Birds! Birds! Birds! Downtown McKinney has been taken over with hand-painted birds by artist Andrea Holmes as part of an art installation inspired by Birdtober. Birdtober is a daily art challenge in October where participants create a new piece of bird-themed art each day, following a prompt list provided by Andrea Holmes. This challenge was inspired by Inktober, created by Jake Parker.
In 2019, Andrea wanted to participate in a daily art challenge but couldn’t find one focused on birds. So, she created her own and shared it on Instagram in case other artists wanted to join. Today, artists from around the world participate in Birdtober, creating thousands of bird-inspired artworks each October. Participants can draw, paint, sculpt, or use any medium of their choice, with the goal of creating something every day. 2024 marked the sixth year of Andrea hosting Birdtober.
“I knew I was partnering with Downtown McKinney for this year’s challenge," Andrea said. "I wanted to paint birds our locals would recognize, so this year’s list featured birds you can find in Texas. One of the biggest challenges was finding 31 businesses willing to let me paint on their buildings. It was really fun pairing the birds with specific businesses—I had to consider the personality of the bird and the business to ensure they were a good fit. Some businesses had special requests, and I honored those when I could.”
Andrea Holmes and Downtown McKinney also partnered to create a printed Downtown McKinney Bird Guidebook. The guidebook allows visitors to search for and identify all the painted birds around town. When you find a bird, you can visit the corresponding shop to collect a Polaroid sticker to add to your guidebook. Can you collect them all?
