Anhinga by Lexi Bella

Location: 3458 Broadway, New York, NY 10032

Painted: 10/2/16

About the Bird: Known as the “snake bird,” the Anhinga has a habit of riding low in the water so that only its neck, head, and long bill are visible above the water line. Audubon's climate models show the bird will lose breeding habitat in central Texas and northern Mexico, while new parts of the southern United States, from Texas east to North Carolina, will become potentially hospitable. Increasing spring heat waves could imperil the Anhinga’s young, however, and urbanization could compromise the bird’s ability to adapt by reducing newly available habitat to the north.

About the Artist: Lexi Bella is a New York City–based painter, muralist, and street artist. She has a B.F.A. in painting from Rosemont College in Pennsylvania and an M.F.A from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia. Bella started creating large-scale spray murals in New York City in 2011, and in 2014 gained international attention when she was selected for a National Endowment for the Arts grant to produce her Lower East Side Heroines Project. Bella painted the Anhinga and a Barn Owl on two sides of a building with a dry cleaner. She notes both have been sources of inspiration in art throughout history.  Plus, she says, “I liked the juxtaposition of the light and dark and the yin and yang aspect of them together visually.”

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