This is our artist statement. 

Our project serves as a guide to going bird watching around the Portland State University campus. We brought together both art and science to help our community learn about the native birds around us. We wanted to take a local approach after being inspired by Ken’s personal passions for the birds he works with. Our project is one big Papier-mâché tree with different birds hanging from it. Max and Evan created the tree, which is about 2½ feet tall. Luka and Katie went to six different locations across campus to locate a variety of local birds.

We also wanted to play to our individual strengths by having a creative aspect, the sculpture, that would challenge our artistic skills, and then also give us a chance to do personal field research at various locations on campus. Often, we find ourselves hearing birds but not seeing them. One of the goals of our project was to help people identify those birds without needing to see them, so we included images of all the birds we identified. 

Together, we all learned a lot from this project. Max and Evan learned how to turn a 2d drawing into an amazing 3d sculpture. Luka learned that it is fun to work in a group, but it's amazing when a group can work together, and all members are self-sufficient. Each member learned how to be self-sufficient and pull their own weight. We hope that through our project, our classmates can learn about the variety of birds right outside their door.