Art-Harper-Bittern Suite TB

Please drop this item in rural or Premium Member Only caches.  Do not drop it in an urban cache or leave it behind at a caching event.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; this prevents the chain and tag tangling with other items.  Otherwise, take this travel bug anywhere you wish.  No permission needed to leave the U.S.

This is one of a series of travel bugs made to recognize art seen and admired (and in this case owned) by the bug owner.  A digital copy of this work was downloaded from the internet. The copy was reduced in size and proportions cropped to accommodate the laminating materials available to the owner.  Regrettably these processes diminish the effort of the artist.  One truly must see the original in person to fully appreciate the work.  The text below is a mixture of my own observations and material gleaned from the internet (mostly Wikipedia and Web Gallery).
 
Charles (Charley) Harper (1922—2007) was reared on a West Virginia farm.  There he developed an appreciation and love of animals.  With his education he learned design.  As a consequence he had an alternative way of looking at nature. His serigraphs (silkscreens) are expanses of color which give the viewer a very different perspective on the animal kingdom.  Harper revealed the unique behaviors of his wildlife subjects through stylized geometric reduction.  His art is instructive but it is often infused humor.  And, the title of the works are often puns or use alliteration.  Harper did not see feathers, fur, scapulars, or tail coverts on the wildlife, he saw shapes, color combinations, patterns and textures arranged in endless possibilities for making interesting pictures.  Bitterns are marsh birds that nest among cattails.  Rather than immediately fly when threatened, they will become motionless with their beaks to the sky.  The stripes on the breast and throat are camoflage.  It is innate behavior in chicks, but they lack the stripes.