birds

Looking through the work of Audubon I was immediately filled with remembrance of a taxidermy museum, then realizing that that is exactly what he did. Don't get me wrong, his drawings and paintings were very beautiful and precise, but they gave off a sort of creepy dead feeling to me. Some of it was too still, too real to be true. I was very impressed with the expressions he captured on each of the birds faces, that seemed like something that would be very difficult and I thought he conveyed each bird's expression very well.

The photographs is the next room also impressed me. I liked searching for each bird in each picture. It made you notice more in the picture that you usually wouldn't have if you didn't have to search for a specific object. I liked seeing the surrounding of the bird and how they fit into it perfectly. My favorite was the picture with a girl infront of the bird. It made me feel like the bird was watching the girl, waiting for something exciting to happen, where in reality people are usually watching the birds and waiting for something exciting to happen.

I felt a little awkward in the beginning of Manson's workshop, feeling young and not knowing what to expect. I enjoyed getting to know each person by how they acted and what they said while introducing themselves. Throughout the workshop Manson constantly made me feel comfortable in my surroundings, making me feel the earth beneath me, listening to everything from my heartbeat to the buses outside. She made me actually feel and think about what was going on at that exact moment through my body and mind.

I also wanted to join the dancers outside in the rain, and if I wasn't wearing a dress I probably would have. I was jealous of their freedom. They did whatever they felt at that exact moment, falling to the ground, against trees, in the rocks, mud, and onto eachother. Sometimes they reminded me of young children, without a care in the world. I wanted to feel what they felt. Manson's workshop was bizzare and I've never experienced anything like it but I think it gave me many new things to think about.