Letter Four: city hawk, time-lapse video

Goodbye winter, hello spring!

As I walk up the steps from the subway, I see blue sky and white clouds passing. Yesterday I was in the park. Flowers were blooming, and I saw a stream cascading over the rocks. Not long ago, winter was here with snow and ice. Nature teaches us that we are all connected to change.

I would like to share a time-lapse video titled city hawk. I built the wax sculpture upward without reinforcement, and I imagined Hawk liberating the wax sculpture from its static properties. At its peak, the piece began to tilt and then succumbed to the forces of gravity, descending moment to moment as Hawk might have, returning from the sky.

As Hawk descends, I speak to Hawk and city sounds, sirens, car horns, and construction noise enter through my window. I wonder why I speak to Hawk, a creature of the sky, as I work in my small city room. I have no answer as Hawk’s fragile impermanence settles in repose.

I am grateful to my advisor and the school community for encouraging an expansive view of art practice that transports me from dogmatic familiarity with static sculpture to visual narratives and experience. Please watch as I speak to Hawk.

Love,

Tom