ArtSEA: Amid threats to forests, a Seattle show of endangered birds

Signed on March 1, the mandate for “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production” calls for logging of national forestland and directs the Endangered Species Committee to “streamline” consultation requirements to expedite timber production.

The order conflicts with the Northwest Forest Plan, enacted in 1994 to protect old-growth forests, rivers and endangered species including spotted owls and salmon. Managed by the USDA Forest Service, the plan covers 24.5 million acres of federal land in Wash., Ore. and northwestern Calif. If the new executive order is enforced, it could result in significant habitat loss.

All of which makes the special exhibit currently running at the Burke Museum feel even more relevant. Rare Air: Connecting with Species of Flight (through March 31) combines original paintings of rare and endangered birds, bats, butterflies and bees with specimens from the Burke’s collection to tell the story of how human actions have affected — and sometimes devastated — populations of flying creatures. 

Based on the book RARE AIR: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies & Bees (Mountaineers Books, 2023), the show includes colorful and accurate illustrations by Philadelphia-based artist Sarah Kaizar.

For this exhibition, Kaizar also created seven original gouache, pen and ink works based on species found in the Pacific Northwest — including an Anna’s hummingbird (noted for its remarkable urban-adaptation skills) and a charming tufted puffin (endangered and in decline in Washington).

In addition to the lovely artworks, the show offers a refreshingly nuanced perspective on the challenges inherent in managing competing wildlife populations (such as the “family feud” between barred owls and spotted owls) alongside environmental efforts (such as wind turbines that interfere with certain bat species).

“The threats all come back to human activity,” collections manager Jeff Bradley told me when I visited. “But humans are also the solution.”

Moving from birds to bodies in flight … It’s time once again for me to urge readers to check out a dance piece by genius choreographer Crystal Pite.

Based in Vancouver, B.C., Pite is one of my all-time favorite artists, whose contemporary dance creations are nothing short of gripping. Even if you are allegedly “not a dance person,” trust me — her work is a must-see. If you caught Pacific Northwest Ballet’s performance of Pite’s tremendously moving Seasons’ Canon in April, you get it.

Created for the National Ballet of Canada in 2009, and last performed by PNB almost seven years ago, Emergence (March 14 - 23) is Pite’s buzzing, throbbing, clicky, clanky take on bees, insects and the hive mind. The dark-toned, mass-ensemble piece boasts major goth vibes (catch a glimpse), as well as her innovative “dance vocabulary,” which I explored in a slightly obsessive fangirl analysis the last time Emergence was performed here. 

Also on PNB’s mixed bill by the same name is Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun (1953), Marco Goecke’s stunning solo piece Mopey (2004) and Dawn Patrol, a world premiere by PNB dancer Price Suddarth.

And this weekend you have several more opportunities to experience dance:

< Dance Theater of Harlem is back in town (March 8 - 9 at the Paramount), performing fluid works by George Balanchine, William Forsythe and Cookout, a world premiere by the company’s artistic director Robert Garland.

< Seattle International Dance Festival continues its Winter Minifest (March 8 - 9 at Erickson Theatre), presenting contemporary works by New York City-based Ishita Mili Global Exposé and Seattle’s own Khambatta Dance Company.

< New local dance/theater company RicketySticks, directed by Amy J. Lambert, presents This Is a Drama Comedy (March 7 - 15 at 12th Avenue Arts), which rides the edge of humor and pathos and involves clowns throwing themselves into a volcano. Feels about right!

We’ll finish with a few more excellent ways to escape into art. 

The first-ever Sea Slug Animation Festival (March 7 - 8 at SIFF Cinema Uptown) looks like a lot of fun. This “larval edition” gathers films from all over the globe, including two hefty animated shorts packages and two feature films (all aimed at adult audiences). 

Also brimming with creativity undaunted is As We Imagined (through March 16 at AMcE Creative Arts), a group show of visual art that explores myths, dreams and idealized spaces. Look for puffy Elvis homages by Bean Gilsdorf, strange and rocky landscapes by Ricky Allman and a tufted wool “Sad Zebra” by Melissa Monroe that will make you want to curl up and commiserate.

Strange landscapes have long been the stomping ground of novelist Karen Russell (Swamplandia!), who is visiting Seattle to discuss her newest book, The Antidote (March 12 at Seattle Public Library downtown). Set during the Dust Bowl, the story is about environmental collapse — and the societal amnesia that allows human-induced travesties to reoccur. It’s laced through with magical realism, including a haunted scarecrow and a time-traveling camera.

Celebrated Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Americanah) is also on tour with a new novel, Dream Count. The pandemic-set story is told through four interconnected women, all trying to find their way through love and loneliness. (March 9 at the Neptune Theatre)

Also in important literature … the Seattle-based Bushwick Book Club, a music collective that writes and performs original songs based on books, is tackling a timely one: Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury’s futuristic 1953 novel about the dark perils of censorship and our obsession with screens. It’s almost as if Ray had one of those time-traveling cameras. (March 8 at Hugo House)