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Missy Dunaway

is an artist and illustrator with a penchant for storytelling. A traveler at heart, she has attended eight international artist-in-residence programs that provide the opportunity for extended visits and cultural immersion. Her first book, The Traveling Artist: A Visual Journal, was released in 2021. Missy earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities and Arts from Carnegie Mellon University in 2010. She has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, a Folger Institute Fellowship, the ArtPrize Educator Award, a New Student Scholarship to the Academy of Realist Art Boston, and traveled to Vietnam as a Four Seasons Envoy. She is a represented artist at the Portland Art Gallery in her home state of Maine.
Birds of Shakespeare: The European robin
Four European robins surrounded by eggs, feathers, honeybees, and the branches and fruit of the European crab apple
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The European robin

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Missy Dunaway

According to Renaissance folklore, robins were kind and adored humans so deeply that if one came upon a person who had passed away, it would place flowers on the body.

Birds of Shakespeare: The turtle dove
A turtle dove in flight with two other turtle doves sitting below on a branch
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The turtle dove

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Author
Missy Dunaway

The turtle dove as a symbol of love appears in Shakespeare’s romances, tragedies, and comedies.

Birds of Shakespeare: The lark
A detail of the painting showing a lark, a toad, and a piece of red cloth
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The lark

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Author
Missy Dunaway

Shakespeare mainly employs the lark as a beloved symbol for the morning, the herald of the dawn. Most of the lark’s 27 appearances in Shakespeare’s works feature it welcoming the start of each day with a sweet song.

Birds of Shakespeare: The common starling
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The common starling

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Author
Missy Dunaway
Birds of Shakespeare: The wild turkey
a male and female turkey with autumn leaves, acorns, turkey eggs, and turkey feathers
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The wild turkey

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Author
Missy Dunaway
Birds of Shakespeare: The great cormorant
great cormorant
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The great cormorant

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Author
Missy Dunaway
In his plays Shakespeare deploys the cormorant as a symbol of insatiable hunger and gluttony, drawing also on the bird's reputation as a portent of doom and evil.
Birds of Shakespeare: The ring-necked pheasant
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The ring-necked pheasant

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Author
Missy Dunaway
Artist Missy Dunaway explores references to the pheasant in "The Winter's Tale" on her bird-watching expedition through Shakespeare’s works.
Birds of Shakespeare: The kingfisher
kingfisher painting
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The kingfisher

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Author
Missy Dunaway
Artist Missy Dunaway explores references to the kingfisher in two Shakespeare plays, King Lear and 1 Henry VI.
Birds of Shakespeare: The golden eagle
eagle objects
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The golden eagle

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Author
Missy Dunaway
With the golden eagle, we continue following artist Missy Dunaway on a bird-watching expedition through Shakespeare’s works. The eagle soars throughout Shakespeare's world, Renaissance literature, and beyond - symbolizing strength, power, and the divine.
Birds of Shakespeare: The Eurasian blackbird
blackbird painting
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The Eurasian blackbird

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Author
Missy Dunaway
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bottom sings a tune about blackbirds to keep up his courage when he finds himself in strange circumstances.
Birds of Shakespeare: The cuckoo
cuckoo
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The cuckoo

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Author
Missy Dunaway
Thanks to its peculiar reproductive cycle, distant migration, and haunting melodies, the cuckoo may hold the title for most folklore among Shakespeare’s birds.
Birds of Shakespeare: The barnacle goose
Barnacle Goose
Shakespeare & Beyond

Birds of Shakespeare: The barnacle goose

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Author
Missy Dunaway
The barnacle goose, referenced in Shakespeare's "The Tempest," was an unmistakable symbol of metamorphosis for a 17th-century audience. It was commonly believed that the barnacle goose evolved from driftwood. Artist Missy Dunaway shares her painting of this fascinating bird along with an exploration of its literary associations.
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