" There are three kinds of dancers, those for whom dancing is physical exercise, those who dance to express their emotion, and those who hand over their bodies to the inspiration of the soul."-- Isadora Duncan
I love that quote because it resonates with my sculptures. I think to create one must give themselves to the inspired dreams and moments of their lives. We live in such a sterile world that we forget to listen to our wildness and our instincts. We are narrowed in mind by cultural rules and labels and can barely hear the whisper of the supreme force. When I sculpt I surrender my preconceived life and try to forget the taught technique and rules. I want to come from a more untamed and raw perspective. I want to energize my art with a sensation of living and unexpected oppositions and paradoxes.
We create to remember who we are, to reach back into our primordial genetic thoughts. The creative intellect is a shadow or our instinct. Art always consist of our memories, and usually a prayer to imitate something we remember in nature. We cannot trace the true origins or art, because it is the mythos of our souls who are the forerunners of our visions and creative dreams. There was a muddy center before we breathed. There was a myth before the myth began.
I believe that all art comes from our primordial mud. That there is as Stanley Romaine Hopper wrote "a mythological consciousness that inspires us to create". Every human has her own personal intelligence, her own authentic and ancient dream. We know it when we hear or see or feel something that makes our blood run a little faster, our hearts beat somewhat louder, the quickening of the spirit. We are guided by that personal and private intelligence. It steers us and motivates us. It becomes our muse, our dream, our own intimate reality. Dreams and art transform us into our own conversation, our own individual existence. We are freed from stereotypical labels by reclaiming our own mythic function. Art helps us to do just that. Creativity points the way for us to our own personal freedom.
The sculpture for Eisenhower Hospital symbolizes healing and compassion. In this day and age we can all benefit from strong symbols depicting hope.
The Owl
I wanted to find
a reason
why I disappeared.
Then the owl came
circling my thoughts ___
seducing my mind slowly
subtly coming closer.
Perched upon a broken branch,
his indifference
abstract and imposing
revealed my need for meaning,
for dark quiet places of intensity.
Sometimes I feel myself
dissolving into space,
I get smaller and smaller
until I no longer exist.
(meanwhile)
____ the self
shaped by desire
exposed by my insatiable need
moves ever closer to the fire.
But nothing will keep us alive.
I dreamt I asked the fates
why I was being driven
by transitory lust.
(the fates answered)
“Meaning only exists when you
are looking for it, it will tempt you
like a lover and leave you like a beggar.”
And I thought to myself
god, isn’t this what living is?
The wanting that feeds you
the raging storm that seduces you
and always the need for more.
I love
the way we hungered
for one another
the sensuality, the greed and the thirst.
Our bodies
wrapped in the animalism of urge
the predatory talons of
infatuation.
Then I realized what nourishes us
also destroys us.
I have felt my life
unwind like threads,
pulling me forward and backward,
until it’s hard
to put the pieces
back together.
Tonight,
the gilded owl
called out my name,
his voice so familiar,
his eyes
dark and sad.
___ did you even notice I disappeared?
Gesso Cocteau 2025