Artistic Nesting for Urban Garden Birds

May 9, 2010 by


Cubist Bird House

If I were small enough, I’d move into one of these really cool houses St.Louis artist Joe Papendick builds for birds and other living things. All crafted by hand from a variety of metals, the artist works from the base up, designing as he builds them. Think of it as the improv theater of bird house design.

Even if you’re not interested in attracting birds, these works of art stand on their own simply as garden sculpture. Most pieces employ a combination of mild steel, stainless steel, and copper, but in some cases he also uses bronze and brass, experimenting with the various patinas that result from each metal.


The Duo is like a two-family house for birds.

8 Comments »

  1. Anadrol said:

    Interesting bird houses! I really like the second one! Nice work!

    — May 10, 2010 @ 07:33

  2. Barbara said:

    Back to the drawing board PLEASE!

    Birds have eyes…make the edges softer!!!! The orange one is IDEAL! LOVE THIS! With all this creativity…do add a double baffle base below to thwart squirrels! Love the idea? Then thank me with the orange one for new condo patio!

    — May 10, 2010 @ 11:05

  3. Robin Plaskoff Horton said:

    I love controversy! Great idea about the baffle base. Keep the comments coming!

    — May 10, 2010 @ 13:58

  4. Georgia said:

    Great that you’ve written about these bird houses. As you know, I first saw these on the L.A. at Home blog (thanks again for commenting). I still don’t have a place to install one.

    — May 10, 2010 @ 14:53

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