Wisdom Seekers, by Tony Angell
Wisdom Seekers, portraying four northern ravens, seems to me to be a fitting subject for our Pacific Northwest Community. Sagacious and intelligent, this bird is revered through myth and stories by people throughout the world where their species may be found. In Nordic legend, it was a pair of ravens that the god Odin released each morning so that they might travel the world and return each evening to share the information about what they had observed. And while Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest know Raven as the trickster, it is also this great bird that brought the light to the people of the heretofore darkened world and thereby opened up opportunities for learning and enlightenment.
In the sculpture Wisdom Seekers, each raven is looking in a different direction, symbolizing the different directions we may take in our pursuit of knowledge. One raven, a step lower than the other three, looks up at the other birds. This bird represents the concept that we not only learn from others and forces greater than ourselves, but that one must exercise the mind to ascend to the level of enlightenment.