SUNY Distinguished Professor Alberto Rey (center) with students in his home studio.
An opportunity to view a special collection at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown led to a three-year major creative project for SUNY Distinguished Professor Alberto Rey of the Department of Visual Arts and New Media.
Professor Rey was invited by Director of Exhibits and Special Collections Jane Johnson to view RTPI’s archive of “skins” of extinct birds, most acquired by Mr. Peterson over the years from other collections. Rey was surprised at the number and “fascinated” as he realized that a few that he was looking at were the last remnants of a species. Most of the seven or so specimens he saw at RTPI had been collected in the 1800s. They evoked sadness, he said, lying flat and tagged in their cases.
The project developed as Rey researched these and numerous other extinct bird specimens, originating from around the world, at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He noted that in the 1800s, the idea of conservation was a novel idea, with collectors/hunters vying for the rarest and most valuable specimens.
Then he began to paint. Eighteen large canvases. A subject he had never drawn or painted before, which he approached with almost a “devotional manner.” So important to be correct – anatomy and feathers painted so that ornithologists would feel they were accurate in depicting the last remains of a species, but still keeping the painting surfaces rich with brushwork. Another integral part of the project was the research conducted by Rey on the extinct birds and “commercial” collectors of the 1800s; of the birds’ location and environment, and how they were acquired by museums, sometimes in multiples, to trade for other specimens. Most vulnerable in the race to acquire rare bird skins were the species found on islands including New Zealand, Hawaii and Madagascar, because the birds could not move to other habitats once theirs was degraded or destroyed.
An accompanying book took form including the stories of the extinct birds and collectors. It was designed by Associate Professor Jason Dilworth of VANM and edited by the Department of English’s Dr. Natalie Gerber. Mr. Dilworth partnered with Rey on a previous book about the Bagmati River Art Project in Nepal. A solo exhibition including Rey’s extinct bird paintings opened in August at RTPI, where Rey will hold a lecture and book signing on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. The exhibit continues through Dec. 14 at RTPI, located at 311 Curtis St., Jamestown.
Rey’s work can be found in around 20 museum collections, and he is a Living Legacy Artist of the Burchfield Penney Art Center at SUNY Buffalo State. He is also a writer, a filmmaker, an Orvis-endorsed fly fishing guide and the fonder/director of a youth fly fishing program. For more information on the project, visit extinctbirdsproject.com
