WELCOME TO FUNKYBIRDHOUSE.COM
Home of Ryan S Ballard's Interactive Birdhouse Art.
I began building birdhouses in 2005 with the Forced Migration series. These birdhouses represented my initial attempts to deal with the pain and loss I experienced at being driven to evacuate and relocate from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.
The Forced Migration series eventually developed into the public art project No Place Like NOLA (NOLA is an acronym for New Orleans, Louisiana) thru collaboration with the Arts Council of New Orleans and the Joan Mitchell Foundation.
My birdhouse designs are inspired by the spirit houses of Souteast Asia, Voodoo shrines, Southern folk art and Spanish Relicarios.
Birdhouses can be both functional and symbolic. My sculptures are interactive in a number of ways and contain solar-powered LED lights and wind-powered mechanisms.
Since the creation of my No Place Like NOLA series, I have begun teaching environmental art workshops to both children and adults on how to build funky birdhouses from repurposed and salvaged materials.
I hope you enjoy my artwork. Please browse the site to see videos and images from my various birdhouse projects. To see my other work in the fields of puppetry, experimental theater, interactive sculpture, art bicycles and more please visit the links section.
For more information, to schedule a workshop, or to commission a birdhouse of your own please contact me.
You can find information on my puppetry and video work at: www.razzamatazproductions.com and information on other experimental projects at: www.ryan-ballard.com
Cheers,
Ryan S Ballard