nests

Nests have been one of my obsessions for a while. Years and years. I'm thinking about them again, and the same idea that's been in my head for some time has been persistently popping up again. This nest, rendered in porcelain and washed with black underglaze, hangs in my dining room. There's another that hangs outside in the garden, on my fence. I made yet another, a large, plate-sized nest that incorporated porcelain leaves and feathers, that, unfortunately, I have no photos of because it was before we got our digital camera and I donated it to our public television's annual art auction. A small, rough, cup-shaped nest gets wedged in a crook of our Christmas tree every year. Nature girl (may I also admit to being a bit of a priss?) here finds a great deal of inspiration in nests. I am amazed by the little birds' ingenuity and instinct-driven architecture. I really, really want to make a series of porcelain nests and work towards a show. Where? Dunno. Would anyone actually want to buy nests? Dunno that either. The donated one sold, I know that, but this idea won't let go of me. It's taken up space in my head since 2004.

I think I may have said here before that one of my prized possessions is a feather and lichen-lined hummingbird nest that fell out of a tree in the woods behind my mother's house. I have no idea how I'd translate something like that into porcelain. I'm hoping that this might help, and maybe this one, too. Earlier this week I was pouring over the Smithsonian's online Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio. Sweet Gary made some good copies for me to study. I think that nests may be my summer project. A showing of these nests may not be in the cards, but I feel really pulled towards at least making them.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!