The Longest Migration and Red Felt Tears

Arctic Tern

As the pandemic began to circle the globe in early 2020, I thought about how everyone on earth was experiencing the same fears and restrictions on their every day lives. I wanted to portray this with an arctic tern because they have the longest known migration.

After the Titanic sunk in 1912, the Steiff toy company introduced a mourning teddy bear with black fur and red felt sewn around his eyes to show his tears for those lost at sea. Arctic Tern has red felt sewn around his button eyes because he is mourning the loss of so many, and of life as we knew it.

Arctic Tern is made with an antique doll body, repurposed fabric, hand embroidery, painted wood wing, and collaged with old clothing patterns and birds. He has gathered the family of birds on his body. A tiny arctic tern and cartography symbols that represent coordinates, rivers, trails, and campsites are hand embroidered on his neck.

Arctic Tern is a one of a kind mixed media textile sculpture with a hanging loop on the back and measures 20 x 29 x 8 inches.

photo by addison doty