Did you know that North America has lost 30% of its bird species since the 1970s? That 2/3 of North American Birds face extinction from rising global temperatures? We called on printmakers to promote awareness of the vast numbers of avian species that face eradication due to climate change.
Printmakers from all over North America were invited to participate by selecting a bird from The Audubon Society’s list of 389 bird species currently threatened with extinction and to create an edition of prints using an upcycled printing plate. The goal is to create a visual reminder of the birds we will lose if action is not taken on climate change, and to celebrate this one facet of our planet’s biodiversity.
The participating artists each donated five prints to the project. One set will remain in the Zea Mays Printmaking Archives, one set will be used to travel the exhibition and the final three prints will be sold with the proceeds going to Mass Audubon Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, the National Audubon Society and supporting Zea Mays Printmaking’s technical research into safer and more sustainable printmaking practices.
Canary in the Coal Mine is a part of the ongoing multimedia, multi-venue project Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss, a cross-border art intervention which seeks to provoke societal change by exposing and interrogating the negative social and environmental consequences of industrialized natural resource extraction.
Click here to view the online exhibition and buy prints.
Canary in the Coal Mine Exhibitions
November 2021 – Online Exhibition on Zea Mays Printmaking website
December 2-30, 2021 – Hosmer Gallery, Northampton, MA
2022 – Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary Gallery, Easthampton, MA
other venues tba