The Pantheon of Smallness was a way of thinking about smallness differently. Sometimes we make small things, sometimes there are small bird songs, but it can have an enormous impact. Sometimes you have to whisper to be heard. Our culture is very much one of “bigging it up,” always upping the noise level in order to produce a louder signal. What you see in the bird world is sometimes that the smallest tweet can actually pierce through the cacophony in a different way. That became a metaphor for thinking about art. Emily Dickinson did quite miniature work that had a very profound, almost epic, impact, culturally speaking.
~ Kyo Maclear, from How a stressed woman found solace through looking at birds (Macleans, January 22, 2017)
Find Kyo Maclear’s new book on Amazon: Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation
Photo: Thank you Sawsan @ Last Tambourine
‘I love this’, she whispered.
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Ah yes, he whispers back…
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Def getting this book! Love her writing. 😀
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Yes, it was a great interview. Worth reading in its entirety. And I too have the book in my cue…
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Yes just finished reading the interview. She is great. 😀
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Yes, she is…..
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i love all things small, always have. minimal space to have the greatest impact.
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Yes. Me too
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The years I spent feeding, watching and photographing birds was filled with great joy. I need to re-evaluate why I stopped.
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I, too, would like to understand why you quit too!?!?!
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My wife didn’t like the bird poop and the seed husks attracted rodents. Mom rules
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Laughing. And here I thought you were out in the woods bird watching. Not from your LazyBoy staring into a cage!
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No. I set up feeders outside our kitchen, on the deck and would spend hours watching and taking hundreds of photos. I got amazing photos, even through the sliding door glass
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I think more than often truth and sanity are found in the whisper. Wonderful post.
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Yes Don. I believe you are right.
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I took a workshop on body language and other behaviours once where they recommended speaking in a lower voice to be heard. Seems counterintuitive, but I was going to meetings where people kept talking over others. I brought it down a few levels and people leaned in to hear what I was saying! ❤
Diana xo
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Cool. I need that workshop! Thanks for sharing Diana.
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Yes! I’ve done this, too, as people talking over each other is a trigger for me. I love making people lean in.
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Reblogged this on Carrie's Bench and commented:
The smallest of things…
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Thanks for sharing Carrie!
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It’s all perspective, isn’t it? Love this.
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It is Roseanne. Just a slit tilt and…
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Love the word ‘Ameliorative’.
And how Toronto is a Songbird Superhighway.
And her thoughts on Sparrows.
I must read this!
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Great interview…agree….
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Less is more…..need to practice this more.
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Great interview! For me it was the poetry of birds…oh, yes.
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Oh yes is right!
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I love making tiny art. There’s a lovely intimacy in needing a lighted magnifier and tweezers for creation.
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You are a pro a tiny art, very tiny art…
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Reminds me how the bird song has changed ever so slightly over the past week.
The starlings arrived this morning with the snow.
Noticing the small things on a snow day is magical 💛
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That’s it Val. Magic. It is. All a miracle.
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