The Lost Bird Project Sculpture Now on Display at Brookgreen Gardens

Press Release

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Brookgreen Gardens, home to the largest collection of American figurative sculpture in the country, is now displaying the six-foot tall bronze sculpture Carolina Parakeet. This traveling exhibit from The Lost Bird Project depicts the only parrot species native to the southeastern United States, declared extinct in 1939. The sculpture is being displayed in Brookgreen Gardens’ Arboretum until November 3, 2019.

“At Brookgreen we conserve the plants, animals, and cultural history of the Lowcountry. This project brings to light the modern issues facing wildlife in our region and will help us educate the public about this growing concern,” says Page Kiniry, President and CEO of Brookgreen Gardens. “We are thrilled to not only be displaying this sculpture, but to be hosting artist Todd McGrain for a lecture on this project later this year.”

Todd McGrain, the artist behind The Lost Bird Project, created bronze sculptures of the extinct great auk, Labrador duck, passenger pigeon, heath hen and Carolina parakeet to chronicle humankind’s impact on our changing world. Each sculpture is permanently on display at the location where its species was last seen. The Carolina Parakeet was last observed in the wild in the 1920s near Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park in Okeechobee, FL, where a permanent installation is now on display. Since deploying his original sculptures, McGrain has made other castings that travel for various exhibitions.

Along with the installation in the Arboretum, Brookgreen’s Bleifeld Gallery is displaying smaller bronze castings of the five sculptures plus drawings and photographs related to the project. Brookgreen will also hold a lecture with artist Todd McGrain on November 2, 2019 in the Lowcountry Auditorium and a reception will follow.

To learn more about Brookgreen Gardens, visit www.brookgreen.org.

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