In the Wind

ARTIST: Linda Marsh

Price $30,750

Personal Statement

• I have always been an artist at heart, but I opted for a military career after graduating from college in 1987. I traveled to numerous countries, served in several armed conflicts, and retired in 2021 after serving 34 years in the US Air Force. Throughout my service I was struck by my fellow humans’ profound capacity to confront and surmount adversity, make deliberate choices, and steadfastly pursue goals, even in the face of obstacles. As I neared retirement, I began wanting to express these observations through the nuanced outlet of art. Since retirement I have begun to create a body of bronze sculpture that celebrates the powerful themes of self-determination, sacrifice and resilience. In this body of work, I aim to transcend the limitations of language through my sculpture and connect across cultures and communities to embrace a deeper acknowledgment of the remarkable strength within each of us. In most of my figurative works, I use live models as reference. As the sculpture starts to take shape, inevitably a narrative forms in my head and it starts to tell a story. I do not turn my clay sculptures over to a foundry. I accomplish every step of the lost wax method of bronze casting myself in partnership with my husband. We make our own molds. We pour, chase and gate our own waxes. We invest and burn out the wax, and we pour our own bronze. We are fortunate to have access to a small foundry where we can perform this work. We take the raw castings to our home workshop where we grind, weld and chase the bronze. And finally, we sand and patina the assembled bronzes ourselves. It’s rewarding to retain artistic control throughout the entire process.

Sculpture Statement

• The sculpture, In the Wind, addresses the duality of risk and reward. Despite facing adversity, we grasp opportunity, we persevere, we triumph. In this composition, a woman squints into the wind, holding her hair so she can focus on what the wind may blow at her. The wind blows cloth across her, and she gets ahold of the blowing cloth (an allegory for opportunity.) She is in the wind facing adversity, but the opportunity depicted by the blowing cloth is also in the wind. The idea is that adversity and opportunity hit you at the same time, and the former is worth facing in order to grab ahold of the latter.

• Dimensions: 45"t x 18"w x 18"d
• Weight: 120 lbs
• Materials: Cast Bronze

The Delano Annual Sculpture Walk is made possible through the efforts and grants from: