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My work is strongly influenced by a career in the health
field as an acupuncturist and a Tai Chi instructor.
Studying anatomy, physiology, and the mechanics of movement
for the
past 20 years, I have derived awe and inspiration
from the workings of the living body.
The intricate detail and remarkable harmony necessary for
us to exist offer endless avenues for exploration and expression.
Integrating my career with my artwork has strengthened each
facet, for studying and researching for my patients gives
me a deeper understanding of the insights into structure
and function needed to build my sculptures.
In my current series of wire figures I build the human and
animal body from the inside out. Beginning with anatomically
correct skeletal structure, I fill in the spaces with the
internal as well as external organs. I insert humor and whimsy
into the pieces using found and fabricated objects.
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I choose subjects that
are dear to my heart. For example, since 1985, I have
enjoyed seeing the Great Blue Herons
flying overhead as I lead Tai Chi classes at Oceanview
Park in Santa
Cruz. Their awkward grace, comic cadence, and posturing
antics have kept me entertained and enamored.
I became “heron obsessed” two
years ago, after finding a beautiful book of heron photographs.
I continued my research in books, magazines and on the
Internet, viewing thousands of images of herons flying,
landing, standing,
eating, breeding and fighting. I studied their skeletal
systems, and wing structures.
The small herons are the most recent in a wire series that I began in 2000. They
are reduced in scale from my earlier life-size human and animal figures.
The earlier pieces were meticulously detailed and took months to complete.
After attending a metalsmithing “summer camp” last summer, and
hearing a lecture given by wire artist Thomas Hill in the fall, I had a breakthrough
in my work in both technique and speed.
Each of these small, steel wire birds were done in one day. It is exciting for
me to be able to work spontaneously, finish a piece, learn from it, and immediately
move on to the next.
“ Homage to L’il Bit, The Magic of a Three Legged Dog,” is
one of my favorite sculptures. In January 2005, a dog friend of mine, L’il
Bit, was hit by a car and lost her leg. I saw her less than a week later, on
her walk with her dad, as spirited and happy as ever. I was so inspired by her “joie
de vivre” that this sculpture almost made itself.
I hope you enjoy my work.
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