BIONIC ANGEL


This one is surprisingly personal.
It’s part nature, part metal, like me.
Steel rods and screws hold up my spine;
my elbow is formed by steel;
my teeth and eyes have elements
nature never made.
And here I am.


I didn’t expect what I’d create
when I found a fragment of a palm
that seemed like a wing,


its delicate details
inspired in flight.


I set out to find its other wing
and chose a limb that had fallen
that still lifted upwards.

You can see the copper wire starting.


I love the shimmer of copper.
In my 2017 “Sight” series
I used it in Mechanism for Prophecy.


Here, copper wire became layers of feathers.


Who is flying?
I began forming a head with clay
and a welcoming smile.


Her arms had to stretch
to become part of the wings.


But I realized this work is a meditation.
So I closed her eyes.


I painted her VanDyke brown for depth,


and highlighted her in gold.


The body combines slivers of bark
with copper wires coiled from
the spirit of her energy.


Two tiny electronics left over
from a clock I took apart
for last year’s series…


…became her earrings.


There she is, ready to rise.