5 artists to check out at annual 'Birds in Art' exhibition

WAUSAU - Get ready, because the birds are back. 

The annual "Birds in Art" exhibition, which began in 1976, returns to the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum on Saturday, as a part of Wausau's Artrageous weekend, which highlights art throughout the city. This year, more than 100 artists from across the world will be featured for their bird-related art. 

Though there will be plenty of different works of art to look at, here are five artists whose work you should take the time to find this year: 

1. Cindy House, Master Artist, New Hampshire

Cindy House has been submitting paintings to the "Birds in Art" exhibition for over 25 years, before and since she started focusing on painting with pastels. This year, 15 of her works will be on display, as the featured Master Artist of the year. 

All of House's works feature stunning landscapes, with birds painted in them. But they might almost look like a photo to visitors to the gallery. 

"The paintings are realistic," she said. "It demonstrates what you can do with pastels in a non-traditional way." 

House got her start illustrating birds for field guides, but over the years, wanted to focus more on the environment in which the birds existed. But she's always been interested in birds, something she got from her parents growing up. 

"Birds have always been a part of my life," she said. "I just particularly gravitated towards them." 

2. Josh Guge, "Cape May Warblers," Illinois

The two Cape May warblers depicted in Josh Guge's woodcarving are some of his favorite birds, and have been on his carving wish list for years, he said. 

The carving was completed more than a year ago for the world championships in bird carving and earned him second place. The piece is the result of hours of brainstorming and changing his plans, he said. 

This will be Guge's third appearance in "Birds in Art" and it carries a certain importance to him. His father used to enter the exhibition and bring Guge along when he was a kid, inspiring him to create bird-related art, too. 

"I was about 8 when I went, and I started meeting artists I look up to," he said. "They all said to try to get in every year and to hear all of them really left an impact. It became my goal to submit every year." 

3. Kris Parins, "Green Heron, Red Mangrove," Florida

The green heron depicted in Kris Parins' watercolor painting was an unusually easy target for her, she said. Typically, the birds spot her from a ways off while taking reference photos. But not this particularly focused bird. 

"Usually I get too close and they squawk like a chicken and fly away," she said. "It was so transfixed by catching breakfast." 

This is Parins' fourth time in the exhibition, which has inspired her work over the last several years. 

"I'm becoming more and more interested in birds," she said. "I get to express the joy in observing them and in educating people in order to preserve what's around us." 

4. Ann Cunningham, "Shadows," Colorado

Ann Cunningham's piece for "Birds in Art" is a little different from the rest, because this one is actually meant for touching. 

Carved from slate, the sculpture depicts an American robin landing among the branches of a tree, while a house cat lurks below. The piece is designed with great detail, and when it's mounted against a wall, the detail becomes even more pronounced as light casts shadows, making the tangle of branches even more realistic. 

This year's entry actually began as a post card that she designed at last year's "Birds in Art" show, which was sold later that weekend. 

This is Cunningham's third year in the exhibition, but she's been sculpting with slate since the 1970s. That particular type of sculpting actually led her to tactile art, because of the way it holds detail and feels when touched. 

5. Thomas Schultz, "Pad Walker," Wisconsin

Thomas Schultz got the inspiration for his entry this year while leading a central American birding trip, something that he does every few years for tourists. The jacana caught his attention because of its long toes and its ability to walk gently on top of lily pads floating on the water. 

"You might think the gangly toes would cause frequent stumbles; I've never seen anything but confident grace in its movements," he said in the 2018 "Birds in Art" catalog.

Schultz has participated in the "Birds in Art" exhibition seven times before, but it's been a few years since he entered. He's had paintings in other art shows and has had work in field guides produced by National Geographic, but he said he wanted to see if he could get back to Wausau again.