Stark Museum of Art Hosts Audubon Video Screening, April 28

ORANGE, Texas - On Saturday, April 28 at 3:00 p.m., Stark Museum of Art will host a showing of A Summer of Birds:  John James Audubon in Louisiana, with an introduction by Museum staff.  This educational program explores the profound influence that Louisiana had on Audubon's study of birds and touches on conservation issues.  The video screening will take place at the Education Center, adjacent to the Museum at 812 Green Avenue in Orange, Texas. Light refreshments will be served, and following the screening participants will visit the Audubon exhibit in the Museum. The program is free and open to the public.

A Summer of Birds is a documentary by Louisiana Public Broadcasting that chronicles the summer of 1821 which Audubon spent in Louisiana at the Oakley Plantation in West Feliciana Parish, located near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

John James Audubon (1785 - 1851) was an ornithologist, naturalist and painter. He was known for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America, is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed.

"After viewing the video about Audubon's summer at Oakley Plantation in Louisiana, we will return to the Museum to view the Audubon works in our gallery Exploring America's Frontiers.  The current selection focuses primarily on birds that Audubon saw that summer, including the beautiful swallow-tailed hawk, the white ibis and the spotted sandpiper," said Sarah Boehme, Stark Museum Director.

The Stark Museum of Art is fortunate to possess the complete volumes of The Birds of America. The Museum's set is unique in that it is bound in five volumes rather than the usual four. The set belonged to the artist and some pages within the volume include pencil notations by Audubon himself.

Located at 712 Green Avenue in Orange, Texas, Stark Museum of Art is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Admission is free for all ages. Group tours are available by appointment. For more information, call 409.886.ARTS (2787) or visit www.starkmuseum.org.

About the Stark Museum of Art: The Stark Museum of Art focuses on the stunning land, the dramatic people and the diverse wildlife of the American West. Paintings, sculpture and prints interpret the West from nineteenth century frontier artists to the twentieth century artistic colonies in New Mexico. Artists include John James Audubon, Frederic Remington, Charles Marion Russell, and Georgia O'Keeffe.

The Museum also features a significant collection of American Indian objects, including baskets, pottery, clothing and weavings. Other permanent collections in the Museum include the complete porcelain American Bird Series by Dorothy Doughty and the only complete series of The United States in Crystal, a collection of crystal urns produced by Steuben Glass to depict the 50 states and the Union.

The Stark Museum of Art is a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, a private operating foundation, whose other programs include the Frances Ann Lutcher Theater for the Performing Arts, Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center, and The W.H. Stark House. 

Photo: John James Audubon (1785-1851), artist; Robert Havell, Jr. (1793-1878), engraver; Swallow-tailed Hawk (detail),1829 first published; 1836 this printing; etching and aquatint on paper, hand-colored, for The Birds of America, Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, 91.100.15.