Guided by Birds
“She Who Reaches”
“Flaming Phoenix/Rising from the Ashes”
“Love Always Phoenix”
“Heaven's Phoenix/Awaiting Soul Delivery”
“Missing Rachel”
The other day, a friend wrote to thank me for the flower press she had received years ago. She is a fine artist herself, who works in many mediums, and really excels in found-object assemblage. Her love of collecting, with plants in mind, has inspired yet another world of creation. My response to her grateful message reflected a personal message back to me, and I learned more about why I have been drawn to pressing plants and creating the collages that have come from using this simple wooden tool:
“... I love its medicine, as I have called it. Somehow there is a big centering that happens with the making of things. To be with plants and their energy is just the best thing to do sometimes. I am so intrigued by how they structure themselves for their own stability and for their future new selves. So much to learn...”
It is this structure of plants that captivates me. A leaf pattern can look just like a feather, and the energy of that similarity has created the birds in my collages. This piecing together of plant-into-bird has guided me to find my own stability while encouraging a new perspective of my future self. My inside and outside worlds coalesce and remind me of the importance of love and connection to all beings, and especially to Mother Earth.
“I pray to the birds. I pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward. I pray to them because I believe in their existence, the way their songs begin and end each day—the invocations and benedictions of Earth. I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love, rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen.”
-- Terry Tempest Williams
“Guiding Stars/Migration” (for Nancy)
“Solace Island”
“Ready at Cliff's Edge/Bird in Paradise”