Tsipora: A Place to Land

Curatorial statement by Hope Forstenzer

Tsipora, Suzy Birstein's Hebrew name, means "bird" in English, and Tsipora: A Place To Land looks deep into the parts of birds we envy and emulate: flight and travel and freedom and movement, and also settling and nesting and making and growing.

This series, begun in 2017, was originally focused on freedom, flights of fancy, and adventure. As 2020 arrived and brought with it the quiet isolation of COVID, the pieces became instead focused on nesting, grounding, and stability.

As a result of this shift - a shift that has impacted every human being in the world - this exhibition has become something singular and amazing. A conversation has been captured here between these sculptures and paintings. Experienced together, they create a truly rare opportunity: each medium enhances the impact of the other. The sculptures become characters in the paintings, while simultaneously seeming to have sprung from them, full of three dimensional life, with histories of their own, and stories to tell.

Suzy's career as an artist and teacher of art is in its third decade, and her work is filled to the brim with joy, energy, colour, and exploration. Tsipora: A Place To Land explores the inspiration tlhat comes from flying, and the way those flights help ground us, so we can experience our own nests in new ways.