BEYOND THE REALM OF BIRD

Beyond the Realm of Bird, Part I, #1 –20

Beyond the Realm of Bird are the words of Emily Dickinson, from a poem that begins, A wind that rose/   The specific feathers of this series are the very smallest of what I have, often little body feathers, bright surprises I put aside as I sift through the feather molt I receive from friends of my studio. Each set in the series consists of 20 gilded bird squares with distinct feathers from separate birds: the whole as an emblem of the bird, its own realm. Beyond the Realm of Bird is a constant series, with new bird squares becoming new sets of 20, as a continuous thread through the core of my work and life of my studio.

To view this series, please click here >> Beyond the Realm of Bird.

Beyond the Realm of Bird, Part 3, detail (Chukar Feathers, Water-Gilded Cherry Wood))

For a quick view of the installation of one set, Beyond the Realm of Bird, Part 4 #61-80, click here >> for a fast-action video from The Delaware Contemporary, for the 2020-2021 exhibition, Vessels Invitational: Revisioning the Receptacle. The deft hands belong to installation staff for the exhibition, Courtney Widdoes.

And here is the poem:

A Wind that rose
Though not a Leaf
In any Forest stirred
But with itself did cold engage 
Beyond the Realm of Bird —
A Wind that woke a lone Delight
Like Separation’s Swell
Restored in Arctic Confidence
To the Invisible — 

Emily Dickinson, c. 1873, Manuscript, Houghton Library, Harvard