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Pattern Explorations on Glass Surfaces: Prevent Bird Strikes

1 Day Workshop | Available

Adult: All Levels
2025-04-13 (one day)
10:00 AM-3:00 PM on Sun
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$160.00 CAD

Pattern Explorations on Glass Surfaces: Prevent Bird Strikes

1 Day Workshop | Available

During each migration period, millions of passerine birds do not complete their journey. Approximately 25 million birds collide with windows each year in Canada alone; resulting in a decline in songbird population year after year, worldwide. This playful workshop offers instructions on creating beautiful, effective decals and patterns on glass with a primary goal of bringing learnt skills home to decorate windows and make them bird-safe. A short presentation on how birds perceive reflections of sky and trees on glass, why they collide with it and examples of artistic approaches to bird-safe windows will be shared. The workshop will focus on creating vinyl-designs which complement the style of our individual homes, drawing inspiration of patterns from sources such as ornamental and fractal silhouettes found in nature, Art Nouveau, etc. At the end, each participant will be left with a self-created sample plexi-glass pane to take home.

Base Tuition: $120 + Material Fee: $40 = $160 Total
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  • What You Will Learn:
    - Design and apply decorative, durable vinyl patterns for making windows bird-safe
    - Explore ways to treat windows temporarily using oil sharpies and wax-crayons
    - Learn about handwriting or calligraphy with oil sharpies on glass-surfaces
    - Learn about DIY designs using burlap-string, fabric, and wax crayons
    - Learn about how glass reflections of buildings in the urban-and rural environment pose a threat to migrating birds
  • Additional materials will be supplied by the instructor.

    - Sketching paper, 12"x12"
    - Pencils
    - Sharpie
Häussler, Iris
Iris Häussler

Iris studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany and immigrated to Canada in 2001.Iris Häussler has explored many ways to offer art experiences at the fringe or outside the White Cube. She is interested in creating inclusive art environments open to everybody, rather than catering to the art market only. This has a long history: she created her very first site specific art-installation for a group exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1988, choosing the women’s toilets of all places. Since then, she has exhibited in basements, trailers, garages, coach houses, apartments, churches, chapels, stores, hotel-rooms, industrial buildings and historic houses as well as in international museums, galleries and Biennials.


Häussler’s work is found in international collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; the Städtische Sammlung im Lenbachhaus, Munich and the Goetz Collection, Munich, Germany. She also held a guest professorship at the Academy of Fine Art in Munich in 1999 and has given talks about her work in universities and art institutions in Canada, the USA, and Europe. Her work received awards and grants including the Karl-Hofer Prize (Berlin), the Kunstfonds Fellowship (Bonn), the Toronto Arts Council, the Chalmers Arts Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.