Secret Worlds Sculptures

Secret worlds

When I was a child, I was in love with the idea of secret worlds. Any book or story or forest or cave that offered entrance into a secret world captured my imagination. I longed to be there. Those worlds were a place of magic and adventure and empowerment. As a child, monsters and dragons and demons were easier to understand than the frightening and complicated real world. In fantasy worlds, the land spread out beneath me and adventure awaited, and I could take charge and take action and by doing so empower myself, as I lived vicariously through an adventurer’s life. It was much easier for the child in me to understand the evil of Tolkein’s Smaug or the corruption of Darth Vader, than the banal evil of adults failing all around me. A little hobbit can take charge, conquer, and win in the end, and the little child living through him learns to persevere. Through the worlds of fantasy books and movies, and real-life wandering through the Minnesota forest and marsh, I grew and became strong.

I’m making a series of Secret Worlds. The Large Lotus sculpture is my first world. It took me a year to make it, and I completed it in May 2023.

Large Lotus Sculpture