Sculpture Information

This client wanted me to make a wedding anniversary commission of a bird for his wife inspired by a Poem by Thomas Merton. I made many maquettes but the client didn’t feel they were appropriate. Then he released me and said follow the leading of the stone. I first found the wing. I looked up what kind of bird it matched. It was a swan. I researched the symbolism of swans and found the following ‘Swans mate for life. When choosing a mate they share mutual bill dipping and head-to-head posturing. They are dedicated partners. They pair for years, sometimes male-female unions are sustained for a lifetime. So the swan, a symbol of love, acts as a reminder of the blessings we have found in our relationships’. 

This was incredibly significant as this couple had moved many times with their work and his wife had been faithful through many years of disruption but like the swan it was a union of a life-time.