About the Piece: The Visitor is a mixed media piece comprised of photographic collage, vinyl, paint, twigs, wood, metal, and salvaged home décor. Nature and animals were a strong element in the artist’s childhood, and she loved any stories that personified animals. Living in Bend, she’s fortunate to coexist with nature on a daily basis. With this public piece, she wanted to honor that profound privilege by creating a giant storybook page so kids and adults might feel compelled to engage in the possibility of a larger story within the magnificent blue owl’s eyes. What is this owl up to, anyway?

About the Artist: When Carol Sternkopf looks back on her childhood, she sees she’s been practicing looking at the world through a lens long before she had one. She learned how to disappear into the Observer, to adventure into unknown territory, and to practice reverence for what she discovered. Those skills have been foundational to her art for more than thirty years.