The Cockeyed Optimist and the Inadequate Navigator
Assemblage of found objects
old puppet (with feather) and mexican clay figure, on found wooden structure of unknown purpose
greatest width 60cm, height 25cm
by Dale Copeland
| My family found me the wooden structure on the beach. What a superb gift! Boat-shaped, but curved. Washed up on the beach, so something from a boat? Very roughly made. A mystery. It needed a figure, was starting to think of making a bronze rower ... but the old puppet was just SO right. With that gormless smile, trailing a hand in the water, holding a feather, his precious thing. A cockeyed optimist. Not knowing or understanding any problems, but sure that everything is, and ever will be, O.K. Whereas the guy at the front ... a rough-fired clay figure I've had for years... he KNOWS just how lost they are. How lost we all are. The inadequate navigator. I love it. (And I aim at being the cockeyed optimist, enjoying the ride while it lasts) |
Dale's studio can be found at Puniho,
Surf Highway, Coastal Taranaki, New Zealand
More of her artwork, and the books she makes, can be found on her site at dalecopeland.co.nz.
email Dale at dale@tart.co.nz
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