On a Saturday afternoon in June, volunteers sat at tables within the Chicago Structure Middle quietly constructing birds out of scrap material. One reduce out black strips for a Magnolia Warbler’s breast, whereas one other overlapped brown and black to vogue a Home Sparrow.
Every fabric creation memorializes certainly one of 10,836 actual birds that died after crashing into Chicago buildings in 2023. By means of workshops like this, native artist Holly Greenberg is gathering a full set of replicas that she’ll sew into a stunning but sobering tapestry: a 300-foot-long “carpet” that warns of the town’s risks for birdlife.
Situated alongside Lake Michigan, Chicago generally is a lethal entice for migrants of the Mississippi Flyway. Hundreds of thousands focus on the shore to keep away from flying over water, and buildings’ vibrant lights can lure them into the town. As birds cross by way of, they danger colliding with glass home windows, which they usually can’t see.
A very lethal evening impressed Greenberg’s mission. On October 5, 2023, volunteers discovered greater than 2,000 useless birds throughout Chicago, together with nearly 1,000 by the glassy McCormick Place conference heart. Greenberg, who had lately realized about fowl strikes, envisioned an enormous memorial to the town’s victims. However to create one thing so large, she’d need assistance. “I simply dreamed up this plan to make these pop-up artwork studios,” she says.
Contributors use upcycled material and glue to rework a clean stuffed fowl.
She’s since led greater than 80 free workshops at venues corresponding to faculties and road gala’s. Others have hosted one other 100 periods exterior the Chicago space after signing up on Greenberg’s website. At every, contributors use upcycled material and glue to rework a clean stuffed fowl into certainly one of greater than 200 species discovered useless within the metropolis in 2023. Consistent with Greenberg’s mission to restrict waste in her artwork, all the material and stuffing come from donations or her personal scrap assortment.
Alongside the best way, Greenberg and her companions encourage folks to step as much as defend birdlife. “Chicken conservationists, in fact, perceive how harmful Chicago is,” says Judy Pollock, former president of the Chicago Chicken Alliance, which helps promote the mission. “I simply don’t understand how a lot the common individual understands about that.”
Greenberg teaches contributors how you can stop collisions at dwelling—the place practically half of fowl strikes happen—by treating home windows with stickers or paint. She additionally drums up assist for a bigger-picture change: a proposed metropolis council ordinance that may require bird-safe designs for some new development and renovation initiatives. Rising consciousness has already led to some change. At McCormick Place, house owners utilized retrofits to the glassy facade after that lethal evening, decreasing collisions by 95 p.c the subsequent fall.
Up to now, Greenberg has amassed greater than 4,000 replicas, and he or she expects it’ll take a number of extra years to finish the carpet. However she’s in no rush. “The longer it takes,” she says, “the extra folks I get to speak to about fixing their home windows.”
This story initially ran within the Fall 2026 challenge as “Crafting Consciousness.” To obtain our print journal, change into a member by making a donation today.
