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Vocal Learning-Anna's Hummingbird Gail Tarantino
$4,000
Created during her Uprise Art x MacArthur Place residency, this series explores birdsong through a mnemonic lens, chronicling the percussive and rhythmic sounds with overlapping text. Read more
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In the natural world, the sensory experience of watching birds fly is captivating and the melodic sounds of various bird species can be pitch-perfect. Often we hear, rather than see birds hidden among the landscape. Wanting to understand more about bird vocalization, I began looking at spectrograms that show the frequency of sound over time, as a way to ‘read’ bird songs. To further understand the secret language of birds, I combed over a list of bird song mnemonics, a tool used by ornithologists and designed to aid memory in remembering bird calls. Seeing what birds say phonetically, was helpful in sharpening my ear. Birds learn to sing through the process of vocal learning in ways that mirror how humans learn language, through listening, imitating, and practicing.
About the Artist
Gail Tarantino's work focuses on thinking of ways to interpret language and its myriad meanings.
News and
Notables
- Featured in Form Design Magazine, 2018
- Exhibited at Sun Valley Center for the Arts, 2016
- Reviewed in Artillery Magazine, 2015
