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Chair Pair (Helena's Crossing and Allegory of Good Fortune)

by Deborah Rael-Buckley

web # 6715

Sculpture

Ceramics, Acrylic Paint, Epoxy

56"h x 23"w x 15"d

Chair Pair (Helena’s Crossing and Allegory of Good Fortune) tells a story of an adoption. The larger chair, Allegory of Good Fortune, is the parent or "mother chair." Its form is one of abundance. The branches form a matrix within which the images relate the story of a woman reaching out across the ocean to adopt her daughter. The fish and waves symbolize that journey as the other elements relate to the Chinese culture as symbols of good fortune. The wings simultaneously refer to the flight to retrieve her daughter and as an emblem of protection. Helena’s Crossing with its smaller and more compact form describes a younger, more tentative gesture, somewhat like a child learning to crawl. It also has the fish and wave decoration, but branches form the ABC’s and the seat shows an unborn chick, symbolizing a life about to surface. The wings are not as developed as the mother chair.”