The Birds in Art opening weekend is a special time for many reasons. Each year, it’s a time to see friends old and new, a time to celebrate the creative achievements of over 100 artists from throughout the world, and a time to reflect on memories of prior Birds in Art opening weekends. I’ve long felt the public opening of Birds in Art on the Saturday after Labor Day, signified the start of autumn.
Yours truly, administrative manager Shari Schroeder, and curator of collections / registrar Jane Weinke on Birds in Art opening Saturday, 2019.
While opening weekend festivities won’t occur this year, typically they begin in earnest on the Thursday and Friday prior to opening day, and those days seem long, the sun hot, and the skies clear. When staff arrive at the Museum early on Saturday morning though, the air has a bite to it, the leaves on the trees are more orange than green, and the dew from the grass in the Museum’s sculpture garden turns our shoes damp and heavy. It feels like fall in north central Wisconsin.
Although the Birds in Art exhibition will open to the public this Saturday, September 12, and the artwork in the galleries will be as exciting and enjoyable as ever, without the opening weekend festivities, it will be interesting to see if it still feels like the season is changing. Who knows, maybe summer will seem longer this year. Would that really be a bad thing?
Don’t be surprised to find me walking the grounds where the Master’s talk and Artists in Action usually would be on Saturday morning. I’ll have an extra pair of socks along, just in case.
