My birds are the first in this process . I wanted their faces to come out to the viewer . In If I Were I made the crow with human hands holding a real branch . I then cut off the hands and cast them and the branch in bronze and reattached . Part of the head is also bronze and the hat . The birds for me represent shape shifters , spirits that can come and go from our world to that of the spirit world . I am a Delaware / Cherokee Native American ; I grew up hearing stories from my mother . I was drawn to those of shape shifters with the idea of a trickster who wears a mask to hide their identity , birds as messengers , and owls as bearers of tragic news .
If I Were , bronze , encaustic on birch panel , 8 x 10 x 4 inches , 2012