A Chronology of Gowns and Bird Extinctions From 1500 to The Present was originally produced as a component of a box set of book/print projects entitled Crows. A project of Ace Art Inc., Crows is an edition of 20 boxes that each include print projects by Joanne Bristol, Marian Butler, Dagmar Dahle, Karilee Fuglem, April Hiscox, Susan Mills, Candace Savage, and Sheila Spence. The project was curated by Angela Sommerset and Marian Butler.

Forty additional copes of A Chronology … were printed. The book is digitally printed from 132 watercolours that accurately document bird extinctions in historical time. Each 50 to 100 year period is presented with a dress from the same period. The dresses (or gowns) are based primarily on historical art works. The watercolours were a central component of the exhibition, Lost.Bird.Collecting at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in 2006.

Currently in process is a new, expanded edition of the book.

More info available from the artist

Dagmar Dahle is an artist living in Lethbridge. her work focuses on painting’s history, on animals, nature, and ecology, and on autobiography in relation to social history. Working at the intersection of art and craft traditions, her work revolves around the tradition and production of the hand-made object referencing anonymous amateurs to iconic artists of history such as Vincent Van Gogh.

A professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge since 1997, Dahle has recently exhibited at the Stride gallery, the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, and Akau.