“For the Birds,” installation detail, photograph © Steve Bobzein, 2000

Project Title: "For the Birds"
Recipient Organization: The Farallon Research Station of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory
Lead Artist: Sam Bower, Henry Corning and other Artists of Meadowsweet Dairy
Genre and Date Awarded: Visual Arts, November 1998
Presented: November 2000

Collaborating with scientists from The Farallon Research Station of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Sam Bower, Henry Corning, Dan Ustin, Glenda Griffith and Alan Leavitt, all artists of Meadowsweet Dairy, created a site-specific sculpture on Southeast Farallon Island that serves both aesthetic and practical purposes. In its practical dimension it provides as an enhanced bird habitat for Cassin's auklets, Rhinoceros Auklets, Ashy storm-petrels, and other cavity nesting sea birds, while helping to facilitate scientific study. The finished piece is about eight feet tall and encloses a steel blind with 32 artificial bird nesting boxes. It is covered by concrete rubble found on the Island--a familiar material to the sea birds that nest in the island's rocky crevices. As the island is quite remote, "For the Birds" reaches a broader human audience through a six-minute video documentary.

Across a thirty-mile stretch of turbulent ocean, Southeast Farallon Island is the westernmost point of the City of San Francisco. The Farallon Refuge was one of the first refuges established by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1909. It provides habitat for approximately 200,000 seabirds, the largest and most biologically diverse colony south of Alaska. Twelve different birds breed on the Farallons and five species of seals and sea lions rest or reproduce on the islands.

Since 1968, Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO) scientists have monitored wildlife populations and conducted long term research on the islands. Through a partnership jointly funded by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and PRBO , the research program has produced the longest running record of seabird natural history in the United States.

For this project, the artists collaborated with the Fish and Wildlife Service Refuge Manager and biologists from the Bird Observatory. In the words of lead artist Sam Bower, "The project involved the services of a professional engineering firm, a production welding shop, a barge, a helicopter, a jackhammer, a videographer, and a rotating crew of biologists to complete." Significant engineering and planning took place in advance of the on-island execution of the project, which occurred in fall 2000--during a period when the artists' work would not disrupt the seabird and elephant seal breeding seasons. The nesting structure's interior is unusual for being outfitted with adjustable nesting boxes, designed by the artists, with sliding panels that enable scientists to vary the width of their cavities and thereby appeal to different bird species. Biologists are able to actually crawl into the rubble pile that houses the boxes to study the birds within their nests. Bower described the completed project as "One of the most challenging and rewarding things we've ever done.... It is an example of the type of art we are most inspired by, and the PRBO biologists believe it will be extraordinarily useful for their research."

Ultimately the project was popular with its primary audience, the seabirds. Artificial nesting boxes, placed on or in the ground, had previously been used on the Farallon Island, with some success. According to Kyra L. Mills, Farallon Island Seabird Biologist," "...it usually takes at least one full season for the [nesting] boxes to become "weathered" and for the birds to locate, occupy, and breed in the boxes. Despite this, [during the first nesting season after the sculpture's completion] a total of nine Cassin's Auklets occupied boxes within the Habitat Sculpture, out of which five were successful at raising chicks. These results were a somewhat unexpected but pleasant surprise during the first year of the existence of this structure."

Meadowsweet Dairy is a collaborative arts venture started in 1993 by Sam Bower, Henry Corning, and a varying assembly of others. They make outdoor, site-specific projects using local materials assembled with volunteers from the community close to the site. Since 1995, Meadowsweet Dairy has installed permanent site projects in Illinois, Utah, and at multiple sites in Northern California. These collaborations have been with nonprofit organizations, a public teaching facility, and two museums. The Dairy also produces sculpture in its studio out of large and small pieces of driftwood, stone from quarry, river and beach; and steel. These objects are "composed mostly of extraordinary natural things found and presented. Small modifications move the objects over the line into that which is recognized as something intentional and powerful in an aesthetic sense."

Point Reyes Bird Observatory was founded in 1965 as an independent, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to conservation through science. It is highly regarded for its scientific expertise in evaluating the health of ecosystems and assessing environmental problems. The Observatory is an international authority on birds and marine mammals, leading large-scale collaborative efforts, providing wildlife management recommendations, and training field biologists from California to Latin America. The Observatory also operates a premier ornithological research station in Northern California.

“For the Birds,” installation detail, photograph © Steve Bobzein, 2000

Meadowsweet Dairy, Combined Resume of Dairy artists

Solo Exhibitions

• Richmond Art Center, Richmond California (1998)
• Marin Arts Council Open Studios, Corte Madera, California (1998, 1997, 1996)
• "Boat Project," site installation, diRosa Preserve, Napa, California (1998)
• "Two Bridges," site installation, Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon, Illinois (1998)
• Marin County Fair, Arts Day, San Rafael, California (1997)
• "Raven Ranch Tree Project," site installation, Hopland, California (1997)
• Meadowsweet Dairy Winter Open Studio, Corte Madera, California (1996)
• "Ken's Lake Stone Disc," site installation, Moab, Utah (1995)
• Pro Arts East Bay Open Studios, Oakland, California (1995)
• Studio Exhibition, Meadowsweet Dairy, Corte Madera, California (1995)
• "Slide Ranch Contour Project," site installation, Stinson Beach, California (1993)
• Sketch Gallery, Quito, Ecuador (1993)
• Salsoteca Seseribo, Quito, Ecuador (1993)
• Open Studio, Quito, Ecuador (1992)
• Shannon Wright residence, mural installation, Quito, Ecuador (1992)
• Café Mao/Yvonne, mural installation, Pto. Ayora, Galapagos, Ecuador (1992)
• Cats Café-Bar, mural installation, Quito, Ecuador (1991)
• Jeffrey Braverman residence, mural installation, Quito, Ecuador (1991)
• Open Studio, "Patterns for Conflict and Resolution," paintings for the Children's Defense Measure, Greenbrae, California (1988)
• F.J. Michaels Gallery, San Francisco, California (1985)
• "The Two Party System," Mill Valley Community Center, mural installation, Mill Valley, California (1984)
• The Art Store, Mill Valley, California (1971)
• Red Oak Camps and The Holden Arboretum, Playsculpture Installations, Mentor, Ohio (1971)
• Corlear's School, Playsculpture Installation, New York, New York (1970)
• Chelsea Gallery, recent paintings, New York, New York (1969)

Group Exhibitions

• "Third Annual Sculpture Show," Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur, California (1998)
• Rental Gallery, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California (1998, 1997)
• "The Secrets of Nature," Paradise Wood Sculpture Grove, Santa Rosa, California (1998)
• "A Matter of Form," Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, California (1997)
• "Recycled," Artisans Gallery, Mill Valley, California (1997)
• Japonesque Gallery, San Francisco, California (1997, 1996)
• Permanent Collection, di Rosa Preserve, Napa California (1997)
• "Winter Exhibition," Claudia Chapline Gallery (1996)
• "Nothing Wasted," featured artist, Artisans Gallery, Mill Valley, California (1996)
• "Annual Garden Exhibition," Pebble Beach Lodge, Pebble Beach, California (1996)
• "11 th Annual Exhibition," Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California (1995)
• Salon and on and on, Oakland, California (1995, 1994)
• "Strictly Sculpture," Orange County Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Ana, California (1995)
• "Salon del Desnudo," Sketch Gallery, Quito, Ecuador (1993)
• Galeria L'Art, Quito, Ecuador (1993)
• "Thirtieth Anniversary Show," Mission Gallery, Taos, New Mexico (1992)
• Invitational Show, Marin Society of Artists, Kentfield, California (1992)
• "The Great String Along," Marin Community College, Kentfield, California (1992)
• "100 Artists, 100 Ways," Artisans' Gallery, Mill Valley, California (1989)
• Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California (1981)
• "California Landscapes," Dana Reich Gallery, San Francisco, California (1980)
• "Landscapes in Marin County," Allport Associates, Larkspur, California (1980)
• "Landscapes," Corte Madera Library, Corte Madera, California (1989)
• "Landscapes," Gallery Lucien Labaudt, San Francisco, California (1978)
• "Collage," American Academy of Arts and Sciences, New York, New York (1970)
• Playsculpture Installation, Riverside Park, New York, New York (1970)
• "Student Painters," Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts," Cambridge, Massachusetts (1965, 1964, 1963)

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