Virgin Spring

by Star Liana York

Medium: Bronze
Edition Size: 15

This woman, wrapped in a blanket either because of a slight chill after undressing for a bath, or out of modesty, tests the water delicately with her toe in anticipation of a refreshing bath. Does the title refer to the source of water for this bath, a private sanctuary of which she alone is aware? The reference could point to the woman herself in the springtime of her life - new to womanhood, virgin in her coming of age.
Absentmindedly she fingers her necklace, distracted by how things feel, smell, and sound. When we feel new, we become aware of even minute sensations, the cool air on her bare skin, the prickly rough woven wool, the woodsy scents of dew on leaves and grass and fallen trees, the gurgling spring, chatter of birds, rustle of leaves stirred by a faint breeze.
Perhaps she has risen from intimacy with her lover (she wears a chief's blanket) and is feeling reborn in her discovery of herself as a woman. She contemplates descending in to the clear cleansing pool, a ritual we associate with rebirth, and reflects the pure contentment of the moment on her placid face.