When Peggy Macnamara was a young mother of five children, she didn’t relinquish her art practice. Each morning she left her house and drove straight to the nearest natural history museum. With sketchpad and color pencils, she would sit for five hours straight in front of finely-made artifacts. Through deep observation and relentless repetition her compositions became an interesting hybrid of watercolor that adhere to factual detail while also capturing the illusive play of light and sky. They’re scientifically accurate, yes—but they’re also evocative. Peggy’s work embodies the connection between art and science. With an art studio located in the zoology wing of the Field, she has access both to the museum’s collection and to its world-renowned research scientists. She’s traveled with the scientists to Madagascar, and she once painted a fish that became a gift to the President of Peru. “The work ethic of the scientist is really pure,” Peggy says. “There’s this kind of persistence that I admire.” “The natural world is an antidepressant. If you soak it in, you live a better life.” – Peggy Macnamara, professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago & artist in residence at the Field Museum of Natural History.
After finishing a dissertation on urban prairie dogs, Seth Magle started looking around at the astonishing number of species of wild animals that choose—for whatever crazy reason—to live right next to us in America’s biggest cities. Why would animals desert the forest and prairie to come live in our concrete jungles? As head of the Urban Wildlife Institute of the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, on an every day basis Seth lives a life where he gets to research the reasons why coyotes, raccoons, rare native bees, squirrels—and yes, even prairie dogs—live in urban environments. What do they do in town once they’ve arrived? What do they eat? How do they interact with people? Should we make our buildings and real estate developments friendlier to nature and wildlife? Should we coax wild animals back into their own natural habitats? “There are countless questions left in front of us,” Seth says. “We’re all trying to get back to nature but we all live in nature.”
Love what Seth is doing and want to help him? The motion-triggered cameras Seth’s team installed throughout the Chicago region have snapped over a millions animal photos. They are looking for volunteers to help identify what’s in them. I’ve done this volunteer job myself—and have to admit, the activity is pretty mesmerizing. Once I started, it was hard to stop. I kept wanting to see which animal turned up next.
Sometimes you run across something especially compelling in a photo. (When you do, there’s a special “WOW” button to press, so scientists reviewing results will be alerted you found something noteworthy.) I also appreciated this particular volunteer activity because you don’t have to formally register and give up a lot of personal information to be part of it—you can just start identifying wildlife right away. Called Chicago Wildlife Watch, it’s an extremely satisfying way to do a bit of citizen science.
Also, if doing is not your thing but giving is, feel free to make an extremely large donation at any time to the Urban Wildlife Institute. Like now, for instance. Contact the Lincoln Park Zoo for that.
Enjoy it! Let the animal go its own way. Learn the extraordinary power and deep layers of freedom to be found in the word “coexistence.”
The film CHICAGOLAND was created by Manual Cinema and written and directed by Ben Kauffman. Manual Cinema combines handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and sound and music to create immersive visual stories for stage and screen. This one is about a coyote making its way through the big city.
