Tricks of the Trade: A Corvid’s World

Wildlife painter Dorie Petrochko, a 2023 RTPI Resident Artist, spent her time here studying Roger’s drawings and paintings of Corvids–specifically, crows and ravens. With her resulting project, Tricks of the Trade: A Corvid’s World, Petrochko highlights their ingenious and sometimes quirky behaviors. Corvids are social creatures, preferring to live in communal groups where they learn early to acquire skills and behaviors that have evolutionary advantages. They manipulate objects to use them as tools, but also enjoy the fun of it. They are fearless of larger birds, and taunt them by working as a team to steal their food. They have an innate sense of play, and actually enjoy a good roll down a snowy embankment. With her paintings and sculptures, Petrochko gives us a sneak peek into the world of Corvids, investigating how these natural opportunists relate to their own species and other animals, including humans.

You can view more of Dorie’s art HERE.