Songbirds: Nature as Metaphor

Visual artist and poet Melissa Bonin joins in a centuries-old tradition of using nature as metaphor. Her abstract depictions of land, trees, water, sky, birds, and moons are designed to link the viewer to more universal truths, to the past, and through an interior transformation. Much of her work is influenced by the inherited diaspora of her Acadian heritage, full of shifts and movement and change, along with a deep, spiritual connection to the land. 

Bonin describes her paintings as more journey than landscape: " Painted trees serve as portals, and dancing vines and low-lying branches become obstacles which define the path from darkness into light. While birds represent the human soul and eternal life, acting as guides and forecasters...as the link between Heaven and Earth, their flight is a powerful metaphor for freedom and the soul's journey in pursuit of higher knowledge. Moon and moonlight illuminate the Divine Feminine, while perspective, color, rhythm, and movement are used to draw the viewer in. Guided by this light, the observer is then invited to go deeper, into the water, and into the song of the terrain." 

Bonin's work will be on display in the exhibition Songbirds: Nature as Metaphor at the Hilliard University Art Museum from September 6–October 26. hilliardmuseum.org.