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A Wing and a Prayer
"Hope" is the thing with feathers --
That perches in the soul --
And sings the tune without the words --
And never stops -- at all --
-- Emily Dickinson
The sight of a bird winging across the sky has inspired artists, poets, scientists, and visionary thinkers through the ages. In many cultures, the buoyant passage of a bird is not just a thing of beauty but also a sign of something greater than ourselves. In the days of the pharaohs, birds adorned the interiors of Egyptian tombs to guide the deceased into the next world. In ancient Rome, prophets called augurs helped foretell the will of the gods by observing birds in flight. Native American mythology features dozens of birds, each with its own power and meaning, as does Christian iconography. And, of course, art history is full of avian imagery inspired by the significance of birds in religion, myth, and legend. Although none of the artists on view here focus directly on these ideas, spirituality is an important theme, particularly in the work of artists Petah Coyne and Tom Uttech. Both Coyne and Uttech create dense, otherworldly works that resonate with the emotional and spiritual power of nature. |