Bas-Relief Tableaux: Imagery and Symbols

I am often asked to describe my influences & inspiration; especially regarding the imagery & symbols in my tableaux. People who have traveled the world often assume there is a particular period or culture I'm fascinated with or a faraway place I've lived. Certainly there is a folkloric sensibility in my work- I feel it arises from my choice to use simple techniques. I make my own tools & carvings, and work directly, as people all over the world have done, in many mediums, for thousands of years.
My introduction to folk art - as a small child in San Francisco- was enchantment itself. I visited galleries with work from all over the world. I saw intricately sculpted bread-dough dolls from Mexico, patterned beaded bracelets from Africa, kaleidoscopically decorated eggs and matreshka dolls from Russia. What impressed me most was my sense of a universal language. All this work spoke to me of generations unfolding, traditions passing with love and blessings, a deep-down elemental hope for life, sustenance & regeneration. In all this work I saw renderings of the magic that lies at the heart of our lives.
Throughout my life I have worked to construct my own language to describe, map, illuminate & reflect my perceptions & inner world. This work is the result of several breakthroughs in the challenging process of developing my own visual language. My tableaux contain, reflect and illuminate many of my life concerns. Each is complex and multi-layered; I find it impossible to describe all there is in a given piece- if I could, I might be writing books instead of working with clay. Still, I’m often asked to describe some of what can be seen in my work...
For me, the birds are life force; that charged, one with the wind, soaring feeling. My heart beats faster as I see groups of starlings move, dip & turn in the sky like one giant being. I remember seeing them, & feeling them with an intense clarity, as if for the first time, one fall long ago. They helped to revive my dying spirit; reminding me of life and it's pulse after the sudden death of my sister.
Years before, in my teens, I spent an afternoon learning to hang-glide on a beach in California. I did fly, briefly. I was filled with the most tremendous feeling, like flying in my dreams- but truly real. I was so taken by the experience- I was awake and did not sleep, remembering the feeling, the impossible lightness, laughing and laughing all through the night.
This was the beginning of my birds, magic occurring in my everyday world. They are a symbol, to signify another way of being, of experiencing this world. In my reliefs, the birds exist in a kind of formation or pattern, in sync with their flock & its destiny. They do not stop to doubt- nothing interferes with their life force. They often circle orbs- planets in the sky. Look closer, they are circling a flower, which will in time bring forth seeds to sustain them. As they circle the flower, they become part of it’s radiating beauty, they become part of a larger circle of life. At other times I look at the same relief & see the path of single solitary bird, through time, having a wonderful experience all on her own.
When I work, I settle inside myself. I feel alone and yet surrounded by and filled with an energy that I feel is connected to every wonder I have ever experienced, the living spirit of my ancestors, and to people who have touched my life in some deep way. I carry them with me & in my studio we are all together - urging life on. My challenge is to find ways to map patterns & relationships not obviously apparent, which do exist, and extend through extraordinary spans of time, distance, and endure, despite inevitable transformations.