The Owls Part 1: Tales of the Heart
"Art is long and Time is fleeting, / And our hearts, though stout and brave, / Still, like muffled drums, are beating / Funeral marches to the grave." — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, epigraph to The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
In the hills above Los Angeles, at Debs Park, a great horned owl claimed her territory — and the crows did not make it easy. I first encountered the family when the owlets had just arrived. By the time I understood what I was witnessing, they were nearly ready to go.
OWL — Tales of the Heart is an attempt to hold that moment still. Cut paper, frame by frame — because some things can only be honored slowly. The crows circle. The family holds. And then, as it always does, the moment passes.
This work was selected for Brand 54, the juried works on paper exhibition at the Brand Library & Art Center, Glendale, CA.
Building the crows — layered cut paper, brass brads, and thread allow each wing and body segment to move independently. I use Sakura Poster Color on the birds and trees--- handmade paper for the backgrounds.
Tree branch elements in progress — cut paper strips in indigo and lavender against a painted ground.
The crow flock — articulated cut paper puppets with painted and stamped backgrounds, ready for the set.
The owl puppet — hand-drawn and painted, jointed with brass brads for frame-by-frame articulation.