Current Project

Raven who Stole the Sun:  This piece is in process and is my interpretation of a traditional NW first peoples totem. I have much respect for the oral tradition of native peoples and their ancestral stories. As a child growing up in Portland, Oregon I took a field trip to a lodge where a native man who called himself Chief Laloska recounted stories from many tribes. This really stuck with me and I have seen many native masks and totems while living in the NW. I also attended an exhibition of very old original totems at the museum of natural history in NYC. I am by no means an expert on totems, masks or the stories handed down I just have a great appreciation of this amazing history and art. One story of many about the raven and the sun that I am loosely basing this piece on is of the raven, a trickster and shape shifter who stole the sun. And when the people saw him with it, they threw rocks and other objects at him to get him to drop the sun. All of those objects stayed in the sky to create the stars. As with many of my pieces I am making this one from part of a high-pressure tank. I use these tanks in many of my pieces. They are condemned, scraped cylinders used in the welding and medical field, think oxygen or CO2 gas cylinder.