TELLING THE STORY

Tolling Ducks

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The explosive energy of a quail covey rise needs compositional containment to emphasize the chaos of the moment. The rhythms of tolling waterfowl in timber need space.

The birds lose air, adjust speed and avoid vegetation in very specific gestures orchestrated over the length of the descent. A bird forty feet in the air has a different wing set and orientation to the water then one five feet further into the toll.

I modeled the gestures and flight patterns of birds working their way through trees and vegetation. The birds in the main body of the composition are fully committed to the descent, the highest birds are peeling off from the flock.

Tolling Ducks was installed inside the two story lobby of the Uline Corporate headquarters. The whole process was carried out 20 feet higher in the air then I ever want to be again with a 200 pound piece of pointy metal. My thanks to friend and fellow sculptor Don Rambadt.

Walter Matia