In a specific sense, totems serve as symbolic reminders of ancestry. Standing in landscapes, they are heralds of guidance, messengers of ancient wisdom, archetypal figures that defend a belief.

Helen Hierta’s Weathered totemic sculptures offer meditations on inner and outer space and energies, suggesting the horizon lines of unlimited potential. Helen understands that the perimeters and edges of potential are the places where hope meets the known and the unknown.

Organic like nature, these totems interact with their surroundings and their viewers. We are all being tempered through storms and pandemics, hostile campaigns and global wars. How can we organically rise up together in harmony, highlighting contrasts while working toward a unity of good?

The Weathered totems offer meditations on how we are weathering our lives, individually and together. They rise from the ground like trees, 6’-8’ tall, often fired in wood or salt kilns to receive ash glazing. This totem is installed at Art Rapids Sculpture Park, Elk Rapids Michigan, on the beautiful Grand Traverse Bay beach.

2020 to 2024 — Art Rapids Walk of Art Sculpture Park, Elk Rapids, MI