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I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
By Maya Angelou The free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wings in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own. But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.I know why the caged bird sings
A collaboration between Jodie Atherton and Nancy Marlatt.
“Primarily a 2D artist, I was excited to collaborate with Jodie who creates beautiful sculptures. My intuition was to create something resembling water because we are both interested in the study of water. I initiated the first part of our project and gave Jodie the opportunity to respond as seen in the final piece.” – Nancy Marlatt
“This piece, like so many other things I create, wasn’t originally going to be a birdcage. I wanted to make a spinning top, like a child’s toy. So I did. But, in my mind, I wanted it to look old and beat up and never once considered that it might need to be super-duper balanced to spin. Needless to say, it didn’t spin. Hum. Now what. I had already drilled a hole through the middle of Nancy’s piece she gave me to respond to. I had also glued things on the base so that needed to be addressed and incorporated. I wandered around my studio for a while, pondering what to cover the hole with. Nothing. I still wanted a top. I left my studio that day bummed. The next day I looked through my image files and saw a birdcage. It stuck. And, after attaching and using pliers to un-attach other parts of the previously mentioned top, this piece was created. And, when I called Nancy to tell her I came up with a new version, this poem sprung to mind. It fits the piece in more ways than I could imagine even without re-reading it before making this piece.”
© Jodie Atherton
I know why the caged bird sings
Mixed media, found objects