Virtual Program - John James Audubon Center Presentation - LGCR

The John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove is situated on a historic 18th-century site, the farm where 18-year-old John James Audubon lived when he first came to America from France in 1803.  Here, he developed a technique for drawing birds "from life" that would allow him to become one of the world's best-known wildlife artist.  The hundreds of life-size portraits of birds contained in his seminal work The Birds of America helped inspire the formation of the National Audubon Society.  The site includes the original three-story farmhouse, built in 1762, miles of nature trails along the Perkiomen Creek, and a brand new building, featuring indoor and outdoor exhibits focused on birds, art, and conservation. 

Join us as Carrie Barron, Center Manager, explores the new museum dedicated to birds and the art of John James Audubon.  She will focus on the birds you see in your own backyard.  We will also meet one of their non-releasable owls that are native to Pennsylvania.

About the presenter:  Carrie Barron joined the Audubon Pennsylvania team after spending more than 15 years in the environmental education field.  She taught for five years in middle and high schools, both in rural and urban settings.  Prior to formal teaching, Carrie was a seasonal interpretive Park Ranger traveling between the Everglades, Redwoods, Hawaii and Assateague Island.  She worked for both the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Philadelphia Zoo where she conducted school and field-based programs to children and adults.  Carrie also has a history of conservation education with the National Audubon Society and has worked at Pickering Creek, Jean Ellen DuPont Shehan Audubon Sanctuary and the Everglades Restoration Office.

At Mill Grove, she oversees the non-releasable bird program, volunteers, education programs, fundraising and social media. Carrie designed and implemented an award winning curriculum and education program for Norristown, PA.  The National Audubon Society covered the program in their Winter 2018 magazine and, as a result, has become a model including the use of the online training site she created on the Skilljar platform.

Her most recent accomplishment is opening the 18,000-square-foot new visitor center in June 2019.  This $13 million project is a museum over ten years in the making and required leadership, project management, fundraising, innovation, marketing and determination to complete.  Carrie sits on the Keep Norristown Beautiful and Valley Forge Tourism and Convention’s Art & Culture Board.  For National Audubon Society, she wrote the Prologue for the “Audubon Birdhouse Book” which is being launched in March 2021.

When she is not working, she enjoys spending time on the farm rescue where she lives with camels, donkeys, horses, goats, sheep, and pigs.

This presentation will be held online via Zoom.  Register and receive program link by entering your information below.  Any questions?  Contact DeAnne O'Brien at dobrien@ivpl.org.

A Message from Longwood Gardens:  This year we join local libraries and community partners for the eighth year of the Longwood Gardens’ Community Read–a program designed to encourage reading for pleasure and start a conversation.  In 2021, we ask readers to explore where a fascination with plants, gardens, and nature might start for someone.  How it might grow into something more?  Perhaps flower into a career or hobby?