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This Last Thursday, August 27th, on Alberta at the Guardino Gallery come to Neighborhood Birds at 6 pm. Show runs until September 20th, 2009.

First cousins, separated only by 13 years, artists Hilary Pfeifer and Tripper Dungan have each been showing their artwork extensively in the Portland area for many years. Noticing that there were many common themes in their work (color, playfulness, music, anthropomorphism,) they decided to collaborate on a show this September at Guardino Gallery called “Neighborhood Birds”

Two and three-dimensional works will fill the west gallery space at Guardino. Their colorful imagery depicts birds and their friends with music as a common motif. Both Dungan and Pfeifer’s art utilizes over 95% upcycled materials to make a menagerie of guitar strummin’ birds, elephants, alligators, giraffes, bunnies, a crooning frog and a giant pointing finger.

Inspired by cartoons, Tripper drew prolifically as a child. By age 13, he was steadily writing a comic strip and at age 15, he was accepted to the Las Vegas Academy High school where he received his first and most formal art training. Tripper has been performing live shadow puppet shows since 1999, starring an cast of fantastical ambidextrous puppets he designed and created himself. His involvement with the local alternative art scene includes Grass Hut, Moshi Moshi, Together Gallery, and Junk Town, a collective of artists who create their art from discarded materials and objects.

Hilary Pfeifer has been a Portland fixture in the past decade for both her large scale installation work, as well as her small wooden creatures she designs under the name Bunny with a Toolbelt. Her work has been seen in many places, including the Museum of Contemporary Craft, the window at PDX Contemporary Gallery, the Fuller Craft Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She has participated in artist residencies around the globe, including Philadelphia PA, Finland, and Costa Rica.