This piece was carved during the summer of 2001, from a 1200 pound block of Indiana Limestone.  It began as a small clay maquette I submitted to the Big Rock Garden Sculpture Committee, in response to a call for artists to offer images that would represent “a strong single mother.”  This competition covered several western states, and I was pleased to be selected by the Committee and the private sponsor of the project, to create the sculpture and install it in Big Rock Garden Park in Bellingham.  It was a real joy to carve this piece, all with hand tools as is my favorite mode, and it was especially satisfying to be able to honor single mothers in this way.  (My sister Sandy and two of her three children provided the images in my head, and there are other single moms whose courage and devotion to their children have also inspired me.)  The piece was permanently installed, on a chunk of columnar basalt, amid azaleas, ferns, hydrangeas, maples, cedars, hemlocks, and a mountain ash tree, on November 6.  I am very grateful to the Big Rock Garden Sculpture Committee and the Bellingham Art Council for allowing me to participate in this work, to donor Michael Hoagland for paying for it, and the Bellingham Park Department staff for installing my sculpture.