Chasing Feathers: Self-described 'bird nerd' documents the still, small moments

TEXARKANA, Texas - For local photographer Julie Coker Tidwell, finding the calm, serene moments when birds grace us with their presence, that's what it's all about.
Such moments are captured in a new exhibit of her work, soon to be up at the Regional Arts Center downtown, titled "Chasing Feathers: Photographs by a Nature Lover and Self Professed Bird Nerd."

Her love for nature and these quiet moments has its roots in her younger years.

"I've always been fascinated by wildlife, even as a little girl, just observing it patiently," Tidwell said. Her mother's side of the family has had a ranch and land in South Texas since 1846.

"I just remember as a kid going out there and just sitting and watching wildlife and anything that would wander up and around," Tidwell recalls.

The wildlife was skittish in this rustic and wild environment. It's not like deer in our yards. They were critters not used to seeing humans. For her, it was fascinating and fun to see.

But one time, sitting out in a clearing with her mother, they saw a panther climbing a tree. "It was right at daybreak," Tidwell recalled. She had a little camera and snapped a fuzzy photo of the panther. That started it, and then in college photography classes and through the school newspaper she gained more experience.

Tidwell loved it, but she ended up in a job in front of the camera. She's always appreciated the videographer's job, though, and paid attention to the photographer's craft.

"I felt like pictures are worth a thousand words and it always told the story, sometimes better than the reporter could," Tidwell said. "And I just really appreciate the art of photography."

As her kids got older and she was about to be an empty-nester, she decided to upgrade her photography equipment for a trip to Africa. That was about three years ago, and since then she's devoted more time to the art of it, getting outdoors to take photographs.

The joy of being outside rewards her, and she's also patient in her pursuit of capturing the right image.

"I started just following my passion. I don't know what it is that draws me out there, but you will be bored sitting out there with me because I will sit for hours just waiting to see anything," Tidwell said.

Why birds?

"Several things. They're accessible but they're also incredibly challenging. They're not slow moving, and I've just always loved birds. I've been fascinated by them," Tidwell said.

As a girl living in Thailand, she caught a parakeet in the backyard. Her family had mango trees. She trained the bird and ended up with five birds in her room. They were spoiled, she admits, and would sit on her shoulder. Once she grew up and had her first house with a yard, she put out bird feeders and kept a bird journal.

The accessibility is one reason to photograph them. "Especially with COVID, you're not able to travel. More and more people are getting out and enjoying the outdoors, and just enjoying the nature around them," Tidwell said, noting in this Texarkana area we're blessed with birds.

"The migration of the birds going on - really September and October is awesome, and also the early spring, like in April and early May - brings interesting birds that you don't normally see, like the cedar waxwings that come and they just descend on people's berry trees and just ravage them naked," Tidwell said. "They come as quickly as they're gone."

Fair warning to her neighbors, she'll race over to get photos of your visiting waxwings.

Though not originally from Texarkana, she's a Texan who lived overseas while growing up in such places as India and Thailand, and then came here with her husband, who, she says, professed he'll never leave Bowie County.

This is Tidwell's first one-woman show, but she's become involved with the Dallas Center for Photography and participated in their exhibits.

"This is really my first official exhibit and I'm incredibly honored, humbled and nervous," she said. She's putting herself out there, and she hopes people enjoy it. She likes to show some of the environment around an animal.

"I think nature is so beautiful and serene and fragile. I just hope when people look at these photographs they walk away getting that feeling," Tidwell said.

Even though she had a scorpion encounter once out in the wild, she aims to get lost in the moment when outdoors. She hopes that feeling comes through in the photographs. She hopes a viewer feel the peace she felt.

Kay Thomas, national teaching artists and acting curator at the Regional Arts Center, says it's both a traditional show and a pleasure to launch a new artist. "It's her very first big show," she said, noting there's a natural appeal during a pandemic.

"I think this will really please the public because we have not been able to travel," Thomas said about Tidwell's photos of African safaris and birds from here and afar, such as a birding center in South Texas.

"The toe of Texas has the most biodiversity of any part of the continents in this hemisphere. I just think it will be really pleasurable. They'll feel like they've gotten out and about, but it's very traditional. Your kids will like it and it's going to make you interested in birds," Thomas said.

Thomas says the visual arts are still going at the Regional Arts Center, even with limited hours and a mask requirement. The RAC is open noon to 4 p.m., Thursday through Saturday.

"You can come and have a nice outing with your family and look at what we have up," Thomas said.

Officially, the exhibit opens Friday, Oct. 23, but anyone attending the Saturday, Oct. 17, Fall Gallery Hop could get a sneak peak of the show. It will be up through Jan. 9.

(On the Net: TRAHC.org. The Regional Arts Center is located at 321 W. 4th St.)