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PRESS RELEASE: March 21, 2008
Contact: Teresa Mitchell, 315-646-1000
Byway E-Bay Birdhouse Bidding Begins April 13: Series Features Artist-Designed Bluebird Nestboxes through September
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The first three birdhouses in the Seaway Trail E-Bay Birdhouse Auction have been painted by (left to right) Meg Ringer, Mary Tobash and Barbara D. Crone. The electronic sale of these and three other artist-designed nest boxes will benefit the Seaway Trail Foundation. John Rogers, co-founder of the New York State Bluebird Society, donated the boxes. Photo: Seaway Trail, Inc.
Sackets Harbor, NY - One of the more unusual programs the Seaway Trail Foundation is offering in 2008 is an April-through-September e-Bay auction series of artist-designed bluebird nest boxes. The 518 miles of coastal habitat along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail byway provides excellent resting, nesting and feeding grounds for migratory birds each spring. The Seaway Trail Foundation, the nonprofit organization that promotes travel, learning and economic development along the byway, is celebrating the Birds of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail as its exhibit, programs and speakers theme for 2008.
Six artists who live or vacation along the Seaway Trail have donated their talents to design and hand paint bluebird nest boxes donated by John Rogers, a nationally recognized authority on bluebird conservation and co-founder of the New York State Bluebird Society. One box per month will be offered on e-Bay. The proceeds from the electronic sale will support educational programming by the Seaway Trail Foundation. The birdhouses can be seen online with artist bios at www.seawaytrail.com.
The Seaway Trail E-Bay birdhouse auction schedule is:
April 13-20: Bluebird nest box custom-designed by artist Meg Ringer
Margaret Helen (Meg) Ringer grew up in Buffalo, NY, on the western Seaway Trail. She moved to the North Country region of New York State in 1974 after marrying her husband and artist Michael Ringer. Meg creates her art, exercises her culinary skills, and has raised five daughters from her home along the St. Lawrence River in Alexandria Bay, NY.
May 11 -18: Bluebird nest box custom-designed by artist Mary Tobash
Mary Tobash has painted in a variety of media for 25 years from her Hegins, PA, studio in the Dutch Country of Pennsylvania. She also finds inspiration from a summer studio on Cedar Island near Fishers Landing, NY, on the St. Lawrence River. She prefers to paint on wood, tin and slate. Her creative works include children’s furniture, nursery & home murals, birdhouses, bride’s boxes, pie boxes, and welcome family signs, and she has her own line of greeting cards.
June 8-15: Flight of Fancy bluebird nest box custom-designed by artist
Barbara D. Crone – With her art, Barbara D. Crone of Fairview, PA, explores the underlying connections among all living things. She works in painting, printmaking, sculpture, and metal casting and fabrication. Barbara has studied abroad in Florence, Italy. She holds a Fine Arts degree with honors from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She has taught art from her studio and in public schools, and has exhibited in juried and invitational art shows in Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, and Krakow, Poland.
July 13-20: Bluebird nest box custom-designed by artist Christine Tisa
Christine Tisa, an art teacher in the Utica (NY) City School District, has studied art in Italy and England and taught in Spain and Croatia. In summer 2008, she will paint in Mexico. She also has a summer studio along the St. Lawrence River. Christine holds a Masters in Art Education from Syracuse University and a Masters in Fine Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She creates tropical flora art for the Horned Dorset Primavera Hotel in Puerto Rico, and has work among the art collections of private buyers in Europe, Japan, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Her recent endeavors include mural painting in private homes in Florida and Washington.
August 10-17: Bluebird nest box custom-designed by artist Robert McNamara
An accomplished wildlife & nature artist, Robert “Bob” McNamara has exhibited nationally & internationally. He was accepted to the prestigious Society of Animal Artists on his first application. His lovely and technically accurate work has appeared as part of “Birds in Art” at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum and has been included in such publications as The Best of Wildlife Art and New York State Conservationist. Bob is the illustrator, designer & editor of Tug Hill: A Four Season Guide to the Natural Side and is currently collaborating with ornithologist Gerry Smith to create a Seaway Trail birding guide. This dedicated naturalist and artist works from his streamside The Art of Wilderness studio in the Great Northern Forest on the edge of the Tug Hill Plateau in Cleveland, NY.
September 14-21: Bluebird nest box custom-designed by artist Lawrence Barone
Artist Lawrence Barone works in multiple media: pastels, oils, and sculpture. He holds an Art Education degree from the State University College at Buffalo and a Fine Art Master’s degree in printmaking from the University of Massachusetts. He has exhibited in one-man and group shows in NY and throughout the U.S. and has won awards at the New York State Fair, North East National Pastel Show, Mat Media Exhibition, and “Clemens Country Arts in the Park.” His work appears in several collegiate collections and in the Vatican Collection in Rome” Lawrence owns and operates The Gallery - Fine Art & Studio, Sackets Harbor, NY.
The Seaway Trail Foundation is also offering bluebird nest box kits and assembled but unfinished nest boxes for sale at the Gift Shop at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY.
The Birds of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Exhibit and Speakers Program begins with a 1 pm presentation on bluebirds by John Rogers Saturday, April 5 at the Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY. Admission to the program includes the three floors of exhibits in the interpretive center. Watch www.seawaytrail.com for details on programs to be offered May through Labor Day.
Travelers along the byway will find a series of themed interpretive storyteller panels at key outdoor locations along the Seaway Trail. Five of the panels feature birds; another 12 birding panels are in development by designer Robert McNamara. For more information, go online to www.seawaytrail.com or call 1-800-SEAWAY-T. # # #
