Mass Audubon Art Collection on Display in Maine

Museum of American Bird Art is on the road!  

While our gallery is currently closed, pieces from our permanent collection will be traveling to the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor, Maine for Inspired Flight, a collaborative exhibition that runs May 17 to September 7. 

Wendell Gilley was a pioneer of decorative bird carving and an artist inspired by many of the carvers whose works are treasures of Mass Audubon’s art collection. Through this collaboration, visitors will see a wide range of bird art in various media, alongside some of Wendell Gilley’s best bird carvings. 

About The Exhibit 

From their awe-inspiring migrations to their curious social behaviors and astonishing plumage, birds inspire us to embrace life, seek joy, notice the world around us, and to ponder life’s mysteries and delicate interconnectedness.  

Inspired Flight brings together 48 works across diverse media that highlight our complex relationship with birds as well as the varying ways in which artists have engaged with and interpreted birds throughout the history of art.  

This exhibition showcases some of the most important works from the unique collection of the Museum of American Bird Art at Mass Audubon (MABA), many of which are being shown for the first time outside of Massachusetts.  

Inspired Flight celebrates the museum’s mission to harness the power of art to connect people to the environment and to one another, and MABA is proud to partner with the Wendell Gilley Museum through this special exhibit.  

We hope you will be inspired to consider the delicate harmony of the natural world through the wonderful birds in these galleries and the exceptional artists who bring them to life.  

Learn more about the Wendell Gilley Museum and plan your visit at wendellgilleymuseum.org.