Finnoula

Finnoula is a character from Irish legend, one of the children of Lir. Lir's children were all turned into swans when their stepmother cursed them. They were doomed to remain as swans for a thousand years. At the end of the curse they turned back into humans, but they were thousand year old humans and so died immediately. I imagined poor Finnoula in the middle of changing from a swan back into a human. One side of her body is still the swan, while most of her is the maiden she once was. Her upraised arm has begun to wither with extreme old age, and she looks on in shock at this transformation. Finnoula is sculpted in epoxy clay and polymer clay over a wire armature. She is covered in assorted beads and real feathers. She stands about 18" tall and is pegged to a wooden base. Finnoula is currently in a private collection in Maryland.

Art Doll, 18" tall, 2004