Description:

Inspired by Franz Marc's Blue Horses and a book of Mary Oliver's poetry by the same name, I translated the painting's emotion into sculpture. I wanted to explore the theme of freedom and nature that Marc and Oliver evoke, giving it my own twist. Using sea shells and found objects—like rubber ducks, duct tape, and popsicle sticks—I shaped a horse. I created this piece for Princeton Public Library’s Princeton Environmental Film Festival's Art and Poetry Exhibition.

As part of the submission, I created an original poem about the piece:

Mary Oliver Wondered …

At the same horses—
Franz Marc’s horses,
Blue Horses.
Grazing outside time, 
Dancing on cave walls
Of Chauvet, of Lascaux—
Radiating consciousness,
Impossible, essential,
Like Mary Oliver.

She, too, was struck
By their beauty
And by the shard of shrapnel
In Marc’s gentle skull.
She, too, saw in their living pigment 
That blue-blazing ancient flame,
That ultramarine of human essence.
Franz Marc, gentle painter, 
Bled into Verdun’s soil— 
But his horses rode on.

O Franz Marc, stay! 
Stay inside that cave, 
Paint outside the world.
Let your cobalt fires
Pour forth, a beacon.
Let us step inside and see 
Your blue-bleeding brush
Breathing life, bequeathing life—
Let nothing disturb 
These impossible horses,
These spirit creatures 
Of conscious forces.
War and time may claim us all—
But not these blue horses, 
Never the blue horses.

Mary Oliver wondered 
At the same horses—
Franz Marc’s horses,
Blue Horses:
Maybe the desire 
to make something beautiful 
is the piece of God 
inside each of us …