Gift Givers

The Gift Givers began with a thought: a gift offered with kindness and genuine intent may still be useless, or even harmful, in the moment it arrives. When we face a problem, our guardian angels step forward. One offers a prayer, another a ready-made solution, a third an inner world to retreat to. Are these what we need to overcome the obstacle? Or are they what the angels need to earn their wings?

This work is about the moment of receiving, when we must decide, among all the gifts held out to us, which to embrace and which to refuse.

I carved the series in reclaimed stone, most of it Tennessee Pink marble that once formed the facade of the Australian embassy in Washington, DC. Beyond the beauty of the stone, I am glad to have given it a second purpose, so that it continues its life above ground in a new form.