There’s a cul-de-sac in downtown Lompoc that stands out for its little ornate houses all in a row. The residents are quite transient, but welcomed nonetheless—so welcome, in fact, that one man has built these homes for 20 years.
They aren’t for people, though. They’re for the birds.
Jim Manweiler builds intricate birdhouses and feeders. They fill his front yard. His mailbox is one. So are many of the decorations in his neighbors’ yards. That’s how they came to the attention of Lisa Renken, director of the Lompoc Museum, who was convinced Manweiler’s creations would make an excellent exhibit.
“I’d drive by his house, and wondered about it, and after two years I caught him in his garage and stopped to ask him about it,” Renken said.
She decided to build the exhibit “For the Birds” around 11 of his birdhouses, which sit like miniature dollhouses in the Centeno Gallery. Each house and feeder is expertly crafted by Manweiler, who got his start making such projects at an early age.
As a child, Manweiler got plenty of experience working wood and metal projects alongside his father, a tool and die maker. Those skills came in handy when he later started making bird and animal figures for his wife Sylvia’s craft projects. Creating birds soon became creating bird houses after a friend gave him a bunch of wooden dowels, which Manweiler cut and painted to create a log cabin for feathered residents. His wife then persuaded him to create an English Tudor style house with a thatched roof.
Though he had never made one, Manweiler was sure he could accommodate her request.
“I’d done some woodworking before, so I didn’t look at it as rocket science,” he said.
Since that initial birdhouse, his creations have evolved to be more complex. Much of his design inspiration comes from English magazines and the Internet, though he doesn’t just replicate what he sees. He cuts, paints, and alters raw materials for his design, and only sometimes uses craft store items like finials and model bricks in his pieces. His Tudor-style birdhouse, for instance, has a roof made out of stucco he poured. He also makes his own cedar wood shingles from fence boards.
The quality of his final pieces has appealed to people around him, who’ve kept him busy with requests for their own birdhouses, mailboxes, and feeders.
“It started out with friends and neighbors seeing them, and then they say ‘Gee whiz, I like that one. Can you make me one?’” Manweiler said.
The birdhouses are built to be attractive and to withstand the weather—but they aren’t used much by actual birds. Renken said that most of the birds in the area are shrub or ground nesters as opposed to box nesters, so Manweiler’s birdhouses are mostly decorative. The feeders and mailboxes he’s built, however, are fully functional.
They’re also the centerpiece of the “For the Birds” exhibition designed to get visitors in the mood for spring.
Rounding out the exhibit are 50 pieces of art by Vicki Andersen, Dee Frasher, Linda Gooch, Judith Grames-Lyra, Marilyn Hains, Noreen La Pointe, Jan Manfrina, Carol Moore, Carol Oliveira, Carole Patton, and Julia Rodgers. Their work includes a variety of pieces in paint, cut paper collage, photography, sculptures, and ceramics surrounding the bird theme.
Renken said the museum was also able to pull bird eggs and nests from its permanent collections to add to the exhibition, bringing a touch of actual nature to the show.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone is waiting for her next good idea to hatch. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 16-23, 2009.