These pieces explore the patterns of gripping beasts that define the Oseberg style of Norse art, like the figurehead found at the Oseberg ship burial site. It’s a real challenge to pick out individual shapes when so many animals are so closely entwined. It is especially difficult the make sense of the imagery when wrapped around the creature’s face — other than to enjoy a wonderful pattern.
So here are two pieces, one is my take on the figurehead in clay, and the other an exploded view across a coffee table…
Wrapped around the head, or spread out on the mural is the same pattern of interwoven birds:
Got a bit carried away there, I sliced off the feathers on the top of each bird’s head… oh well, I’m not going through that again anytime soon! As you can see, it’s easy to lose track of what bit belongs to which critter.