Willie Cole didn’t choose to be an artist. It’s always been part of him.
“I think I was an artist in a previous life,” said the contemporary American sculptor, printer and perceptual engineer. “When I was 3 years old, my mom found me drawing in the kitchen, and since then, my family always said I was an artist. I went along with it. I enjoyed it.”
“Ornithology” by Willie Cole; The suspended artwork is a tribute to Kansas City native son, jazz great, Charlie “Yardbird” Parker, and his 1946 tune titled, “Ornithology”. Constructed in the historic 18th & Vine District in Kansas City, Ornithology consists of 12 larger than life birds made entirely from alto saxophones; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News.
Cole’s art work has been showcased across the United States in such museums and institutes as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Montclair Art Museum, the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University and most recently, the new terminal at Kansas City International Airport.
The New Jersey-native unveiled his jazz-inspired sculptures alongside 27 other artists when the new terminal opened in February. Cole’s installation — titled “Ornithology” after Charlie Parker’s 1946 tune — consists of 12 birds made entirely from alto saxophones which suspend from the ceiling of Concourse B.
“I live in the world of ideas and imagination,” Cole shared. “When I think of Kansas City, I think of Charlie Parker because he’s from Kansas City. His nicknames were ‘Bird’ and ‘Yardbird’ and he played the saxophone — so it just seemed logical to make birds out of saxophones.”
