The Backyard Bird Chronicles

“Drawing is really a different way of seeing.”

In the Preface, David Sibley introduces Tan’s work and explains the power that drawing can have in developing as a researcher and creative. He explains that drawing allows the artist to see the world in new ways. Tan emphasizes this point throughout the work as she tries to move her art away from the limitations of her own perception and closer to pure observation.

“What remains of those three years are not just recollections of creatures I touched but the way I discovered strange wonders by crawling over shrubs, pushing aside brambles, crouching or lying on my stomach, slipping down creek banks, wading in water, and getting scratched up, banged up, or torn up.”

Tan describes curiosity as a type of refuge. She recalls running to the creek near her home as a child whenever she had trouble at home, seeking solace in the quiet observation of the polliwogs. The same is true as she navigates a pandemic through birding, finding strength in the quiet moments watching birds as life spins chaotically around her.

“The classes were not strictly about drawing. If anything, they had just as much to do with being curious, allowing us to return to childhood wonderment, when everything was seen as new. That was the focus for beginning our drawings. To wonder in depth, to notice, to question.”

In his classes, John Muir Laws begins with wonder and intentional curiosity. He believes these are essential to developing as a learner and naturalist. When taking his class, Tan feels connected to the wonder and curiosity she felt as a child, seeing that these are essential qualities in The Art of Paying Attention. As she works on her skills as an observer, she finds that wonder and curiosity do not wane. Instead, they increase.