Eustis Estate
Cry of the Sky
Liz Sibley Fletcher
Cry of the Sky expresses the beauty and power of water. But what will the sky bring down upon us in this era of accelerating climate change? I created this piece because I love the way water moves, reflecting light and the life within. But humans are now in a conflicted relationship with water as sea level rises and intense storms ravage the land. I wanted to express this conflict through the emerging hand that reaches skyward as an appeal. I feel conflicted myself, admiring water’s beauty and strength but fearing its power, which humans have exacerbated through our carelessness in ignoring climate change for so long.
Biography
Since graduating from Massachusetts College of Art in 1970, I’ve worked in clay as a sculptor, potter, and teacher. I’m an exhibiting member of the New England Sculptors Association and the League of NH Craftsmen. I’ve shown my work around New England and as far as Georgia, Texas, and the state of Washington, winning awards at exhibitions in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
As a figurative sculptor, I’m inspired by life in all its forms, from microscopic to human scale. Motivations for my imagery range from human folly to the beauty and power of nature.
Living in the woods, I became concerned about human impacts on the land. After getting a master’s degree in resource management from Antioch New England, I assisted the Nashua River Watershed Association to protect the rivers of the region. Now my environmental work is mainly local with the Mason Conservation Commission and Mason Energy Commission.
My favorite project was when the Mason Historical Society commissioned me to create the life-size statue of Bode, an enslaved African who was Mason’s first colonial inhabitant. He sits in the center of Mason where he tended cattle alone in the wilderness nearly three centuries ago.