Experimental POP UP Birdhouses
I am Margaret Anne Suggs and I’m a member of IBBY Ireland, where I organise the borrowing of our Silent Book collections. I am an illustrator working predominately in children’s books.
The video you’ve just seen is of an exhibition of my work, “Home is Where the Heart Is” . It is a project based on illustration / sculpture / pop-up and it follows a narrative of my own immigrant experience. As a child, I loved little spaces and building dens, or making little ‘nests’ in secret... (Think back to being a child and finding your first delicate, cosy bird’s nest...) and I was fascinated by birdhouses –especially by the idea that humans go to the trouble to put out these shelters for animals that have no instinctual need for them, but use them anyway. This idea of providing shelter, in my mind, linked easily to immigrants /immigration + refugees /seeking refuge.
The birdhouses relate to themes of migration, duality of belonging, and the ephemeral nature of home – because sadly a ‘home’ isn’t always permanent.
Immigration, even though I chose it, was a very difficult process. And it upset me to think how much more difficult it would be if you didn’t have a choice!
So through an application process, the Arts Council of Ireland granted me funding to advance my illustration practice through this project. The message I wanted to convey, was that ‘Home is Where the Heart Is’. Are you familiar with this ‘saying’? It means, as long as there is LOVE in a place, that place is home. I decided to look back at and explore the ‘homes’ that brought me to Ireland – to where I am now.
Using this birdhouse shape (that shows up in my work quite a lot) I looked at the narrative that runs through the series, and I call the pieces “experimental POP-UP” books.
There are 5 ‘homes’ that make up my life story (so far) and I went into the studio – as you see It here - and started working.
The first one is on my childhood.
CHILDHOOD – this birdhouse probably looks very Southern.
This slide shows the full drawing, before construction with the roof to the right.
I was a child of the South – born in the “land of cotton” where peaches and peanuts grow, and my childhood was charmed. Dorothy, in her spectacular ruby slippers said, 'There's no place like home', but as an immigrant, I can tell you that no, “Home” is where the heart is. This slide shows work from my early sketchbooks, then some line drawings and on to the finished illustrations. I’m making reference here to my roots in the deep south and I’m telling a few personal stories too. You’ll see some themes coming up again and again.
I decided that the inside of the houses could also tell part of my story, maybe things a bit more ‘hidden’. Inside this one you’ll see maps of my hometown as well as an illustration from my favourite book that I’ve added some collage to.
The next is Life as a STUDENT – where I was first in my own space instead of under my parents’ roof.
The desire from the child to leave the parent's nest is instinctual, evolutionary, and fairly impulsive.
I was finished with high school before I actually finished high school and I moved away to attend university as soon as I could. On this birdhouse I reference the work of a Southern artist, Howard Finster, who was an early influence on my illustration.
They will claim it was coincidence, but my parents changed the locks when I moved out of the family house. My home became the women's dormitory at university and it smelled of fresh laundry and art supplies. It was occupied by a circle of dear and like-minded friends, their cheerful chatter, and laughter that bubbled up from the soul.
Again I’ve included some early sketchbook work, some linework and some finished illustration.
I should have focused more on academics at university, and I could have achieved so much more, but I was in a hurry to move on. As the roof says, Where? I don't know...
So I went everywhere I could...
TRAVELLING - Once I began travelling, I really woke up and started to realise all that I could do on my own.
The world is huge and there is so much to see! I decided to go everywhere. With a borrowed backpack, an open-ended flight, and a Euro-rail pass, I left with two good friends, Sarah and Kathryn. It was a purpley-golden time.
I was charmed by the indeterminate cacophony of languages, the fantastic sights, and the rich, sweet aromas of local foods. Food, and sharing food, is such a bonding, special experience! We realised we needed so little and learned so much. We really had that young adult feeling that ‘the whole world was at our fingertips’!
When you have been away for a while and come back home, your house looks smaller; but it is you have grown.
The next birdhouse tells of my choice to immigrate.
IMMIGRANT – This is when I chose where I wanted to be.
I found it difficult to put down roots when I came to Ireland and that is reflected in the illustrations here.
Studying is the best way to live abroad, so I 'packed a bag with sweaters and socks'... and came to Ireland to work on a Masters at the National College of Art and Design. When I arrived in Dublin, 'home' was everything I had left behind – family, security, and possessions. After a while, I half-heartedly put down a few roots by cultivating a window-box garden and taking in a stray kitten. I still felt the pang of leaving my family to adopt a new culture. The roasted barley and pungent, determined odour of tobacco hung in the air. I will always be “Southern”, but I knew in my heart I was leaving for good and Forget-Me-Nots bloomed with a special irony
And the final birdhouse - - -
SETTLE – This is when I decided to stay. It wasn’t a single moment, but an accumulation of events that led to the decision to make Ireland my home.
I will never by fully Irish. The Irish will not allow it, but my heart has chosen to stay here.
And this birdhouse shows the importance of family. I pledged my 'fidelity to the nation and my loyalty to the state', but really more to Gearoid (who became my husband and life partner).
The teacup with the pattern floating away is symbolic of how my life has played out so far. It’s been beautiful but messy and not entirely well-planned.
They say 'Bricks and mortar make a house, but the laughter of children make a home', and I am lucky enough to have two beautiful children. Here, the R and the D represent my wonderful children. I hope their childhood will be as charmed as mine was.
This is where telling my story became difficult.
The word ‘Home’ to most people will conjure thoughts of comfort, familiarity, safety and family, but again ‘home’ for some people is everything that has been left behind. My heart is here, but my heart was also in these other places along the way. And through time and through working on this project, I realised – you bring them with you. You bring everyone and everything with you, so I suspended a tiny birdhouse inside to symbolise that -my heart.
Many people have asked, “How did I make them?”
I drew out the unfolded form of the birdhouse onto heavy watercolour paper. Then I drew the illustrations directly onto the watercolour paper and ink, watercolour, and coloured pencil. Aside from illustration, I incorporated stitch and collage.
For the collage, I used very old as well as modern maps of Georgia (USA), maps of the entire USA, the Southland, Europe, Ireland, the UK, and Italy. I also used drawings from old sketchbooks as collage elements. And I stitched details such as the raindrops and the train tracks.
When the illustrations were finished on one side, I turned them over and worked on the insides! Once both sides were completed, I cut them out, folded them and glued them together. So the birdhouse is actually the art.
It was not my original intention to exhibit them, but a curator contacted me and asked if she could display them. Though this collection of work is referred to as ‘pop up books’, it is unusual, and it has attracted a diverse audience. Children seem especially interested in them. Some children, those that might not otherwise be inspired by the traditional book – or the traditional exhibition in a gallery – have responded really positively. They love to look inside them and ask about the ‘secrets’. The birdhouses, suspended at child’s eye level from branches, are now being exhibited around Ireland.
To further engage the target audience (immigrants and refugees of all ages) I created a series of workshops. Some are workshops for individuals and some are aimed at school groups or families.
Here we used a template with a separate roof, which was more labour-intensive to cut and fold, but makes a lovely object.
We talked about what an immigrant was, using the example of migrating birds to ease into the idea, and then we discussed what a refugee is. We discussed how we would make our birdhouses “Welcoming”.
These were made using a much more simplified template on black paper and they were decorated with chalk. This version was less preparation work and very inexpensive to make. Since this workshop was around Halloween time, we made “Bat Houses”. We talked about making the bats feel welcome – so you’ll see spiders and moths – which is apparently the bats’ favourite thing to eat. This theme actually came about because the at university where I studied for my Bachelor’s Degree, there was a protection on a species of bats that lived in our Fine Arts Building.
These were made using a the simplest template and it was suitable for very young children.
To make our birdhouses welcoming we drew our favourite foods or sweets, the games we would play with our guests and some words to a lullaby for comfort. You will also see love hearts and rainbows on a lot of them.
I think we have proven that books (or popup birdhouse books!) can:
Offer shelter
Give hope
And create awareness around what children are dealing with today.
Hopefully they are showing us that there can be a better world.
Thank you!