Leelinau
By Alison Saar
Category: Sculpture
About
Metaphor is artist Alison Saar’s poetic currency. Leelinau is based on the legend of a Native American girl attracted to a nearby enchanted wood that was inhabited by spirits and fairies. Saar’s Leelinau, which means “delight of life,” is a wooden female figure perched high within the branches of an oak tree. Her copper-wire hair is enmeshed with both real and artificial foliage, tying this tale to Laumeier’s Eastern Woodland.
Courtesy of Laumeier Sculpture Park.
Dimensions: 4′
Year Completed: 1997
Material: Painted wood, copper, steel wire
Owner: Laumeier Sculpture Park commission
About the artist:
Alison Saar
b. 1956
Alison Saar is an American artist who was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Laurel Canyon, California. She received a BA from Scripps College in 1978, having studied African and Caribbean art with Dr. Samella Lewis. Saar’s thesis was on Southern African-American folk art. She received an MFA from Otis Art Institute in 1981. Her sculptures and installations explore themes of African cultural diaspora and spirituality, and her studies of Latin American, Caribbean and African art and religion have informed her work.
