In Illinois, Students Piece Together a Conservation Message Through Bird Mosaics

In Rockford, Illinois, a group of students has brought a colorful aviary of bird art to life—piece by tiny piece. 

Each year, artist Susan Burton leads SPARK! Mosaic, a free summer program for local students to learn art skills and create their own mosaic works. “My favorite part is always watching kids who say, ‘I’m not an artist,’ slowly forget they ever believed that,” Burton says.

During the 2025 session, the students’ creations homed in on a central theme: birds. That’s thanks to Jennifer Kuroda, president of Sinnissippi Audubon, who has partnered with the Audubon Mural Project on a number of other public art projects across northern Illinois. Kuroda, whose daughter had previously attended and worked at the SPARK! program, approached Burton with the idea of bringing a bird focus to an upcoming session—and the two started dreaming up projects. “Honestly, Jennifer’s passion was contagious,” Burton says.

For their first project of the summer, the students created a series of bird portraits in the style of a gallery. Each chose their species from a list of birds vulnerable to extinction from climate change, according to Audubon’s Survival by Degrees report. Though the students could create their own designs for the backgrounds and frames, their challenge was to make the birds themselves as true to life as possible, Burton says. “They learned to really observe—to notice the subtle colors, feather patterns, and shapes that make each species unique,” she says.

The 29 portraits are now on display at the STEAM Academy at Haskell, a local magnet school, accompanied by QR codes that lead to more information about each species. The collection spotlights a range of species such as the striking Common Loon, whose nests are threatened by increasing climate-fueled floods; the vibrant Cerulean Warbler, which faces risks from increasing spring heat waves; and the tough Northern Shrike, whose breeding range could be pushed into far northern stretches of Canada if warming trends continue.

For their next effort, the students stretched their skills on a much bigger scale. The group crafted three giant birds to adorn the side of a parking garage in downtown Rockford—depicting an Indigo Bunting, American Goldfinch, and Hooded Warbler. For students, creating the birds, which now fly across the garage’s exterior in a striking installation, was a lesson in depicting movement and building texture, Burton says.

Finally, in their third project of the session, the students moved into three dimensions, crafting a larger-than-life mosaic sculpture that they dubbed Woodrow the Woodpecker. “Woodrow quickly became more than a sculpture,” Burton says. “He became the mascot of the project.”

The 9-foot-tall sculpture depicts a boldly colored Red-headed Woodpecker perched on a pedestal decorated with whimsical designs. Building the massive bird first involved carving the shape out of Styrofoam and coating it with mesh and cement. The group then painstakingly cut and placed hundreds of colorful glass pieces all over the surface. Today, Woodrow resides at Nature at the Confluence, a nature preserve and education center in South Beloit. “It helps welcome and guide people,” says Julie Uram, executive director of Nature at the Confluence. “The beak strategically points toward our front door like an arrow.” 

The piece is an ode to a species that was once common across the East, but has become more of a rare sight as its populations have declined in recent years. Though they nest in Illinois today, climate change could push the striking woodpeckers out of breeding grounds across most of the state if warming continues, Audubon’s science predicts.

Kuroda hopes all of the new mosaics can inspire more action to support birds and the environment—both from the people who admire the finished artworks, and for the students who worked on them. She brought her binoculars and field guide along for students to use during downtime at the camp, hoping to spark some future avian enthusiasts. “Most of these kids had never, ever birded, or even thought about birding,” she says.

Burton hopes Woodrow can serve as a reminder of the beauty of native birds and the importance of protecting them—and believes mosaics offer a perfect medium to deliver such a conservation message. “Whether it’s creating art, helping their community, or protecting wildlife, small actions add up. That’s what a mosaic teaches,” Burton says. “One tiny piece by itself doesn’t seem like much, but when everyone contributes, something amazing happens.”