Does photographing the dead baby bird for art’s sake give meaning to a life cut so short, or does the photographic act matter at all? Those philosophical concerns bear no weight in comparison to the tenderness of those moments — to the messages contained in that interplay of a life scrutinizing a death. Photographs of those ruined birds and eggs found artistic resolution in painterly retouching and compositing. In combining the birds with skies, Egyptian symbols and archetypes, ultimately these pictures became painterly images of transcendence.

The Lost Dreams series is digital in origin and takes form as archival pigment prints on textured archival paper. The photo origins and cameras used reveal artistic process in the significance of travel and creativity beyond studio walls, the immediacy of perception, and how exploring various surroundings resonate with artistic themes in play. Also, that as a mixed-media artist, whatever camera is present becomes the artist’s tool. I never sought out dead birds to photograph; whatever appears here emerged upon the path, caught my sight, and lingered in my mind. The subject matter is dark, usually we avert our eyes to such things, but who can say why inspiration calls the mind toward one subject or another, or why the subject itself may beckon attention and regard. In working the creative process the time simply arrived to ponder the questions the birds posed… to think about lost dreams in life, and to make art out of images and reflection.

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K. M. Ehrenfeldt 3/13/2013