Pigeons to the left of me. Pigeons to the right. OK, I wrote a book about pigeons, so I’ve been thinking about ’em. BUT! I am astounded by how often pigeons cross my path. On the NYC subway, my entire car was filled with pigeon-themed ads for Jet Blue.
Arnold Zwicky defined the phenomenon “Frequency Illusion”- once you’ve noticed a phenomenon, you think it happens a whole lot, even “all the time”. Your estimates of frequency are likely to be skewed by your noticing nearly every occurrence that comes past you. “
Seen my pigeons? I’m having an show at the Hoboken Historical Museum. McKevin Shaughnessy designed this cool poster for the event, adding to the pigeon image barrage.
My pigeon history began when I sketched a pigeon racer on his Hoboken rooftop. I put that image in my 1986 book, Walking Around Hoboken. That same drawing would later appear on the cover of The Pigeon Guys.
Holly Metz was editing a series of chapbooks for The Hoboken Historical Museum and asked me to illustrate this project about the city’s last pigeon racers. I spent a morning at Vinnie Torre’s loft on Monroe St. and he told me some amazing stuff about pigeons.
Prof. Ann Lemon took a snapshot of another NYC subway poster for Dinosaurs Among Us at the Museum of Natural History. The headline: You’ll Never Look at a Pigeon the Same Way Again. Of course, I was asking for pigeon overload when I went to the Mo Willems’ exhibition at the NY Historical Society. Good show, Mo.
A student sent me a link to Bert Doing the Pigeon. If I’d seen it before, how did I forget it?
I have been visiting schools, libraries, bookstores, with a stuffed pigeon on top of my hat. So, I am getting what I deserve. The one time I went looking for pigeons, but failed was the first weekend of Duke Riley’s pigeon art performance at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
I got a wonderful view of the Brooklyn Bridge, but that night the rain and fog kept the pigeons cooped up. If you are anywhere near Hoboken, or a public library, check out The Real Poop on Pigeons.
Illustration Concentration 