Bird of Passage, Numbers 1-25
Craig Marshall Smith
1983
Mixed media on masonite
Purchased by the Fine Arts Committee, Friends of the Library and Museum, and Bemis Trust.

This permanent installation is a significant feature of the Bemis Library. Its creator, CM Smith,
studied at UCLA and was teaching at then Metro State University at the time of the commission. He has since retired to Highlands Ranch where he continues to work. Smith had first thought to paint pelicans but was inspired by the masses of geese that can be seen migrating through Colorado. Inspiration was also drawn from Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) who used photography to capture the movement of animals and birds. Smith hid multiple things in his paintings. The skeletons of some birds peak through the layers but one bird also hides the silhouette of a rabbit (see if you can find it). The artist also hid magazines and other documents behind the panels of some pieces like a time capsule.
--Curatorial statement by Littleton Museum interns Sarah Lillis and Chantel Baker, 2017.

According to a 1984 slide presentation about the Fine Arts Committee by FAC Member Judith Wray:
"Smith said 'A bird can fly from limb to limb and from sea to sea. In a library we are aviators, too. The library is the place for the head and heart to travel."

"C.M. Smith was an Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Metro State College in Denver. He previously taught at the University of California in Santa Barbara, and at Arizona State University. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from UCLA in 1973, and has been commissioned twice by the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities to create work for the prestigious 'Art in Public Places' program. Smith's drawings and paintings have appeared in juried and invitational shows across the country. He is the recipient of numerous awards, and his drawings hang in several collections and galleries.

Craig's studio is located in his Aurora home. For this LIttleton commission, Craig spent hundreds of studio hours conceptualizing, sketching and revising each goose on the twenty-five panels. He created stencils to study wing placement and motion, deciding on five basic wing positions. Edweard Moybridge's famous locomotion photographs of birds provided inspiration for Craig's series. The masonite panels themselves required careful preparation, cutting and painting. Craig's mixed media materials included colored pencils, china markers, paint thinner, erasers and spattered paint. This is the most extensive use he has yet made of greasy china markers in his mixed media work. He developed a method for using cotton swabs and paper towels to meticulously blend and manipulate the colors.

Craig likes the fluidity of the china markers and the degree to which they can be mulched sto that up to 15 applications can be applied to one area.

At first, in the early panels, he experimented with Prisma colors and charcoal, but decided they did not project as well as the china markers. Craig says, 'each time I made a bird it evolved very differently in the ensuing hours - undergoing maybe three or four different versions before a panel was completed.'

He knew initially that the birds would vary from panel to panel, and the skeleton and internal organs would appear - but not exactly when. Vectors and structural patterns on the wings are symbolic of the landscape of rivers, roads and fields a goose might see from the air. Even a rabbit and secret messages hide in the drawings and behind the framing. The geese in flight become a metaphor for migration...and the entire series may be viewed as twenty-five versions of a single bird, or the flight of twenty-five different birds. Only the head remains constant...and even that changes occasionally in the beak.

But the Library Commission and teaching at Metro are not all that occupied his time throughout most of 1982. The Fine Arts Committee asked him to judge the annual 'Own An Original' show in October. He carefully studied 120 entries, and selected 60 for the show. He also set up a small studio in the library the day before the show to demonstrate his mixed media techniques - actually working on one of the bird panels. On the day of the reception the Heritage High School Choir entertained the guests, and again Craig conducted a short workshop so that visitors could see the detailed drawing involved in creating a single bird image.

He willingly answered many questions about his materials, his theme, the eventual placement of the panels on the library wall, and other works of art he has created for previous commissions and exhibits.

During his final months of work on the Bemis commission Craig submitted revisions of the panels to the Fine Arts Committee for discussion and approval. The Committee was delighted with the progress of the work and eager to see the completed panels.

Craig and the Committee also looked at numerous samples of wood and metal framing - then reached a unanimous decision on width, color, and material best suited to the panels and the design of the library.

The framing of each panel was handled by a shop called The Frame Factory in Aurora. The shop has been selected by many professional artists as well as the Denver Art Museum for framing large and often specialized works of art. Craig made numerous trips from his studio to The Frame Factory to deliver his painted bird panels and pick up the panels as the framing was completed.

In the final month of teaching, framing, painting and consulting with the Fine Arts Committee - the pace quickened! Scaffolding had to be located - and it had to be light, yet sturdy. Moving it inside the library should take a minimum amount of time, and not disturb the staff and readers. Then, there were even more revisions in his studio on the last six panels. Somehow he managed to juggle these with repeated trips back to the library and his teaching assignments at Metro!

By that time the adrenalin [sic] was flowing furiously in Craig and the Fine Arts Committee! There were more trips back to The Frame Factory, then the paintings were carefully wrapped, loaded in Craig's car and unloaded in this room.

Photographers and reporters heard of the commissioned work and wanted to photograph and interview the artist for the Denver and Littleton newspapers.

During the last week Craig became artist-turned-athlete as he climbed, descended and walked the scaffolding measuring for hooks, checking their placement against his pre-planned grid, and then hanging each panel in its specified section. Meanwhile, back at the Fine Arts Committee, Gene Kramer in the final month coordinated the design, typesetting, and printing of the announcement which was mailed to hundreds of art lovers in Colorado.

And so, at last, after a year of interaction between the Littleton Fine Arts Committee, Craig Smith, the City, the Bemis Family, the Friends of the Littleton Library/Museum, staff and boards of the Library and Museum, custodians and numerous other helpers - we arrived at the wonderful moment - the premier viewing of the Edwin A. Bemis Library's newly commissioned work of art by Craig Marshall Smith...Bird of Passage."

26 panels commissioned for $10,000. One is in storage/part of the Fine Arts Board Rotating Collection. The twenty-five others hang in the Bemis Library.

The Fine Arts Collection consists of artwork acquired for the City of Littleton's public art collection, or art portfolio. The collection includes permanent installations in City-owned public parks and buildings, as well as a large collection of rotating artworks which are only available for exhibition in City-owned buildings, such as the Littleton Center, Bemis Public Library, Littleton Court House, and the Littleton Museum. Artworks in the Rotating Collection are exhibited for short terms in order to avoid light damage, pest infestation, vandalism, etc., as well as to freshen up public spaces on occasion. When on display, the Rotating Collection artworks are located indoors and may not be accessible during evening or weekend hours.

Owner: City of Littleton
Maintenance Authority: City of Littleton - Fine Arts Board/Littleton Museum