The cast bronze barn owl welcomes visitors to Brown Hall.
Pacific unveils John Hayes Bird Tour
Sculpted birds pay tribute to retiring Arts & Sciences Dean Hayes, who also is an avid outdoorsman and birder
Pacific University is now home to an artistic bird tour, created in honor of John Hayes, retiring dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
The John Hayes Bird Tour features seven species of birds, rendered in cast bronze, fired ceramic and cut glass. The birds are displayed in locations around the Forest Grove campus of Pacific University. A digital tour, featuring a map, checklist and details of each species and piece of art, is available online.
Hayes, who retires as dean at the end of June, is an avid outdoorsman, who has been published on some of the best places to canoe and kayak.
“His love affair with the idea of floating on quiet water has led him to write four books telling us noisy people how to calm down and find the more tranquil places to paddle,” notes the bird tour webpage.
That love also translates into a passion for the avian order—he has catalogued and documented 580 U.S. bird species and about 2,500 species worldwide—as well as into his next role at Pacific University: inaugural director of the new Center for a Sustainable Society.
The John Hayes Bird Tour highlights the acorn woodpecker, mourning dove, red-breasted nuthatch, barn owl, wood duck, American kestrel and American bittern. The renderings of the birds were created by art professors Terry and Steve O’Day. The natural histories of the species were researched and composed by environmental science professor Rich Van Buskirk. And the interactive web pages, which also include Hayes’ writing about each species, were designed by media arts professor Mike Geraci. In addition, Joyce Gabriel of the Department of Marketing & Communications, contributed watercolor paintings for the online component of the tour, and numerous donors helped fund the effort in Hayes’ honor.
Posted by Jenni Luckett (jluckett@pacificu.edu) on Jun 19, 2012 at 10:30 AM
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