Breath of a Poem

I received a Golden Spot Award to work at Leland Iron Works in Oregon City for the month of February in 2018. I worked on the piece titled, This Hunger. I dug up two pin oak trees from a nursery in Hillsboro with the help of an arborist friend. I drove them on the roof of my car out to Leland. It was the perfect studio (ground level, in the woods, tall ceiling) for me to be able to shape the trees for my site-specific installation to be exhibited in April in Santa Cruz, CA. My father had just passed away on December 31, 2017 at the age of 90. It was bitter sweet being surrounded by Lee Kelly’s large steel abstract sculptures. Because they reminded me of my dad’s fascination with welding and his effort to replicate sculptures in the garage while I was growing up. My dad would have liked coming out to visit me working there and even meeting Lee. The quiet peaceful surroundings and the focus to get the work finished for my show’s deadline helped me mourn his passing. During the month I pruned the trees (roots and branches) and twisted wire. I studied a wire basket made from baling wire by the Mayo indigenous people from the Copper Canyon region in Mexico circa 1960. I copied their twisting technique and made a wire basket to hold ceramic apples. I twisted 28 lines of poetry to be strung between the trunks giving an illusion of a ladder. This piece was part of my solo exhibition for the breath of a poem.