Just a week left to go see my exhibit at Hutchinson Center for the Arts! Here is another sneak peek of what’s on display👀
7:30 am • A red tailed hawk waits patiently high in the branches of its leafy home. This is one parent of two who both take turns sitting on this nest, guarding these eggs. The couple will mate for life and may even come back to this same nest year after year. We can tell by the more colorful shells that these are healthy eggs which means their parents are probably fairly well fed, boding well for the hawklets survival as well as the overall health of this particular ecosystem. The Trembling Aspen pods let loose their seeds as the breeze blows through. The Aspen’s offspring are hatching in their own way, taking flight on the fluffy white down that is so easily carried by the spring zephyr.
This piece is a comforting one, with soft colors, elements and lines. It was prompted by the spring 2022 Aspen hatching that happened this year. SO many white fluffs filled the forests this spring creating a magical and soft space, a sharp contrast to the anxiety-inducing drought in 2021. The magic whimsy reminded me of being home and being young. I didn’t really have a comfortable home when I was young, but my most comfortable and homelike space was my Grandpa’s home – you know, that place where you feel safe and welcome. Gramps had a sense of humor. His wit and intelligence was something I admired greatly. He was an appreciator of the wild world and a lover of birds. He had a pair of Red-tailed Hawks that nested in his yard year after year – it was their home as much as his and he loved me enough to share his love of the Red-tailed Hawk family with me. He would write about them in our letters or call me up on the phone when they experienced some big life change. Those calls and letters were love and comfort. When I would visit I would watch the Red-tailed Hawks out Gramps’ patio window as he worked in the kitchen or read the paper and I would feel at home. With Gramps around I always felt like I had my own dedicated parent looking out for me and I always had a place to go home too. Gramps passed away when I was 22 and I make lots of art about him now. This piece, with the watchful parent protecting the fragile eggs, the strong Aspen giving safe flight to the well protected seeds, is definitely about him too. That sparkling waggish expression on the Hawk’s face is very Gramps like and I think he would really love this Red-tailed Hawk.
Featured flora and fauna • Red-tailed Hawk, Trembling Aspen, Rosy Maple Moth
14” x 11” Acrylic on Canvas ©2022
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Wild Whimsy of the Northwoods’ tour around the state of Minnesota is made possible, in part, by a Region 2 Arts Council Individual Artist Grant Award with funding from the McKnight Foundation.
