First Art

We finally hung our first piece of artwork. I have been hesitant to hang anything because we patched dozens of nail holes throughout the house before painting. We still have one closet where the walls are filled with randomly placed nails and serves as a warning not to get carried away. Everything looked so fresh and clean with a coat of white paint, but now that we have furniture, it became time to add something to a wall.

Our first bit of art has, of course, a nature theme. The subject is a yellow-headed blackbird, and is a signed print by Wisconsin artist Owen J. Gromme.

I bought this print almost 30 years ago at a wildlife art auction in Cedarburg, and was drawn to the unusual subject. Most wildlife art in Wisconsin falls into one of two categories - game animals, such as white-tail deer or wild turkey; or beloved animals such as loons or cardinals. Yellow-headed blackbirds are not uncommon, but I have only seen them once, in a small wetland in Port Washington. The print is a reminder that our state is blessed with many species of wildlife.

Owen J. Gromme once worked as a taxidermist at the Field Museum of Chicago. I have fond memories of that museum - I once spent a day behind the scenes there in high school. As an Eagle Scout, I was offered the chance to shadow a professional in a field I was interested in as a career. Because I had always been interested in plants and botany, I chose to meet with a botanist at the Field Museum. I took the train into downtown Chicago by myself and spent the day learning about the botanist's recent field trip to Central America and touring the museum's collections. Quite an adventure for a high school student.

Gromme's work as a taxidermist informed his art, as he focused on rendering his subjects as accurately as possible, in their natural habitat. His book Birds of Wisconsin took him 20 years to produce and is a classic.

I have tried to learn more about bird identification, but most of the time they just look like a brown bird to me. Plants are easier to identify because they don't fly away as you are trying to pull out a pair of binoculars. Birds like rose-breasted grosbeaks, Baltimore orioles, and yellow-headed blackbirds provide encouragement that perhaps I can expand my skills. Maybe I just need to trade my Peterson's field guide in for the Birds of Wisconsin.