Sky House

(2010-12)

This work emerged out of a four-year stay in Ubud, Bali, where there were locally-made bamboo bird cages of various sizes and configurations in the markets and shops. The Sky House series converted what had been bird prisons into entities that celebrate freedom and movement in space.

I modified the cages and extended them into figurative armatures with copper wire, and bound that with waxed linen thread.

Chrysalis evokes the phases of a butterfly's life: the caterpillar walking, the transformative energy of the pupae, and the emergence of the wings.

I didn’t have access to my beloved flax fiber, nor the means to make paper with it, so I shifted to rice paper I’d found Singapore. To collage the skin-like surfaces, I pigmented it and cut it into eye-shaped (vesica pisces) pieces.

Gatekeeper turns, like a God of Passage, to gaze upon whomever would enter or depart.

Gateway of Duality stands at the portal between Duality and Oneness with a watchful eye and a nest of golden eggs.

In Lands More Spacious has glowing trees lifting the top of the cage, while the open door reveals an empty nest.