Birds and Haiku To Land in Botanical Garden

Birds in the Garden Sculpture Exhibition
A public art project at Santa Fe Botanical Garden

Opens Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Show runs through May 2014

Santa Fe Botanical Garden hosts an unusual flock of birds – the protagonists of the international public art project, Birds in the Park.

Retired from their international travels, the birds will alight awhile at the Botanical Garden, to launch a new show entitled Birds in the Garden. The porcelain birds have cobalt images and text silk-screened and fired onto them, investigating aspects of humanity, specifically around war and peace.

There will be a special grouping of iron-on-porcelain birds that are based on haikus by Santa Fe poet, Miriam Sagan. In the spring, we are expecting some new arrivals of birds made specifically for the Garden.

The birds have previously landed in over sixty locations, including many places in Santa Fe, Central Park and the UN Headquarters in NYC, beaches along the coast of California, the National Mall in Washington, DC, Chartres Cathedral in France, the weapons development sites of Los Alamos, NM and Peenemünde, Germany, and even migrating as far as the Galapagos Islands.

Visit the birds during Garden open hours, Wednesday through Sunday, 10am to 3pm during winter hours and seven days a week, 9am to 5pm during summer hours.
All the birds are available for purchase for $300. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
About the Artist

Christy Hengst’s art work has manifested as site-specific projects out in the public realm and as paintings.

Public art projects involve clay and have included a large sculpture for a plaza in Ecuador, three bus stops in Santa Fe, NM and the more recent traveling public installation Birds in the Park.

Solo shows of Hengst’s sculptural paintings from wax and porcelain have been presented in museums and galleries in the US, Germany, and Ecuador. She has also taught in those countries.

Born in the US, Hengst is based in Santa Fe. She is married to blacksmith Helmut Hillenkamp, with whom she often collaborates on projects, not the least of which is their two children. More information available at www.christyhengst.com.