Heather Lee Birdsong

Heather Lee Birdsong

Untitled (Polygons No. 9), 2016 gouache on hot-pressed paper, 10 ¼ x 14 1/8 inches

I remember collecting cicada shells from tree trunks around my grandmother’s house. My brother and cousins and I would pluck them from the rough bark and hang them on our clothes, on laundry drying on the line, or throw them at each other. I thought they were disgusting and beautiful, and fascinating because of this confusing dichotomy. Now, of course, they are also imbued with the warm glow of nostalgia. But nothing from my childhood exists without a shadow, a specter of things related and not, remembered and not.

Heather Lee Birdsong

Just finished a new little painting. As-yet untitled. See the whole series at www.heatherleebirdsong.com/polygons

Having an English edition of Dieter Lumpen by Rubén Pellejero (artist) and Jorge Zentner (writer) has made 2016 exponentially better. Pellejero is one of the all time greats and this collection is worth every cent.

IDW’s EuroComics has done an exceptional job on this one. Pick a copy up at your local comic shop (or directly from IDW). If you are short on funds, ask you local library to order a copy. You won’t regret it. I preordered mine from Floating World Comics in PDX, and they have a few more on the shelf.

Kagan McLeod

Portrait of Anna Washington Derry by Laura Wheeler Waring c. 1927

wc williams - reader in blue