The Audubon Mural Project is a public art project with the goal of painting the birds depicted by
John James Audubon in his early 19th century folio ''
The Birds of America
''The Birds of America'' is a book by naturalist and painter John James Audubon, containing illustrations of a wide variety of birds of the United States. It was first published as a series in sections between 1827 and 1838, in Edinburgh and ...
'' on blank walls and roll-down corrugated metal shop shutters of the
Hamilton Heights
Hamilton Heights is a neighborhood in the northern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is the northernmost part of the West Harlem area, along with Manhattanville and Morningside Heights to its south, and it contains the sub-neighborhood an ...
and
Washington Heights neighborhoods of upper
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
where Audubon once lived.
The project is the brainchild of Washington Heights art gallery owner
Avi Gitler. Mark Jannot, vice president for content of the National Audubon Society and a Hamilton Heights resident, collaborates with Gitler.
The two men were introduced by Tom Sanford, one of the artists whom Gitler engaged to start the project.
History
The project began when Gitler invited a street artist to paint one of the roll-down shutters on his block; the artist chose to depict a
flamingo
Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbea ...
, and Gitlin immediately decided to reference the neighborhood history by creating a series on Audubon's birds. At first, the project aimed to paint a portrait of each of the three dozen species of birds in the Audubon folio that is on the climate-threatened or the climate-endangered list of the
National Audubon Society. It rapidly segued to a goal of recreating all 314 bird in Audubon's folio.
Audubon's home, a two-story frame house on an estate called Minniesland, was located near the Hudson River at what is now 156th Street. The neighborhood was a semi-rural outer suburb of the city when he lived there. The house was demolished in 1931.
Murals
The paintings depict the same species that Audubon painted; they do not seek to reproduce his work. Each is the creation of an individual artist.
The murals are painted on main avenues and on side streets. Many are only visible late at night when the roll-down security gates are closed. Some cover enormous walls, other fill small, inset panels in windows and doorways.
Artists are paid modest stipends for creating the works.
See also
*
Mahane Yehuda Market
Mahane Yehuda Market ( he, שוק מחנה יהודה, ''Shuk Mahane Yehuda''), often referred to as "The Shuk" ( he, השוק, HaShuq), is a marketplace (originally open-air, but now partially covered) in Jerusalem. Popular with locals and touri ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Audubon Mural Project official website
Audubon Mural Project Gitler &_____ art gallery website
Hamilton Heights, Manhattan
Murals in New York City
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Birds in art