Speaker Series
Re-enactor
Strohm to portray
artist John James Audubon
Audubon spent part of his life in Kentucky
By
Helen E. McKinney
Contributing Writer
WESTPORT, Ky. (November 2010) – Mike Strohm
has felt a strong connection to bird artist John James Audubon for most
of his life. Even though they lived in two different centuries, Strohm
has noted many parallels in their lives that have aided him in portraying
Audubon for students and adult audiences.
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After meticulously studying Audubon’s life, Strohm
has portrayed the artist for the last decade. Strohm grew up in eastern
Pennsylvania, where Audubon lived for a time. Both ended up moving to
northern Kentucky, Strohm to Kenton County. Both worked for the Cincinnati
Museum of Natural History and composed inventive artwork.
“Audubon was obsessed with a passion to do artwork better than
anyone else,” said Strohm, 60. As an artist himself, Strohm has
created Creek Labs, his interpretation and tribute to aquatic life in
Kentucky. A realistic way of looking at aquatic life, Strohm has exhibited
his work from Washington to eastern Pennsylvania, and in Tennessee,
Indiana, Ohio, California, Louisiana and Florida.
Strohm will bring his unique presentation of Audubon to Oldham County
at 6 p.m. on Nov. 10 at the Westport General Store. This portrayal is
the second in the series, Fall River Lecture Series, presented by the
Oldham County History Center. Reservations are requested.
“I have known Strohm for some time and he does an excellent job
of portraying Audubon,” said Nancy Theiss, executive director of
the Oldham County History Center. “He plans to set up an outside
tent and re-enact Audubon’s wilderness camp as it would have been
200 years ago.”
Outside Strohm will display items used in collecting wildlife materials.
He may even have a squirrel or grouse on display, animals Audubon would
have used in his compositions.
For his lecture inside the Westport General Store, Strohm will have
on display period cooking materials, historically correct art supplies,
such as mussel shells which were used to mix watercolor paint, and possibly
a quail. The latter animal can be used to show how Audubon “used
various gage wire to create a flight posture,” said Strohm. From
this model he would often create sketches and then his finished works
of art.
John James Audubon was a dominant wildlife artist who lived in Kentucky
from 1808 to 1820.
• Reservations for the Lecture Series can be made by contacting the Oldham County History Center at (502) 222-0826 or emailing ochstryctr@aol.com. Dinner is included in the ticket price.