Year: 2018
Artist Team:
Jaymie Johnson
Cameron Cartiere
Christian Blyt
To coincide with the 27th International Ornithological Congress taking place in Vancouver, a spectacular, giant bird nest sculpture was installed on the Arbutus Greenway, where it was seen throughout August 2018, before being moved to a permanent location in Port Moody, BC.
Created by Cameron Cartiere, Jaymie Johnson and Christian Blyt, this impressive sculpture contained hundreds of nests for the broad array of birds that are native to Metro Vancouver, from the Anna’s Hummingbird to the Bald Eagle. These community-made nests were assembled together on a secure willow armature to form a single giant bird nest (2.5 meters in diameter) representing the range of habitats needed for birds to survive in our region. Following the Vancouver installation, Nesting Nests was relocated to Port Moody where the work was expanded to include nests for Purple Martins and other birds who call Port Moody home.
Each of the individual nests forming part of the larger sculpture was handmade by members of the public during free workshops led by chART artists Jaymie Johnson and Cameron Cartiere. These workshops were open to any Vancouver individual or family, and were a unique opportunity for members of the public not only to create their own work of art, but also to engage in environmental education, story-telling, music, and community building.
Nesting Nests was part of As the Crow Flies, a 10-kilometer long public artwork, one of the longest public art installation in Canada, running all the way from Strathcona to Marpole and taking place in the weeks leading to the Vancouver International Bird Festival and the 27th International Ornithological Congress, two events that brought thousands of bird enthusiasts from around the world to British Columbia. It was the brainchild of professor Cameron Cartiere of Emily Carr University of Art + Design and her collective chART Projects, who aimed to celebrate our feathered friends and raise awareness of the vulnerability of the bird species trying to raise their young in our shared city.
