Happy birthday, American artist Alison Saar! (2/5/56) I actually wrote about Saar in a previous artist birthday post on Facebook so I’m just going to share another of her pieces that I adore.
Leelinau, 1997
Lauemier Sculpture Garden, St. Louis, MO
I chose her painted wood, copper, steel wire piece – Leelinau – that was created in 1997 as a Laumeier Sculpture Park Commission with funds from the Mark Twain Laumeier Endowment Fund in St. Louis, MO. Leelinau is based on the legend of a Native American girl attracted to a nearby enchanted wood that was inhabited by spirits and fairies. Saar’s Leelinau, which means “delight of life”, is a wooden female figure perched high within the branches of an oak tree. Her copper-wire hair is enmeshed with both real and artificial foliage, tying this tale to Laumeier’s Eastern Woodland.
I found Alison Saar when I was doing birthday posts back in 2012 – prior to that I had never heard of her but I love the magical organic nature of her work. As one author puts it – metaphor is artist Alison Saar’s poetic currency.
Alison Saar
