Ode to Ancient Wings
Ode Ancient Wings 2021--A Collaboration
Zoe Wolfe and I have been colleagues and friends since 1999 when we both were teaching at Western New Mexico University in the Expressive Arts Department. For years we have been talking of doing a collaborative installation.
In late January of 2020, just before we knew of the Covid 19 virus, my husband and I spent a few days hiking in the Chiricahua Mountains. Each evening we would see the Sandhill Cranes returning to roost at the Wilcox Wildlife Playa. I was taken with the sight and the sounds. Zoe with her ceramics expertise, years of experience with clay, and her interest in the environment, was taken with the thought of precious water, and how to express it through ceramics and glazes. Together we wanted to make a statement on what we thought was amazing about living in our area.
My contribution to this installation was 12, eight foot batiked banners of Sandhill Cranes on rice paper. Batik is an Indonesian art form I learned in 1970. It is a wax resist process where you paint in dyes, and use wax as a resist to save areas and colors you do not want the next layer of dye to change. I got to love batik on paper because the wax renders the paper translucent when lifted to the light. It reminded me of stained-glass windows. I thought that batik on rice paper could be very effective for my part in this installation.
Working collaboratively on this installation during the pandemic was a challenge for us. We both had a general vision we were working towards but we were working in our own respective studios due to the state lockdown. In the end we needed to make our creations work together. Zoe’s stunning yet whimsical ceramic pieces give a magical feeling of place with ripples and pools of water. I needed to think about how I could make them work with my large batiks. I found myself looking to Chinese Screen Paintings and Japanese Nature Paintings on rice paper to simplify.
After a year of isolation and work, our installation came together in a local gallery as a meditative gift to our community.
