To promote the upcoming movie Wildwood (based on the novel Wildwood by Colin Meloy with art by Carson Ellis), LAIKA has installed 30 hand-painted crow sculptures all over Portland- and, of course, I wanted to see them all! So, this is my journey to "follow the crows."
(They did a similar thing to celebrate Coraline's tenth anniversary with their "Coraline's Curious Cat Trail" but I only visited a handful of them.)
Also, this is all to benefit OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital since these pieces will be auctioned off.
I'll track how many I find each day I go looking for them- updating this post, as necessary.
Day 1- I wanted to start with the crow painted by the novel's original artist Carson Ellis- and it did not disappoint! (It was also one of the furthest to get to by bus for me.)
The World of Wildwood- Carson Ellis
As of August 7th, I've visited 1 out of 30 crows.
Day 2- I wanted to check out another crow that was supposedly near where I work but it wasn't there so that didn't give me confidence about finding them all!
Day 3- Some friends and I had planned to make a day of finding as many of the downtown crows as we could. (It was more like a few hours since it was after my shift at work and other were plans were already made for that evening.) We managed to visit 15 crows!
Sir Chester- Nina Oberlin
Iridescence- Daisy Nolz
Do-nuts for Portland- Julianne Zane
Be Kind- Celeste Potgleter
The Shape of Us- Tristan "TK" Irving
Paul Birdyan- Michael Buchino- It was sad to see this had already been vandalized.
Mirrorball Messenger- Isi Matasavage
As the Crow Flies- Jordan Mason
Flying Fields Forever- Sue-Del McCullough
Overgrowth- Rae Sheridan
Kindred Spirits- Lil Hobbit Cosmonaut
DUSK- KSRA- We almost didn't find this one. It's much closer to the Hawthorne Bridge than the map indicated!
Emergence- Olivia Mount
Watercolor Crow- Rose Jubb
Sakura Hanami- Maya McDarragh
As of August 10th, I've visited 16 out of 30 crows.
Day 4- After realizing we had seen half of the crows, the completist part of me definitely wanted to see each one!
Back Alley Flora- Ruben Lancaster- This was the one I was unsuccessful in finding the other day. I had met others who also searched in vain. Luckily, there was a note that said it was moved to Flint & Broadway.
Vuela Corazon- Christian Tellez Garcia
Freak'n Crow- Freaky Footwear
Midnight Crow- Amanda Burns- I had to tell someone not to let their kids climb on top of the crow and they had the nerve to say, "Why would they put it near a playground then?" I didn't reply because the answer should have been obvious. Plus, there were "Do not climb" signs on either side of each sculpture.
Feathers and Flowers- Sam Warford
Bloom- Victoria Smith- I took pictures for two different families here. It was great to see others enjoying these art installations!
Oregon Botanica- Emma van Halsema
As of August 11th, I've visited 24 out of 30 crows.
Day 5- A part of me thought I could finish seeing all the crows today but I didn't pay attention to the map. For the most part, there were a few of them that needed hiking to get to. I did get to visit a couple more, though.
A Crow of a Different Color- Mike Bennett
Sir Timber Cawthorne- Lizzie Keenan
As of August 12th, I've visited 26 out of 30 crows.
Formatting aside- because Blogger is what it is-, I took lots of pictures so people can see the small and fun details the artists added to their crows. I highly re-caw-mend checking out the Wildwood Follow the Crows art trail. This runs through November 1st. (The movie comes out October 23rd.)