The Fledgling

Jarod Brown

Patsy commissioned artist and educator Jarod Brown to create a unique sculptural work for the garden. The work is titled, Fledging which is the stage in a bird’s life between hatching and becoming capable of flight.

The repeated pattern of the birds from the lower to upper portions shows a transformation of them from drawn outlines in the steel at the bottom to becoming 3 dimensional birds emerging from the flat plane of the metal and appearing to take flight at the top. 

The sculpture stands over 8 ft. tall and was made out of a combination of polished and stainless steel.  The polished steel portions of the work will oxidise over time, heightening the contrast with the stainless steel birds that will become more distinguished. 

This stunning work is very direct in its forms and execution of the birds taking flight, but can be also read on many deeper levels. It can be seen as a representation of the cycle of life as the birds depicted undergo a dimensional transformation. 

The visual metaphor for freedom is very moving as the birds are shown breaking free from the flat plane overcoming gravity and beginning their journey into the ultimate expression of freedom that is flight.  As an art object, one could surmise that the artist is giving the viewer an experience of the alchemical creative process as the visual idea of a bird, the drawing on the base metal, begins to emerge into three dimensional reality with the stainless steel birds at the pinnacle of the work. 

The work was installed into a stone base built on the hillside across the creek and a stone retaining wall was built below it to allow viewers to see the work up close.