Hummingbird

When I returned back to America last year, I went to visit my mother in the Northeast. The day I arrived a hummingbird came and visited me staring at me as it hovered on the porch just outside the living room. Hummingbirds proceed to follow me around the following weeks as I made my way to Colorado until I found one that passed away on the front porch of the house I was staying in. It was the same time I found out one of my artistic mentors, Dennis Nolan left this earth. I was reading a post by his daughter as she described various hummingbirds visiting her family at this time, and her post was so touching I got chills.

Here is a passage from her message —

At 9 years old his (Dennis) appendix burst and he had an out of body experience at the hospital where he left his body and looked down at the doctors working on him, thinking, "You won't find me, I'm not in there. He went through a white tunnel and felt purely at peace but it wasn't his time and he went back into his body. When he was convalescing and watching the other children playing roughly on the playground he was concerned and thought, "Don't they know that their bodies are like frail egg shells and if they break their shells the light will just pour out."

Around the same time I was asked to make a commission for a couple that had just moved into a new home shortly there after, and the hummingbird wouldn’t leave my thoughts.

Hummingbirds are known in Native American and Incan cultures as the messengers of the gods. They are carriers of wisdom, love, beauty, luck and resilience, all which was perfectly aligned with the project. Their wings dance in an infinity pattern further showing their symbolic connection to the eternal cycle of life. A dancer spins in the background mimicking this orbital movement. The hummingbird carries a Shen ring, the Egyptian representation of eternal protection, which is further emphasized by the red string.

An Assyrian tree of knowledge is hidden on the breast of the bird, an icon that shows the connections of all forms of life in union within this great mystery. Aspen leaves surround the bird covered in handprints… further exemplifying the passage of time and the changing of the seasons.

This piece is a dedication to the cycles of life, the incredible ripples Dennis made on me and so many others, and the magic that is found through experiencing love and union. hope it speaks to you.