West Wind Sentinel - Mike Roig

West Wind Sentinel
Mike Roig
Size: 15' tall
Stainless Steel
Outdoor
Highway 321
Hudson, NC
2002

Mike Roig says: " In Lenoir, God bless you, public art is a well established presence. Here you are beginning to demonstrate that this commitment to public art, far from being senseless, instead creates an interest within a community that can bring people together in a lively interaction ­ one that fosters tolerance for new ideas, and a broadening of the identity of one¹s place in the world. It can create a calling card to be included in the global community of ideas and culture. And finally it creates a marker for visitors from other cultures, for new arrivals seeking a home among you, and for future generations about who you are now. That yours¹ is a community that values its people and the quality of life that they lead. That this is a community strong enough, bold enough, visionary enough, practical enough, and productive enough to factor thoughtful beauty into how it expresses itself in the world. That you value the beauty which is a natural part of this foothills landscape where you have settled, and you desire to see that some of the human influences on this landscape add to and honor it¹s inherent balanced beauty.

Joseph Campbell, the great scholar of mythology, wrote about birds as representing a notion of spirit and spiritual aspirations for people from cultures throughout history, and from many diverse religious traditions. Whether it¹s the Phoenix, the Bald Eagle, Poe¹s raven, or the dove of peace, there is something in the freedom of lifting off and soaring through the air that inspires in us an appreciation of the grand mysteries of life. I have been drawn to include bird imagery in my art often, and the delight they inspire in people is a direct kind of response that tends to preclude a lot of heavy-handed interpretive argument. I¹ll make a suggestion here as to how you might look at this West Wind Sentinel ­ see it as a playful expression of the spirit of this community. One flock of free spirited individuals whose cumulative movement can sense the winds of change and dance beautifully in that breeze."