Birds in Art is an international exhibition organized by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. The exhibition seeks to showcase two- and three-dimensional artworks from some of the best bird artists in the world. This year was the 50th anniversary of Birds in Art. Terrill was in the first ‘Birds in Art’ exhibit in 1976 and now has a painting featured in this 50th anniversary exhibition.
Works in the current 50th anniversary exhibit were selected from 1,160 art works submitted. Terrill’s work has been in numerous ‘Birds in Art' exhibits and accompanied national museum tours. The 50th annual, internationally renowned, 2025 Birds in Art exhibition, will be on display at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI from Sept. 6- Jan. 4, 2026.
For over a decade a male Harrier lived in our area of open fields, marsh and prairie. I often saw him hunting over fields as I drove by. While regularly running on the township roads, I would often spot him following the roadside, soaring and then diving low to the grass. He was no doubt searching for something to transfer back to his nest. Our paths often crossed. He seemed to have grown accustomed to my presence, flying quite close. Though flying swiftly along, I noticed he kept an eye on me, seeming to watch out of the corner of his eye. For many years he was reliably back in the Spring. The last two years he did not return. This Spring, I was excited to see a male Harrier migrating through, soaring and diving across the field.
Birds in Art is an international exhibition organized by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. The exhibition seeks to showcase two- and three-dimensional artworks from some of the best bird artists in the world. The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum is located in Wausau, WI. Each year, many hundreds of artworks are submitted for consideration and the museum selects approximately 100 pieces to include in the exhibition. In 2021, artwork from 113 artists were included in the 46th annual Birds in Art Exhibition.
Terrill has been in multiple Birds-in-Art shows during his career, including the very first show in 1976. In 2021, Terrill's piece entitled 'Morning on the Marsh' was selected to be in the exhibition. This painting depicts Black- Necked Stilts resting in the marsh in the morning light. He was inspired to do this painting by the presence of these shorebirds at Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, near his home. It's only been in the last three years that these shorebirds have been nesting in Wisconsin. In additon, this painting was one of 60 pieces selected to go on national tour, following the conclusion of the show at the Woodson Art Museum. If you are traveling this year near any of these locations, be sure to stop in and take a look at the show.
Short-eared owls are acrobatic raptors. To watch them hunt is to marvel at their grace and elegance. When spotting a mouse or vole, they hover in mid-air before diving to catch it. In Evening Hunt, a short-eared owl hunts the edge of a bog pond.
The 44th annual, internationally renowned, 2019 Birds in Art exhibition, was on display at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum from Sept. 7 - Dec. 1, 2019. Sixty of the 100+ pieces of artwork from the exhibition were then selected to go on national tour. This included 50 paintings and works on paper, as well as 10 sculptures. Terrill's painting was one of the artworks selected to go on tour. Locations on the tour include the Wichita Falls Museum of Art - Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, the Newington-Cropsey Foundation in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, and the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor, Maine.