Melanie Testa

Common Tern

Lost in the Land of Making

I am feeling lost artistically. Politics and the state of our nation have me down. And, I now have a part time job which distracts me. My art isn’t keeping me afloat as it has in the past. I keep trying to stir my pot, try new things, stir things up. Mostly, I am telling myself that this shall pass and that an exciting bell will ring soon. My ears are peeled.

In the meantime, I am trying new things. For instance, I am informing myself about Common Tern (I recently got a tattoo of two Common Terns, so I am hot on the topic). So this weekend, I took out my three ring binder of  drawings and images and began combining as many as possible into a single image.

This piece combines Common Tern, which uses the east coast of the United States as nesting ground, with drawings of chairs from Upholstery Yardage Sheets. This is a visual pun that describes me, an armchair birder! Then I added a drawing of a New York City skyline and the City Hall Subway station. Living in the city, I sometimes forget that Common Terns are living near and around me, as this is a city surrounded by water, marshes and beaches! 

I know art can’t be my end all and be all, its just, sometimes you need to show up and do the work! So here I am, showing up and doing the work! And I have to say, its not all bad!!

Common Tern

Years ago, I began working on a series that I call, The 20. This centers on the Audubon list of Common Birds in Decline. Because I love birds so much, I decided to highlight these common birds and to give them my voice as an artist. Common Terns are coastal birds whose habitat is being lost to humans and climate change. If you live near or visit the coast, please clean and remove any detritus you find! Especially plastic.

Since I first created the ATC in the upper right corner, I have thought of this image as depicting David and I.

My good Man and I have been married for just over 24 years and we’ve decided to get tattoos to celebrate (our appointments are in less than 2 weeks!!). I have chosen the Common Tern image. This image is so loving, shows such connection between the two birds, it communicates the love I seek to honor. David plans to get a portrait of our good feline, Peach.

So all three of us will be present in the honoring of our time together! That’s what I call family.

Four more for The 20

The20Group

I am plugging away at the images for The 20 Common Birds in Decline, in fact, I have 10 more images to go-I am half way there. But they are small, measuring 2.5×3.5″, so it won’t take very long. I am making them in groups of 4 and printing them onto cloth in one session. It is fun, in a very obsessive, compulsive way. I find a photograph that I like, I draw the image, scan and resize it, cut it out of Fun Foam, print it on watercolor paper, then using the printed card as inspiration, I print using procion MX dye on cloth. All while taking notes in my inspiration journal. 

Today I printed (from left to right), Little Blue Heron, Rufous Hummingbird, Common Tern, and American Bittern.

A.BitternMTesta

This is an American Bittern, a private bird of marshy areas. Its coloring and mannerism can make it fade right into the landscape, making this a challenging bird to experience in the wild. I printed at least 4 of this image and I could probably print it again, to get it just right, the color is not fully realized. 

It feels good to work with images of birds again. I love birds and want to affect change in the way people think about them. This list was put together using citizen science by the Audubon Society. Chances are, you will recognize many of the birds on this list, if you are interested in helping them secure viable habitat, check this page out. Or maybe you have a bird feeder and would like to contribute to a citizen science project, check out Project Feeder Watch by Cornell or the Great Backyard Bird Count by Audubon (which happens in April and February respectively). 

Many of the 10 images that are in my future are tough birds to make images of, the like Whip-Poor-Will, a bird most often heard, but not seen, at night. And the Whip-Poor-Will is a primal looking bird too! So finding an image that will say, “Whip-Poor-Will” is a challenge. There are four Sparrows on this list, and I look forward to learning about and identifying them. Making art, exploring imagery that is interesting to me is a way of learning, I love taking out books, reading, searching the web and helping the data settle into my knowledge base. I have worked with so many images of birds, I now recognize them as I read my favorite birding magazines, because I am, for the most part, an armchair birder who longs for a feeder (and backyard) of her very own.