Windhover (Detail), Nathan Oliveira, Windhover Contemplative Center, Stanford

Windhover, a beautiful English name for a falcon and for a series of paintings inspired by America’s most common falcon, the American Kestrel. The Windhover paintings by Nathan Oliveira now have a permanent home in the new contemplative center on the Stanford Campus.

Kestrels are at home in the undeveloped lands west of campus where they hover in the wind blowing over the crests of the hills. A kestrel, with its sharp eyes would look down on the Windhover Center and see these blue stones bordering the building.

A Falcon’s View, Windhover Contemplative Center

A quiet place to get away from the pressures of a busy university. I was fortunate to visit the center last Sunday, Windhover is truly a treasure.

Oliveira’s Windhover paintings take their name from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889), that uses the flight of a falcon as a metaphor for spiritual striving and realization. A portion of the poem is etched into reflective glass visible near the building’s entrance. The imagery of the four Oliveira paintings on view at the Windhover includes wings, catenary curves and a kestrel, all presented on semi-abstract grounds.
— John Seed, Professor of Art and Art History, Mt. San Jacinto College, Huffington Post

Windhover Contemplative Center, Nathan Oliveira, Stanford University

Does this painting soar or not? Here is a detail of the brush work.

Detail, Windhover, Nathan Oliveira

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