My monumental pecan wood and steel sculpture, "Survival," has been admitted into the permanent collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. I am grateful for this honor and pleased to have my work represented in this great institution."Survival" has an interesting back story. The 81-inch high wooden column was fashioned from the trunk of a century-old Louisiana pecan tree felled by hurricane Katrina. This noble trunk could have been burned to ashes, ground to sawdust, or wound up in a landfill. Instead, it found its way into my hands and I decided to give it a new life even as my adopted city was rebuilding its own life. The carved surface depicts a series of intersecting waves, evoking the waters that battered and engulfed the city in 2005. The natural veins and striations in the wood trace the growth and evolution of this living organism before it was uprooted and transformed into a tribute to endurance and renewal. Finally, the steel spine suggests the industrial prowess, the engineering know-how, the energy and the creativity of this proud region. I consider "Survival" to be a pean to nature’s force and man’s indomitable spirit, and I am delighted that it has found a permanent place in the Ogden.
My website: sylvainesancton.com
The Ogden website: http://ogdenmuseum.org
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