2002
terra cotta clay, glaze, and painted wood
3 totems: 65 x 16 x 16, 54 x 15 x 14 and 62 x 16 x 16 inches
Burchfield Penney Art Center, Collectors Club Fund, 2002
Nancy Valle’s totemic trio, Unearthing (2002), is comprised of terra cotta, glaze, and painted wood. The grouping of life-sized, stacked geometric forms suggests shamanistic figures that appear to dance and gesture with wooden wands or limbs. The title hints at the idea of discovering something that was hidden or lost, something that was buried either physically or metaphorically.