Supaburumu

I have made sculptural walking sticks for the past quarter century of my art career. They are not functional supports but storytelling objects—sticks that trace how nature and humans move through the world. When I was invited to present a career retrospective, I knew I had to include at least one walking stick. This piece is my most self-reflective to date: sixty flowers mark my impending entrance into a new decade, topped by my trusty hummingbird companion. While making it I learned about kanreki—the Japanese idea that life begins again at sixty—and chose the title Sūpāburūmu, a rough translation of “superbloom,” the phenomenon of dormant seeds blossoming at once. It is a walking stick meant to lead me forward, spiritually, into whatever comes next.