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.

Three Little Words
2019
Fired ceramic, copper
10 x 8 x 8 inches

Sold

Til There Was You...after Schiele
2020
Oil, cold wax, collage, gold leaf
48 x 36 inches
PURCHASE
$3400.00
Las Meninas of Venice
2019
Collage and oil on canvas
60 x 30 inches
PURCHASE
$2000.00
We Are This Thing That Need to Sing
2019
Fired ceramic, gold, metal
14 x 10 x 8 inches

Sold

You Fill My Heart with Song
2020
Oil, cold wax, gold leaf
30 x 24 inches

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Camodian Rhapsody
2019
Collage and oil on canvas
60 x 30 inches

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To Sail Like a Swan
2019
Fired ceramic
23 x 10 x 10 inches
PURCHASE
$2800.00
You Sing My Songs...after Chagall
2020
Oil, cold wax, collage, gold leaf
40 x 30 inches
PURCHASE
$2600.00
Luisa Leoni
2019
Collage and oil on canvas
36 x 30 inches

Sold

We Live a Thousand Years In One
2019
Fired ceramic, column
18 x 8 x 8 inches
PURCHASE
$1400
Aspara Mirage
2020
Oil, cold wax, gold leaf
48 x 36 inches
PURCHASE
$3400.00
Aspara Frida
2019
Collage and oil on canvas
44 x 30 inches

Sold

Things Flew All Over the Place the Day You Were Born
2019
Fired ceramic, mirror
28 x 18 x 18 inches
PURCHASE
$2800.00
Tell Me What the World Is Like...after Degas
2020
Oil, cold wax, gold leaf
40 x 30 inches
PURCHASE
$2600.00

Works in progress

Who Are You Really
2019
Fired ceramic
12 x 8 x 8 inches

NFS

The Wild Hyacinth on My Shoulder
2020
Oil, cold wax, collage, gold leaf
40 x 30 inches
PURCHASE
$2600.00
The Mirror and the Mask
2019
Fired ceramic, mirror, wood
22 x 12 x 12 inches
PURCHASE
$2800.00
Seeing Through the Mist
2019
Fired ceramic
10 x 8 x 8 inches

Sold

In a World Apart
2019
Fired ceramic
22 x 11 x 11 inches

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Dove Orchid
2019
Fired ceramic
12 x 8 x 8 inches
PURCHASE
$1200.00
A Snowflake of Your Memory
2019
Fired ceramic, mirror
19 x 15 x 13 inches
PURCHASE
$2800.00
A Place Where Roses Bloom
2019
Fired ceramic, mirror
11 x 6 x 6 inches

Sold

A Place My Mind Can Dwell
2019
Fired ceramic
22 x 18 x 18 inches

Available at Splash Auction

PURCHASE
$2800.00
Dream a Little Dream
2018
Fired ceramic, tutu
24 x 24 x 24 inches
PURCHASE
$4500.00
Whisperings from Meli
2018
Fired ceramic, tutu, metal
34 x 24 x 24 inches
PURCHASE
$4500.00
You Who Light My Dark
2018
Fired ceramic, tutu
30 x 24 x 24 inches
PURCHASE
$4500.00
Into the Furnace Blue Heart
2018
Fired ceramic, metal, tutu
24 x 18 x 18 inches
PURCHASE
$4500.00
Be Still My Restless Heart
2018
Fired ceramic, tutu
20 x 18 x 18 inches
PURCHASE
$4500.00
You Who's Been Travelling So Long
2017
Fired ceramic, glazes, feathers, bindi
117 x 16 x 10 inches

Sold