Free Range and OrganicA Review by Charles Zuill“Oh Chanticleer your clarion blow the day is near.”How many of you have been torn from the arms of Morpheus by the strident calls of this Beau Brummel of a bird strutting around trying to impress the dowdy females and announcing to the world that this is his territory? This feral foghorn does have something to crow about as its numbers are increasing almost exponentially and it is now thought that the population of these avian invaders is much greater than that of the human population of our beautiful islands.Some like to see the fluffy chicks dashing here and there, and feel that the clarion call of this popinjay of the bird world not only announces a new day but it also reminds them of a bygone rural life. They may also enjoy the cockerel’s contribution to the dawn chorus, but l suspect quite a few of you will have experienced this rude awakening at the crack of dawn and quietly cursed this unwanted intrusion into your lives.In fact this strident call is becoming more and more frequent. This population explosion is another warning of the dangers of introducing alien species to Bermuda where there are no natural predators. The chicks may fall prey to cats, dogs and perhaps a heron and road-kill accounts for a few deaths, and it is not unknown for one of these plump birds to end its life in a Bermudian oven, but this has very little effect on their numbers. Even the arrival of Colonel Sanders has not slowed the expansion of this population.It has only been in recent times that chickens have escaped their coops and taken to the bush, neighbouring gardens and golf courses. Chickens are taking over the Island and in point of fact they are free-range and organic, which is the title of an art exhibition at Common Ground in Chancery Lane, Hamilton.This exhibition is mostly about Bermuda’s feral chickens, but also about the Bermuda onion. It is a fun show, but it is also remarkably and consistently good in terms of artistic skills.Some of the exhibiting artists are: Chris Marson, Anne Kermode, Lexy Correia, Frank Dublin, Otto Trott, Sabrina Powell, Vernon Clarke, Chris Dawson, Stephen West, Lynn Morrell, Ami Zanders, Ingeborg Beidleman, Vaughn Evans, Susan A Pearson, Libby Cook-Toppan, Christopher Grimes and Stephanie Sanderson a good cross-section of our best known local artists.All the works in this show are modest in size, which is fitting for the venue, given it is a coffee shop. These small works of art are also suitable for most Bermuda houses, which seem to have only limited wall space on which to display them. All the art is for sale and is of modest price.Noticeable in this show are the stylistic variations. For example, Ingeborg Beidleman has painted a Cock of Barcelos, which is now one of the symbols of Portugal, whereas, Chris Marson has created an uncharacteristically stylised rooster strutting in the morning sun.Anne Kermode’s onion has been made with little coloured dots, not unlike that used in typical Australian Aboriginal paintings. In her case, I am thinking of her abstracted Bermuda onion. Chris Dawson has also painted onions, but in a manner much like that of the 17th century Dutch masters.No discourse on our colourful chickens would be complete without trying to answer the age-old eggamiation question, Why did the chicken cross the road? Was it:To get to the other side;For a fowl reason;The grass is greener;It was egged on;Just for a yolk;To avoid becoming a feather pillow?If you know your onions and you have another good reason, without using fowl language, please drop it into the nest box, go and crow or tweet about it to your friends, and generously shell out for this good cause.Thank you,Cock-a-doodle-do,Charles Zuill (egghead and art critic)The exhibition continues through July 4.