Birdsong: Audio-Visual Art by Charles E. Burchfield at the Burchfield Penny

Charles Burchfield loved birds. He delighted in greeting harbingers of spring, camouflaged woodland warblers, and raucous crows, to name just a few. Journal entries recount his sightings as well as birdsongs—especially when they could be heard, but not seen. In all seasons, birds appear as both major subjects and compositional elements of his paintings, drawings, wallpapers, prints, and doodles. Burchfield had a neurological condition called synesthesia that allowed him to see the sounds of birds and the interpretation of these sounds appears in his art. This exhibition features a variety of media, including paintings and never-before-seen drawings from our collection in which Burchfield studies bird physiology as a naturalist would and experiments with ways to represent each unique birdsong—a visual audio-guide to pay homage to the uplifting sounds of nature.