I just came across the most amazing Simpsons episode - it was about Pigeons! (season 22, episode 7) first released Nov 2010. The images I have used are just screen-grabs from the episode on megavideo.

A pigeon flies into the Simpsons' window and suffers a broken wing. While Lisa (strangely) finds Pigeons repulsive, Bart nurses this homing pigeon (named Ray) back to health. He gets attached to the pigeon, and when the time comes to let Ray fly back to his owner, he does not want to leave and flies back to Bart. Bart takes the bird home and has some good, and funny, times with Ray, until something happens...

As well as being related to my project, plus including the 'rats with wings' quote and references to pigeons being used in the war, it is a very funny episode. I re-watched on megavideo and did some sketches.. watch on:

http://www.megavideo.com/?d=XGN5H8N0

These are images of my final screen-printed T-shirt.

This is the drawing I will use to screen-print onto T-shirts. It is based on the American Eagle images in the previous post.

As my aim for my campaign is to change people's negative opinions on pigeons, I thought it would be a good idea to draw a pigeon in an iconic way, similar to the way the American Eagle is shown. I want to show the pigeon in a positive light, as an iconic English image.

It's quite hard finding pigeon-related art, and if I do find some there's no info..

The top image is by artist Graham Boyd, and this brilliant red poster is by Fuel design.

I firstly drew rats with wings for my development work, to sort of prove how different this image is to pigeons. I then drew some more hybrid pigeons, as I thought it was just interesting and funny.

I also found out about a couple living in Birmingham who view their pigeons as art:

'Alexandra Lockett and Ian England are artists, but when it comes to security they have a much more relaxed policy.Every week a van arrives to collect Lockett and England’s precious work, which is then driven to a far-away town or city before being tipped out of baskets and tossed to the winds.Luckily Lockett and England’s art is super-smart and invariably makes its way home. That’s because the Moseley-based artists, who are also a couple, don’t produce paintings or sculptures – they work in the medium of pigeon.While most artists hide away in a studio to produce their works, Alex and Ian have a loft – a pigeon loft. They are the proud owners of 20 homing pigeons and are also members of Aston and District Pigeon Flying Club.There are many pigeon owners in Birmingham, however Alex and Ian are the only ones who view what they do as art, rather than a hobby. They call their work Project Pigeon – but is it really a bona fide form of creative expression?
“Art is about making people think about something or look at it in another way,” says Alex. “And that’s what we are about. This project makes people think of pigeons not as horrible, diseased rats with wings, but as creatures that can actually do something.”
Two years ago, when Alex and Ian started Project Pigeon, there was a spectacular launch.“We hosted an exhibition where the pigeons carried small works of art made in different studios around the country.” says Alex.“There was a live opening – people came to watch the pigeons fly back to the loft, carrying the art works with them.”The couple regularly open their loft to the public, and have run workshops with young offenders, teaching them maths, history, science and geography – from a pigeon perspective.'
From: http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/birmingham-art/2011/01/30/project-pigeon-takes-art-to-the-skies-65233-28082245/#ixzz1DqR6jhuu