TACO'S ADVENTURE INTO THE WORLD OF ART
By Tena Stetler

Thursday morning I checked my internet mail as usual. There was another letter for Taco, the beautiful Eclectus parrot who shares our lives. She gets more E-mail than I do! Anyway, it was an invitation for my husband Bruce and me to accompany Taco to the opening night of the Gallery of Contemporary Arts at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. How interesting--did they know that Taco was a parrot? Yes, as it turns out, they did know!

Taco with her usual adventurous attitude was more than happy to accept this unusual invitation. The evening promised to be a lot of fun for this feisty but well-behaved avian redhead and her two unfeathered escorts.

The opening night of the UCCS faculty's Gallery of Contemporary Art featured an artist who was a retiring art professor at UCCS. Apparently, she is owned by one of Taco's older brothers and she wanted to meet his sibling in person--or would that be "in feather"--having heard so much about her.

The night of the awaited event arrived, and much to Taco's dismay, she had to wear her orange flightsuit because her black tuxedo and tails from Avian Fashions did not arrive in time! Fortunately, artists are an eclectic bunch so although there were people in tuxedos and velvet gowns, suits and satin dresses, some of the artists donned jeans and T-shirts for the event so Taco held her head high, hoping that she too would be considered one of those fashion trend setters!

Taco had a wonderful time at her debut into the world of art! She waved and shook hands with people as though she were born to fame and adulation. There was a crowd of people around her throughout the evening. You would have thought that no one had seen a parrot at an art show before--and perhaps they hadn't!

By the end of the evening, we were told that Taco was undeniably the best work of art at the show! In fact, one of the artists came up to us and wanted to share with us that all of their artistic efforts paled in comparison to God's work, meaning Taco, the beautiful Eclectus Parrot.