(2020) 72″ x 84″ Folded Paper on Wood Panel
While you should fear and respect the storm, it should not prevent you from ever taking off
My first commission, received shortly after posting Finding Home on Facebook came from an art collector in Edmonton. She seemed to enjoy the movement of the work and she loved birds. She even insisted that the birds should be swallows instead of cranes and it was also to be a HUGE artwork, 6 feet by 7 feet. Ok, challenge accepted.
I estimated it would take approximately 800 folded and sculpted swallows to make this piece. I started in March as the COVID-19 gripped the world and shut down our routine lives. With the kids home 24/7, time for art-work compressed to found moments while kids showered or played outside. In the evenings, often over a whiskey I would sit in my kitchen cutting paper and folding, entering the meditative state that would get me through this time period.
One thing I enjoyed was working with the colourful Chiyogami paper. This paper from Japan is screen printed by hand with multiple passes to achieve its beautiful designs. Just holding the paper felt luxurious with it’s cloth like texture and printed surface.
As a native of Toronto, I grew up admiring the sculpture Flight Stop in the atrium of the Eaton Centre. I loved how each goose was in a different moment of it’s flight and I wanted to show some different wing gestures of the swallows as they traversed the panel. The work took me five months given the shorter working days. It was laborious but mental fortitude was sharpened and helped me to get through my own turbulent times.