Ratio: Monks and Mica Caves, 2006

As homage to these birds and their genius for adapting to our harsh climate (along Lakeshore Drive no less) I’ve created a portrait of them using a ratio of materials and simple organic structural systems. The birds were made by tying triangles of felt into two knots and the nest by machine stitching vinyl triangles onto organic geodesic dome nest forms.
I feel a certainty in this placement of Ratio (Monks and Mica Caves) installed in the southeast corner of the new Hyde Park Art Center. Leaving the old HPAC location, cutting through the park, and up the stairs or the new.

Laura Davis
February 2006

Native mostly to Argentina and Brazil, the feral Monk (or Quaker) Parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) that reside in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood have long been a curiosity of the area. My first encounter with these birds was also my first visit to the Hyde Park Art Center. A friend pointed them out to me flying high over their many nests in the adjacent Washington Park as we walked through the park. The nests are huge complex structures made from twigs woven into the crux of tree branches. The birds were flashes of green high up in the trees. I remember the weather that day as being extremely grey and blustery contrasting even more with the tropical green of the parakeets.
A nest can contain from 1 to 6 nesting pairs on average, each with a separate compartment and entrance hole. According to research done at the University of Chicago parakeets were first spotted in Hyde Park in 1973. Records show that by 1979 they were successfully nesting and breeding in the area. (http://www.monkparakeet.com/jmsouth/)