An artsy flock of birds fly through Bellevue (MI)

[Donna]

If you drive through downtown Bellevue, you won?t be able to help but notice a flock of 10 life sized Sandhill Cranes, Michigan?s tallest bird, flying low through the northwest corner of the Capital Avenue and Main Street intersection. If you don?t get through Bellevue very often, then this interesting temporary art installation is something you won?t want to miss. This combined school / community effort was orchestrated by Bellevue School?s art teacher Audrey Haddock.
As an art teacher with Bellevue Community Schools for the past 11 years, Haddock has always made an effort to tie her art curriculum into community projects. Her thrust as an art teacher, explained Haddock, ?is to involve as many layers of the community in an effort to give back by leaving something beautiful.? For the past 5 years, Haddock and her students have painted about 20 wooden sandhill cranes to celebrate the CraneFest that takes place in Convis Township every fall. These colorful student contributions liven up the actual site of festival. With limited funds, creative students, and the help of community volunteers to cutout wood cranes, Haddock was able to make this happen, but she had a vision for bigger and more permanent installations. Unfortunately, not the extra money such projects require. But in the Fall of 2009 that would change.

Haddock had encouraged one of her students, Naomi Haralson, to ender a contest that the Battle Creek Community Foundation, now the Calhoun County Arts Council was sponsoring for a Gateway Design Grant. Harlson, who graduated from Bellevue last year won the contest and was awarded $5,000 in scholarship money and the Bellevue?s art department was awarded $5,000 in matching funds. Haddock dedicated part of this money to have life sized metal cut outs of the sandhill crane cut out. She involved Bellevue students Riley Beam, Brace Graham, Adam Simons, and Josh Wix at the Calhoun Area Vocational Center where the plasma cutter was used to cut out the ----ga. birds that were then welded together. The birds were welded to a tube steel post that slides over another tube steel post that was set in a 10 gallon bucket of concrete to provide a future footing for the bird. All of this skilled and very cumbersome preliminary work was achieved with the supervision of local community member and assistant welding teacher at the Calhoun Area Vocational Center, Gary Edwards.

In Spring of 2009, The birds temporarily flew into the the back door of the high school auditorium, the only doors large enough to get them in, where they waited for their next unique phase of transformation. Haddock lined up artists and community members to adopt a bird. They would have the birds all summer and were asked to do adorn these large metal sculptures and bring them back to install this fall to ?Beautify Bellevue? in conjunction with the 16th annual CraneFest to take place this weekend in Convis Township.

Photo: Leader of the pack

BattleCreek Enquirer

[MAK]

What a great idea! They look really cool. Thanks for sharing Donna.

[Shaky]

How cool would it be if a similar display of falcons were erected in Rochester on the corner of Broad and Exchange? It could be placed in front of the Blue Cross Arena where those cheesy fiberglass benches are now.