Brighton woman’s window design protects birds

PELLA — Central College’s Vermeer Science Building had a bird problem until recently. The building, which houses all manner of conservation-linked studies, has a west-facing window that “has caused significant bird deaths for many years,” according to a news release.

Last year, the college held a contest to design a window cover that would maintain the building’s aesthetic, but deter incoming birds from hitting the glass. Then-junior Megan Rohr, of Brighton, submitted two designs to that contest, one of which won the vote from the student body.

"I wanted to keep a theme of environmental awareness, because it was going on Vermeer, and a lot of Vermeer classes do focus on environmental awareness,“ Rohr said.

Rohr’s winning design was a watercolor painting of the lily pads in a nearby pond, with some pen and ink touch-ups to keep a sketched aesthetic.

“My idea with the lily pads was to have something people might recognize and associate with Central, and they’re just so pretty to look at when they bloom,” she said. “There’s so many colors that I see when I look at them, and so with my painting I tried to include all those colors.”

The school had the design printed on massive, custom-size stickers, which a team of students and staff attached to the outside of the building last summer.

“There’s a very special technique to putting the stickers on the windows,” Rohr said. “We put them on the outside, and we had to make sure we hosed them with water while we were doing it, and use tools to put them on there and line it up just right. There was a lot of work that went to putting them on there.”

Rohr said she was proud of the work.

"It was really cool for me,“ she said. ”I get to kind of leave my mark on Central, because I’m a senior, I’m graduating … it’s also a really great example of how an artist can do something with their artwork, and how they can make a difference or an impact. It’s a great example for … how you can make a difference with your artwork.“

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com