to multiple offspring, hunting down food to feed those babies whilst also finding enough to sustain themselves (flying burns a lot of calories, so birds must constantly eat), protecting the helpless hatchlings from numerous predators...then repeating the cycle all over again.

We humans, however, tend to focus on the seemingly romantic aspects of their existences: a pair of swans sweetly snuggling on a sun-drenched lake, the beautiful, if also somewhat humorously quirky song of the nightingale, the majesty of the origami-like flight of an egret... And really, don't we all wish we could just suddenly take to the skies and escape for a bit of time from our overburdening everyday problems?

A new exhibition simply titled 'Winging It' has just opened at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center - an affiliate of the Smithsonian since 2003 - in Solomons, Maryland, about an hour's drive from both DC and Baltimore. It will be on view in the main gallery through August 23.

What we really love about this exhibit is that the Annmarie had put out a call for submissions, and then chose sixty-plus works from amongst those submissions. So represented here are many new and budding talents, forwarding a wide-range of styles, perspectives and subjects.

Above images from left: , 'American Pelicans, Neenah, WI', Liz List; 'Tumult', Cheryl Agulnick Hochberg; 'The Three Sisters (Teachers of Generosity)', Eva Foldy.

Juror Saul G. Sopoci Drake, the Exhibitions Project Director for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, enthuses, “I have been photographing birds for over a decade, so it was an honor to be invited to serve as a juror for an exhibition dedicated to bird art. Selecting just sixty works from such a rich pool of thoughtful and inventive submissions, however, required careful consideration. That said, the process proved deeply rewarding."

He then explains that the essential mission was "to celebrate the beauty, diversity, and symbolism of birds through artistic expression." A central question acted as a guideline: "In what ways have birds inspired artists through their graceful forms, vibrant plumage, and enduring associations with freedom, migration, and the rhythms of the natural world?" It was a mission that, it must be said, was most stunningly accomplished.

Maryland, as it turns out, was the perfect state to host 'Winging It', home as it is to more than 460 recorded species of birds. Though the Annmarie's own Exhibition and Education Specialist Reiker Dean effuses that they simply, "wanted to honor the importance and beauty of avian life."

Or as featured artist Erin Parsch so poetically puts it, "Birds are a force of nature, they teach us to be quietly fierce, to appreciate the delicate balance of musicality in the natural world - and we come together as one flock to celebrate these magical beings."

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Parents: The below video, produced by the Getty Museum and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, humorously explores how to use watercolors to paint birds. Note to kids: do not by any means try to paint and brush your teeth at the same time.

Also, for a 500-year history of the greatest ever bird paintings - from ravens to owls to blue-winged swamp warblers - please check out this 2022 article on the subject from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.