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Bird House

Object NameSculpture

Artist / Maker John S. Fraser ((American, b. 1952))

Date1986

OriginUSA

MediumMixed media

Dimensions17 x 3 x 3 in. (43.2 x 7.6 x 7.6 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of the artist. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU86.527

Status

Not on view

Collections

Label TextThe sculpture is of wood and found objects. It is a little house on stilts with an egg hanging by a string from the bottom of the house. The paper used on the house is a fragment of a map that shows depth of a body of water. There is an emblem on the front of the house and two different stamps placed around the house, one a U.S. postage stamp and the other is a Côte Françcaise des Somalis (Colony of French Somaliland) postage stamp. On one side of the house there is a drawing of the golden means, and there are two birds on the front of the house placed in such a way that resembles a cuckoo clock. There is a drawing of a compass on the bottom of the house and a small clock is attached to one of the stilts. There is also a small label on the back of the house that says "Act of Parliament". The artist selected the images for their visual qualities and not symbolic qualities. They are intended to make the viewer think and to be clues to arrive at the overall meaning of the work of art. Overall the meaning of the artwork is about the issue of time. The shelter represents the idea of protecting moments in time. The shelter is on stilts like a fortress. The dangling egg represents the idea of fertility, the continuing of time or the constant passing of time in contrast to sheltering time. The egg was used to make the work of art stable.

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