Daphne
My new cut steel sculpture "Daphne" will exhibit at Roby King Gallery, Bainbridge Island WA, Feb 7- March 1, 2020 in "A Trio of Print-makers" with Lynn Brofsky, Brian Fisher & Steve McFarlane. The opening Reception is Feb 7, 6-8 pm. Check it Out! Ovid's description of Daphne's pursuit by Apollo, prayer to her father the river god Peneus and subsequent change into the Laurel or Daphne tree is context for my sculpture. My inspiration though is Kathleen Raine's contemporary poem "Daphne After" and her Me-Too depiction of coping with violation and the victims emotional metamorphosis.
Daphne After by Kathleen Raine In the absence of a heart grown stemwise, silent, slow Daphne drinks unremembering and unknown, in the manner of a laurel thinks in branches, sometimes blossoms. Real forgetting is her secret, long detachment, no slit sense to heal. Only sentiment and song remember how she suffered, ran in terror, turning tree, an