Water Song

by Star Liana York

Size: Life-size 48"
Medium: Bronze
Edition Size: 15

"Water Song" features a young Anasazi woman sitting on a rock washing her hair. In this piece, Star wanted to capture those quiet, reflective moments that women frequently enjoy while performing the daily rituals of self-maintenance.
"These routines, such as brushing your hair or bathing, give us private time when we can escape into thoughts that take us faraway from daily cares," she says. "Whether fantasizing about a dream lover or composing the lyrics to a personal song, these private moments, I believe have always been precious to women."
The life-size "Water Song" is mounted on a faux stone model of an actual boulder. Although modifications can be made to accommodate specific sites, the way in which the piece is currently designed allows the sculpture and the stone to sit in a pool of water. A submerged pump pushes a stream of water through plumbing already installed within the sculpture, which is emitted through an opening in her hair where her hands appear to be wringing water into a bowl. As the bowl fills with water (as if she is so lost in her thoughts she doesn't realize what is happening in front of her) the water spills over, dropping into a natural cup in the rock, and in turn overflowing into the pool where it is re-circulated by the pump.
The sound of trickling water scores her meditations like a musical background - thus the title "Water Song".