Winter happenings!

Transformations & Other Visions, Winter 2024/2025

Public art...

***"Raven's Welcome" Bronze sculpture on basalt base8' x 4' x 2.5'***

Raven's Welcome was installed on 42nd Ave. in the Cully Neighborhood this November. Just south of the Columbia River, Cully sits on land where people have gathered in community for centuries. Raven’s Welcome celebrates the cultural significance of this area and its proximity to the life-giving River--a place of gathering for trade and business, a place to live, share, play, age, work, and pray. Raven’s Welcome invites All to come together in community and in care of the River, land, air, non human persons, and each other. Thank you to NAYA Family Center, Regional Arts and Culture Council, and the City of Portland for commissioning this sculpture.

"Raven's Welcome" photo credits, Mario Gallucci

In 2021 I discovered the joy of developing public art and have focused my practice in that direction ever since. Public art commissions bring some of my professional work (project management and stakeholder engagement) together with my true love of creating bronze sculptures that tell stories, connect people with the built and natural environment, and uplift communities. I am thrilled to be starting now my 4th large-scale public art sculpture project since 2021, a collaborative triad of bronze and steel sculptures that will be installed at the new Multnomah County East County Library early next winter. My friend Mike Suri of Suri Iron is my collaborator on the project and will be sculpting the steel elements. I hope my public art projects help people find delight and connection in the places they play, live, work, and age.

Gallery Exhibit...

While focusing on public art, I have also continued sculpting ceramic wall hangings inspired by Yup’ik masks and material culture. I am currently exhibiting a small series of 5 new ceramic masks at Stonington Gallery in Seattle, Washington for the Strength and Grace show.

Each of these masks is a reimagining of an historic Yup'ik Mask. Ann Fienup-Riordan's book, Agayuliyararput: Our Way of Making Prayer, The Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks has been such an important book to me throughout my years of sculpting. See the original mask inspirations in photos on the left below.

Puffin, 18.5" x 9.5" x 3"

The inspirations for the five masks in the exhibit are among so many mask images and stories from Fienup-Riordan's book that live large in my imagination, that continue to impact me and influence both my ceramic masks and my bronze sculptures.