Miriam Carpenter
Feather 11,874, 2022

Materials:
Hand-carved white oak.  Burnished with graphite powder.  Displayed in wall-hanging holly boxes with UV protectant museum glass and sterling silver

“For over a decade now, I have continued to develop an evolving series of delicately carved wooden feathers. Starting with feather 11,903—the average number of feathers on a mallard duck—and counting backwards, I have now completed over 30 of these intimate sculptures. The process I created for making these feathers has become my tool for centering through hyper-focused carving as an active meditation.

The complex structure of certain species of wood presents a dramatic visual texture and a challenge to create sweeping lines through varying densities. Shaping the form defines the tools I can use and an order to the process. This order is as flexible and idiosyncratic as the character of the wood in hand. Through this study, I allow myself to pour out love with such inten­sity that what I create becomes embodied with a life that is viscerally connected to me. I must work diligently with assiduous attention, holding the piece in the palm of my hand so that I can feel the wood move, bend, stretch, release and expand. The feather’s symbolism is deeply complex within the frame­work of a simple form. It represents wisdom, freedom, that which is ethereal—the soul, contempla­tion—that which is spiritual, the transitory nature of life and the evolution of our planet.” – Miriam Carpenter