Austin Eddy: Hope Deferred

curator Dodie Kazanjian

Norman Bird Sanctuary



Middletown, RI

27 August, 2026 – 1 June, 2027

Art&Newport presents Hope Deferred, Austin Eddy’s first major sculptural installation and his first solo exhibition in New England. Installed in the Barn at the Norman Bird Sanctuary, this exhibition brings contemporary art into dialogue with the sanctuary’s landscape.

Best known for paintings distinguished by brilliant color, layered textures, and recurring bird motifs, Eddy has long used birds as poetic stand-ins for memory, loss, and the fleeting passage of time. Here, the bird takes on a new dimension. What began as a single sculpture has grown into a menagerie of 107 birds in ceramic, aluminum, wood, plaster, and bronze, ranging from intimate to monumental in scale.

Installed throughout the Barn, a double-height structure dating to 1860, the birds appear in unexpected configurations—alone, in clusters, and gathered together—echoing the moments of surprise and discovery that come from encountering birds along the sanctuary’s trails, fields, and wooded landscape. The installation transforms one of Eddy’s most enduring motifs into an exploration of individuality and belonging: each bird is distinct, yet each becomes part of something larger. For Eddy, who grew up in Boston, the exhibition marks a return to New England and a new chapter in his exploration of the bird as both image and metaphor.

“For this exhibition, they will occupy the same table, same space, same life, existing as a group and almost relinquish their responsibility as an individual,” Eddy says. “Through this togetherness and focus on the unknown, I am hoping to take a closer look at the kindness of living.”

Hope Deferred is presented by Art&Newport, the organization founded by Dodie Kazanjian to bring museum-quality contemporary art into dialogue with Newport’s distinctive cultural landscape.