Cawing of the crows

Bird (image from here)
The title of the Elisabeth Frink exhibition is Humans and Other Animals.  One category of those animals which always has an effect on me is her birds.  Ravens and the crow family generally come with menacing baggage, and although I can see why, I also find them of great interest.  I find jackdaws playful in their gang, and persistent in attacking the bird feeder.  My father used to hate the crow family largely because they walk like man which he described as obscene.

Laura Ford: Bird boy (image from here)
He definitely would not have warmed to Laura Ford's sculptures which match children's legs and stance with bird bodies and heads. And I must admit that I find the one I have seen at the New Art Centre sent creeps up my spine - while also attracting my positive curiosity.

Douglas Gordon: Looking down with his black black ee (image from here)
With the Frink works and those of influences there were two contemporary artists, one of whom was Douglas Gordon.  We were fascinated by his three video piece, and the sound of the cawing could be heard in the room where Frink's birds were displayed, adding to the atmosphere.  The title of Gordon's piece is from a Scottish poem which begins  
A corbie sits at the tap o' thon tree
And he's looking doon with his black black ee, ....

Corvids are popular in folk tales, and there is a lovely one The Stolen Sun written and illustrated by Amanda Hall, with whom I had the pleasure of working many years ago. (images above and below from here)

A couple of years ago I read an interesting book: Corvus: A life with birds by Esther Woolfson.

I am attracted to the rook/crow etc. family in my work as seen in Stretch, below.