Hawaii wildlife watercolor artist Marian Berger will be on hand to kick off the start of The “Living Endemic Birds of Hawaii” Art Exhibition‚ opening Monday and running through Aug. 29 at the Botanical Research Center of the National Tropical
Hawaii wildlife watercolor artist Marian Berger will be on hand to kick off the start of The “Living Endemic Birds of Hawaii” Art Exhibition‚ opening Monday and running through Aug. 29 at the Botanical Research Center of the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s headquarters.
Berger will be signing reproductions of her work from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on opening day.The exhibitionwill feature 33 original life-size watercolors of nearly four dozen birds that are found nowhere else on Earth but Hawaii.
The event is hosted by the garden as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. It’s free to the public but donations to the nonprofit NTBG are suggested.
“Berger’s paintings bring these beautiful birds to life so that anyone can closely examine and admire their fleeting charms,” said John Clark, NTBG co-director of science and conservation. “It took the extreme geographic isolation of Hawaii for these birds to evolve and it took Marian Berger to capture them so realistically on canvas.”
The Living Endemic Birds of Hawaii collection of paintings is the result of a collaborative effort between Berger and the San Diego Zoo, a project spearheaded by Cliff Hague, who lives part of the year on Kauai. Hague and the zoo commissioned the works to raise awareness of the plight of Hawaii’s vanishing birds.
The collection was later purchased by a couple who have loaned it to NTBG for the exhibition.
NTBG CEO Chipper Wichman said that the organization is delighted to share a collection of this magnitude and importance with the community and visitors in a building dedicated to studying and preserving the very plants that co-evolved with these same birds.
“Berger’s collection is remarkable for its accuracy and artistry,” Wichman said.
The Ireland-born artist said she acquired her father’s love of science, her mother’s artistic bent, and her parents’ mutual love of the outdoors.
Her richly detailed portraits of Hawaii’s birds are valued for revealing the rarely seen beauty of birds like the apapane, akikiki, and the Nihoa finch depicted in their natural habitat.
Berger grew up in Alaska and Wake Island in the Pacific before moving to the Big Island in 1976. She had just earned her bachelor’s degree in wildlife management and lived with her spouse in a Volkswagen bus. The couple toured the island to find a spot to call home.
“During the evenings we entertained ourselves at the Hilo library for hours,” Berger said. “I soon found myself surrounded by books with illustrations by amazing artists such as Frederick Frohawk, Doug Pratt and Robert Wagstaff- and learning about the plight of the endemic birds in Hawaii. Here I began teaching myself to paint these beautiful feathered gems.”
The exhibit will run most weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 3530 Papalina Road in Kalaheo.
Info: 332-7324 ext. 227, or visit http://ntbg.org/art.
