Williamstown, MA -- The Williamstown branch of the International Bird Museum (IBM) has reopened for the 1998 Northern Berkshire avian tourist season.

On view this year in International Bird Museum #3 (1994) at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is The Bather, by Mike Glier and Jenny Holzer (fountain designed by Jennie Pakradooni).

Accessible only to birds, IBM is mounted near WCMA's entrance. Aside from visiting birds, only the artists, the curator, and WCMA Director Linda Shearer have seen IBM exhibitions.

Conceived by New York painter and sculptor Paul Waldman, other IBM branches are at the Southampton Museum in Southampton, NY, and Eaton Fine Art in West Palm Beach, FL -- where it's open year-round.

The idea of a museum in which art made by human artists is accessible only to birds came to Waldman one day as he mortared the tiny quarter-inch bricks for one of the "luxury" birdhouses he makes for his wife, Diane. The concept took wings: Waldman became director of IBM (aka "chairman of the nest"), established the museum in 1992 as a nonprofit institution, opened an IBM bank account, created a board of directors, and published a newsletter.

Since the founding of IBM, many established contemporary artists -- such as Ellsworth Kelly, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Kenneth Noland, and Williams College Art Department faculty members Edward Epping and Peggy Diggs -- have created artworks for these 30-by-15-by-20-inch museum structures.

"The International Bird Museum calls into question the ultimate purpose of art, placing the value on the creative process rather than emphasizing the final result," said Shearer. "Yet the bird museum is not simply a whimsical experiment—the structures are themselves beautiful and original works of art."

Waldman's birdhouses are indeed elaborate sculptures, constructed of 10,000 quarter-inch bricks that have been fired, glazed and mortared. The Glier/Holzer exhibition is the second in the IBM's continuing "Partners" series. Future exhibitions will feature works by artist-couples Cindy Sherman and Michel Auder, and Linda and Hartley Shearer. Glier and Holzer's artwork will be on view until the first snowfall

The International Bird Museum at the Williams College Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free. It is squirrel inaccessible.