Isabella Rossellini Would Like to Introduce You to Her Chickens

Click image to see larger file. Courtesy of Patrice Casanova, My Chickens and I (Abrams Image; 2018)

In My Chickens and I, the actress and artist combines her love of animal behavior and her experience as a model, making her brood of heritage chickens the stars.

By Jasmine Arielle Ting
Vanity Fair
March 22, 2018

Excerpt:

Leave it to Isabella Rossellini to take what started as a hobby—raising chickens on her Long Island farm—and turn it into art. In the new book My Chickens and I, the actress, model, and artist introduces readers to her crew of heritage-breed chickens, with names like Andy Warhol and Amelia Earhart, who are photographed inside their own sets. The book, with photographs by Patrice Casanova, documents the growth of Rossellini’s first flock of around 40 chickens, from the moment they arrived as online-ordered chicks in a box, until they began laying eggs themselves. Today, there are around 120 chickens on her farm in Bellport, NY.

The slim volume also includes Rossellini’s observations, curious thoughts, funny tidbits, research-driven musings, and hand-drawn illustrations about life on the farm. It gives a lot of insight not only into her experience raising chickens, but also her knowledge of animals, wildlife, and even evolution. Rossellini spoke to Vanity Fair on the phone this week to talk about life on “Isabella’s Farm.”

Read the complete article here.

My Chickens and I – the book

Video of Rossellini with chickens.