Biodiversity+Reclamation+Suit+-+Passenger+Pigeon

Date: 2008
 * [[image:http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=http://americanart.si.edu/images/2013/2013.76.1A-B_2a.jpg&max=460 width="256" height="320" link="@http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=83924"]] || Title: **Biodiversity Reclamation Suit: Passenger Pigeon**

Artist: **Laurel Roth Hope** Born: Concord, California 1973

Medium: suit: cotton, silk, bamboo, wool, and acrylic blended yarn mannequin: basswood, acrylic paint, gouache, glass, pewter, and walnut Dimensions: 17 x 8 x 9 in. (43.2 x 20.3 x 22.9 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser © 2008, Laurel Roth Hope

Accession: 2013.76.1A-B || This bird suit is made of several materials: cotton, silk, bamboo, wool, and acrylic blended yarn. The mannequin is comprised of: basswood, acrylic, paint, gouache, glass, pewter, and walnut. Roth is a self-taught artist. She combines new and old materials through traditional carving, embroidery, and collage. //Passenger Pigeon// references the extinct bird considered to have once been the most populous bird species on earth. The work may remind the viewer of rock pigeons, which continue to exist in large numbers particularly in urban environments. Often rock pigeons are seen as pests; conversely people lament the demise of the passenger pigeon.
 * About the Artwork: **

Before pursuing a career in art, Hope lived in the greater San Francisco Bay area and she worked for the Marin Conservation Corps and as a park ranger. In her pieces Hope considers how human activity has a biological impact on nature. She questions social constructs of need, design, and individual desire by combining biological forms and artistic designs. An overarching theme in Hope’s work is the belief that coexistence of nature and civilization is possible.

Atkinson, Nora. //Craft for a Modern World: The Renwick Gallery Collection// (London: Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with D Giles Limited), 90.
 * Resources: **

Bell, Nicholas R. //40 Under 40: Craft Futures// (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), 198-201, 248.

Sims, Lowery. //Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design// (New York: Museum of Arts and Design, the Monacelli Press, 2012), 158-159.

"The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art" online gallery Artist Website “The State of Art” at Crystal Bridges Passenger Pigeon Wikipedia Entry SAAM Collections Page
 * Links: **