Vapor Trails: The Story of Hummingbird
As I sit here, waiting in an airport concourse, I feel compelled to write about the one piece that is all about my lifelong fascination with airplanes. I first must apologize as many of these marvels are departing and arriving on the tarmac, and I find myself staring at them through the huge observation windows. They will always be successful in capturing my attention.
As long as I can remember, I have loved airplanes and the concept of flight. I remember as a kid playing basketball in my yard on our old bent rez rim and stopping and watching whenever a jet would pass 30,000 feet overhead. I always wondered what it would be like to be in one of those things, and my dreams would fill in the blanks for me. I remember my dad taking me on a couple of flights with him when I was small. The first time was in a small Cessna that took off from the airport in northeast Albuquerque (once upon a time, there was a single runway there). We flew to Shiprock for a class he was teaching there. Other than one of the passengers getting sick on the return trip, the stench did not hamper my love affair with airplanes. It only increased. The second time came when he took me with him and we flew on a 737 to Los Angeles. Back then the kids would receive plastic wings. I pinned mine on my shirt with glee, pricking my skin in the process. Once we deboarded at LAX, I was able to take in the full glory of wide-bodied jet airplanes. I could not believe that something that big could get off the ground. One time our parents even loaded all 5 of us siblings into our brown van to see the Space Shuttle Columbia after it landed at White Sands.
I became knowledgeable in every kind of commercial and military aircraft I could look up, from a U-2 to an AN-225. My obsession continues to this day, and I can occasionally be found at some viewing area, oohing and aahing with other plane spotters. I always knew that I wanted to create a flight-based piece, and this seemed like the perfect time to do it.
Hummingbird is all about wings, lift, and motion; yet there is a centered verticality about her. This concept actually began several pieces back. If you glance at the history of my art, you can see elements of flight in earlier pieces, but they are less refined. It is like they are the beginning and intermediate steps to this final creation. Hummingbird is also one of the few symmetrical pieces in my portfolio. Despite its unique shape, she is adorned with patterns of feathers, clouds and vegetation. It also feels like these traditional designs are urging me to paint more of them on my pieces. I am also dabbling with etching into the clay for added texture and dynamism. Although it is diminutive in scale for me, it is perfect. As my wife exclaimed, ‘It looks like a hummingbird! She was correct. As always, this piece continues a string of works that are me, in a sense that they are an element of who I am, brought to life in clay. I am chuckling now as I find what I can’t express with words are surfacing in my art.
