ART FROM THE HANDS OF THE MAKER

BY KIONA HAMPTON

Raven Wall by Tony Angell ( source: http://www.tonyangell.net)

                  On Monday February 24^th 2014, our Scientific Journey class that is focused on crows met a much respected local artist Tony Angell.  He is known for his fantastic sculpture work of wildlife, in particular birds. He also has illustrated books on crows in collaboration with Dr. John Marzluff. 

Before class started I walked up to Mr. Angell and asked him if I could have a one on one conversation with him after the class, so we met up and I had a chance to ask him some questions I was curious about.

During the class discussion we found out that Tony Angell was born and raised in Southern California at a time when the world was still full of lots of valleys covered in gorgeous blooming nature. As he grew up he was always fascinated with the nature around him, especially birds. Ever since he was a child he would always collect dead birds to learn more about their bodies as well as the different layers that were within the bird. When he started his college career at University of Washington with a full ride track scholarship, he started noticing the beautiful natural natures of the North West. Since he fell even further in love with the nature of the North West he started doing more art and this led him to getting into the Forster White Gallery, which is one of the top galleries in Seattle Washington. As Angell continued to experience great things in life from things like being a high school English teacher to being a father, he continued to pursue his passion in art. During the class meet up, Tony Angel said one thing that stood out to me. He said, “If there is something you are passionate about, do not wait for someone to write you a check for it. Find a way to get it out into the world on your own”.-Tony Angell

I found this quote to be very artistic because it is so true. To me, when I heard him say this, I told myself that he is telling me if I want something then I need to get off my butt and do it myself. And if I am passionate about something and want the world to know it, find a way to let them know it. And mainly, do not give up if you are truly passionate about something because it can change your life in so many ways once you express to the world how much it means to you.

Some Questions I personally asked Mr. Angell were:

Kiona Hampton showing Tony Angel, the advance of her art project.
(Photo by Jintana Lityouvong)

“What was on your mind when you are sculpting?”

He responded by saying that when he sculpts he is always in a different place and it feel like time doesn’t exist because it passes by so quickly. Also, that it feels good to work with his hands and physically touch and see progress as the time passes. 

“What is your favorite part to sculpt on a bird?”

He responded by saying the wings are very difficult and fun to sculpt but the feet of the bird are his favorite part because they hold all of the bird’s attitude within them.

“Have you ever tried to get your family involved in artistic things?”

He responded by saying that his daughters were already artistic in their own way but he did try to get them to work on some illustration’s for his books here and there. And that they are all very good people to go to for opinions because they look at his art work with more passion.

After I walked away from this inspiring man, I noticed that each person has a talent that can be shared with the world and there is no better way to do it than with passion and love.  And I am truly honored that I had the chance to meet one of those passionate people.

Thank you Tony Angell for coming to speak to our class. It means a lot to know that people who are full of passion and mental strength exist in this world. Thank you!

CONTRASTING VIEWS ON CORVIDS

BY ROBERT GLEASON

For my final project I am making a canvas painting on the different perspectives of crows in various cultures. The painting will show how some cultures like the modern western view the corvids in more nefarious and negative way, while other cultures like some Native American hold them in a higher regard and respect them. 

Before I spent time studying crows I viewed crows as many people in a modern western society would view them. With the use of crows and ravens in literature and film reinforcing that association to death it would be hard to view them in any other way in today’s society. Once I learned that some cultures didn’t view them like us and in fact held them in high regard, I had some inspiration for a piece of art.

I have divided my canvas into two sides with one side full of darker colors like red and black while the other side has lighter colors like blue and green. I also have a crow in the middle of the canvas with half of it in the dark side and half in the light side. There is also a crow in the upper left and lower right. This symbolizes how corvids are not only seen in the common negative manner but also the positive views on them.

These pictures show the practice of painting the background and the crows since I have never used paint before. The final piece will be a combination of the two pictures.  I would also want to say how enjoyable painting could be. I am not an artistic person and usually don’t find doing art of any kind pleasant. I was surprised when I learned that when painting was actually a little fun. So if you don’t like doing art at all you might want to give painting a try!

ODIN AND HIS TWO RAVENS

BY FERUZA GHIAS

For our “crows group project” my group members and I decided to do canvas drawings with corvid representation in them. One canvas will have a drawing of the Norse God Odin and his two ravens. The second canvas will have a drawing about a Native American famous tribal story, where the raven steals the sun. And lastly, the third canvas will be a Native American tribal inspired story.

My drawing of Norse God Odin

What I learned from this group project is that crows and other corvids often appear in ancient stories and they symbolize something important. In the Norse mythology, for example, Odin is the God of War who has 2 ravens. These two ravens are named Hugin (which represent ‘thought’) and Muninn (which represent ‘memory’). Both of these ravens would bring news about the world to Odin every morning. The representation of ravens in this story is significant, because it portrays them in somewhat positive way. Another thing I learned from this project is the evolution of ravens and crows. Corvids had eight million years ahead start on humans in the evolution race, which in this terms means that they have developed intellectual in a more advanced way than humans (Marzluff and Angell 2005). I was not surprised when I came across this information because we have already studied and uncovered the corvids’ intelligence in our Scientific Journeys: crows class, especially their tool making strategies for survival needs.

    

References:

Marzluff, John M., and Tony Angell. In the Company of Crows and Ravens. New Haven: Yale UP, 2005. Print.

ARE CROWS EVIL?

BY ANTHONY GARCIA

       

Imagine it’s a cold rainy Friday night, after a long day at work; all you want to do is relax. What a perfect night to snuggle up in some blankets, turn on Netflix and enjoy a scary movie. Before you decide what movie to watch, you go make some popcorn to get a feel for the movie theater atmosphere. After 5 minutes of scrolling through hundreds of movies, you decide to watch Jeepers Creepers. This film is a classic horror film that is scary enough to leave chills in your body for days. In the middle of the film, the protagonist and his girlfriend run into an abandoned church. As the scene progresses, you can clearly see and hear crows cawing, the music gets louder as if crows are supposed to be evil then all of a sudden you start seeing more and more crows. It turns out that there are dead bodies residing under the church. Wow who knew crows actually lived nearby abandoned churches with dead bodies.

This isn’t the only film that depicts crows as evil. This is clearly a misconception about crows in modern day Hollywood.  Crows are happy playful creatures. I have witnessed crows playing around in the snow. What’s so evil about that?  Here is my journal entry in which I observed the crows. 

Crows playing in the snow

I have yet to come across a film that depicts crows in a happy atmosphere, except for Dumbo. But even then, Disney decided to depict the crows as racist, can crows ever get a break? In the film industry, crows are considered as the scariest bird. The question is why? I think that maybe it’s because they were somewhat associated with the black plague, many cultures associate them with death. This misconception about crows is in fact a lie.

Crows like any other animal are not evil. They’re just birds, how can something so innocent be affiliated with darkness? It just does not make sense to me. That is why I decided to make a short documentary debunking misconceptions about crows. In our film we are proving many crow misconceptions wrong. The biggest misconception about crows, in my opinion, is that crows are depicted as evil in films and with the public. The reality is that crows are really intelligent and not evil. Crows are so smart that they can solve puzzles in order to get food. BBC, a UK television channel, made a short Youtube clip showing just how quickly and amazingly a crow solves an eight piece puzzle. You can watch that video here: http://youtu.be/AVaITA7eBZE

UW_Bothell crows

Our short documentary is going to consist of crows in their natural habitat, interviews on how the public sees crows, crows in films, myths, and misconceptions about crows. As real footage that we have taken is being shown on the screen, we are going to be talking explaining certain topics like you would see in a long documentary.

We will go more into depth about crows being depicted as evil in our film. Enjoy our movie trailer for our film: http://youtu.be/QUsB3htKsTw. This is only sample of what we have to offer, stay tuned for the actual film in the next few weeks.

MOBBING CORVIDS!

BY JENNA BEVERLY

When a predator or other threat has been spotted, some birds will engage in an activity known as “mobbing”. This consists of a loud vocal assault on the offender, and is commonly accompanied by physical assault such as chase, diving at, and attacking the subject. Although many species have been known to mob, corvids in particular have developed this behavior quite well and appear to employ it frequently. 

So why do corvids mob? Consider that predators often rely on the element of surprise to attack their victims. Eagles and hawks pose a real danger to corvids and their offspring if gone unnoticed. However, if corvids notice a predator and launch a vocal and physical assault on it, it takes away the predator’s element of surprise and essentially disarms it. 

I was fortunate enough to see this behavior with my own eyes just a few weeks ago. I heard it before I saw it - loud, menacing cawing of crows and the frantic chirping of a bald eagle. When I walked to my window to see the commotion, I was not disappointed. The crows, though considerably smaller than eagle, appeared to be fearless. They worked together to keep the eagle surrounded at all times, often one flying above the eagle with the other flying below. Sometimes they would suddenly drop from the sky and appear to collide with the eagle. The birds were difficult to photograph, as they were flying quickly and somewhat distant, but I grabbed my zoom lens and attempted a photograph anyway:

Corvid mobbing a Bald Eagle!

When a group of 40-50 crows came in from the East, perched in surrounding trees, and began to caw loudly, their presence seemed to make the eagle uneasy as shortly after the two crows and one that seemed to be a raven, successfully chased it out of the area.

Last week I witnessed a similar thing happen with a hawk in a Target parking lot, and just this morning saw a group of 15-20 crows mob a large seagull. The gull mobbing took place right outside my window, in the same place where the eagle was mobbed. It’s interesting that I had never once noticed crows mobbing anyone, but since learning about the behavior I notice it all the time.

It should be noted that mobbing does not come without risk. An eagle or other large bird of prey may snatch a flying crow and make a meal of it. But to crows the rewards of mobbing outweigh the risks - often times, the predator will simply leave the area and hunt somewhere else where its prey is less hostile and unaware of its presence. 

However, other birds aren’t the only targets of these assaults. Crows have also been known to mob humans and even pets who have given the crows reason to see them as a threat. Researcher John Marzluff found that not only do crows consistently mob people they perceive as threats, but the mobbing intensifies over time. As he notes in his book Gifts of the Crow, young fledglings learn who to mob by watching their parents, and even when the parents are no longer around the fledglings will continue to mob those individuals. And these individuals aren’t soon forgotten – crows have been known to “hold grudges” against people for many years.

Crows may be small relative to people and birds of prey, but they are not to be underestimated. Mobbing is just one way they have proven that they are certainly a force to be reckoned with.