Plate 84 Blue-Grey Fly-catcher 

Curator: Up next we have John James Audubon's "Plate 84 Blue-Grey Fly-catcher", made using pencil, watercolor, and print. What's your first impression of this piece? Editor: Oh, there’s a delicate melancholy to this work. It feels very much like a visual haiku – spare, with a gentle wistfulness. The grey-blue hues evoke a certain quiet contemplation, don’t they? Curator: Indeed. Flycatchers themselves often symbolize resourcefulness and quick-thinking. Do you think this representation of them supports or challenges this symbolic reading? Editor: I think it certainly complicates it. Audubon captures these birds in such a state of stillness; the common, darting energy of the flycatcher seems suspended. There's a vulnerability suggested, a kind of paused alertness within the broader tableau of nature that has its own beauty and tension. It is life, frozen. Curator: Fascinating, to contrast that expectation with Audubon's more subdued rendition. The placement on the page itself, seems significant too—off-center, with so much empty space. It’s as though these birds are just a tiny vignette in a larger, more mysterious narrative. Editor: Exactly. That expansive negative space, surrounding those slender branches— it almost whispers of the vastness of the natural world, while drawing into hyper-focus one delicate detail within it. It reminds us of our relative position within the cosmos, to both observe the minute, yet acknowledge its wider implications. The bare background becomes as vital as the objects represented. Curator: It speaks volumes without explicitly stating anything, which makes for a strong image. And for those keen observers, Audubon was a meticulous artist who managed to mix scientific precision with an artful execution in his illustrations. Editor: Yes, you can sense that precision—the delicate shading, the clear depiction of the leaves and branches—and then the way he layers meaning into the stillness of the figures. It suggests both scientific exactitude, and emotional poignancy in a neat convergence of modes of knowing. Curator: Well, what a lovely conversation about a deceptively simple print. I think I see this work differently now. Editor: Me too. It's as if Audubon is asking us not just to observe, but to reflect. A visual prompt for deeper ecological, and perhaps even existential meditations.