Parrots: A Flagrant Exhibition of Mimicry

directed by Mika the Parrot, concept by Adam White.

You may be wondering why we’ve been mentioning parrots for Open Studios this year…

Well, Adam White, a dear friend and long-serving artist at SVA, came up with this idea after Open Studios 2022 when a parrot called Mika visited the studios. As he’d been part of many Open Studios over the years, he wanted a new idea to sink his teeth into, so came up with the idea of loads of artists having a piece in their studio as part of a trail.

Something that would appeal to everyone, and be a curiosity for both artists and visitors. So he devised “Parrots: A Flagrant Exhibition of Mimicry” directed by Mika the Parrot.

The Idea

1. Each inductee to the Open Studios event paints (or makes) a Parrot (this does not have to be literal).

2. Artists who’ve sadly succumbed to a parrot pathology {a dislike of our feathered friends} kindly concede a £5 grant towards parrot veterinarians, conservation or captive breeding of parrots.

3. Mika the parrot helps curate the exhibition through his unique aesthetic knowledge (sadly lost by humans in later epochs).

Basically: we’re asking artists to make a piece of artwork on the theme, donate some money to support parrots somehow, and if they’re available… Mika the parrot will respond to your work as a form of judgement with a squawk or a movement of the head.

So in memory of Adam, we’d like to continue to attempt the idea in June. So get involved!

Artworks

Adam’s Studio

As well as the trail of Parrots, there will also be a retrospective studio opening for Adam’s studio who passed away on Christmas Day 2022, aged 54. He wanted as many people as possible to continue to enjoy his wonderful work so his studio at SVA will be open, invigilated by volunteers. Find out more on the Festival Programme.

The Concept, in Adam’s own words

The idea is to bring something new to the open studios, poetic collaborations with artists and animals: the concept of mimicry, in language, in child development, in politics and religious practices. The idea is based on the tour of ‘Mika’ (a West African Parrot) through the Open Studios in June 2022. 

Each inductee to the Open Studios event paints (or makes) a Parrot (this does not have to be literal).

Artists who’ve sadly succumbed to a parrot pathology {a dislike of our feathered friends} kindly concede a £5 grant towards parrot veterinarians, conservation or captive breeding of parrots.

Mika the parrot helps curate the exhibition through his unique aesthetic knowledge (sadly lost by humans in later epochs). Be they a prattle of parrots or a pandemonium of parakeets, there’s scope for massive artistic pecking.

Some ideas from Adam’s brilliant mind that could be considered :

1. The concept of mimicry for artists

2. Colour perception in parrots and painters 

3. Avian behavioural habits for performance artists

4. Prizes are awarded by Mika live on air with his keeper, for various artistic traits artists claim to possess in their work.

5. A special gallant service Medal made from Mika’s shed feathers for service to the Psittaciforme (parrot) family tree

6. Poetic interpretations: think better and un-cage your sick inner parrot

7. A Parrot Motif Trail in shops and buildings and through Stroud… stray colourful feathers on the pavement indicating a pattern of flight to an art venue

8. A performance artist demonstrates how to flap enough to fly at low altitude. May include ‘How to break nuts with your head & teeth without thinking’

9. Cuttlefish carvings of parrots, budgies & anything else?

10. The 19th century trade in bird feathers for hats etc

11. Written event: ‘Evening of the Long Quills’ ~ inscribed visual & text-based poetry event

12. Pecking Hell!  A ‘Chatter’ of gullible budgies and their prattling government 

13. Tarred and Feathered: post-ritual humiliation and surgery

14. Brain organisation in parrots and man

15. The Last Laugh: Gauguin, Cleese and Palin on their study of dead parrots

16. Lecture: Do Parrots Like People? The Natural History of parrots

Natural History:

Parrots are a unique long-lived order of avian stock, achieving a similar decrepitude to ourselves. Mimicry is not their sole virtue. An inhabitant of Gondwanaland, parrots’ evolutionary lineage goes back at least 50 million years maybe even to the late Cretaceous).

So - artists - get your thinking caps on for a parrot idea.

Visitors - look out for parrot-like artwork on your travels around the studios!