07/31/2026
Meet Aurora Cadence…
Sometimes my hands sculpt a story long before my heart finds the words. When I first sit down with clay, I never think of it as a therapeutic activity; I just create a whimsical creature. I had no idea she was developing into so much more.
Over the past several months, I’ve realized that many of my sculptures weren’t just born from imagination. They were born from my own journey. Without realizing it, I was sculpting my way through grief.
After losing both of my parents, each dragon, snail or snagon seemed to carry a piece of healing I didn’t even know was happening. The healing I don’t know I needed.
The word Hiraeth means the longing for a place and a time, one that we could never return to. Hiraeth, my whimsical creature, represents that.
Penelope, a beautiful creation taught me that grief is simply love with nowhere physical to go.
Mercy reminded me that compassion is one of the greatest gifts we can offer another living soul. All these beautifully whimsical creatures became while I let them become. IYKYK.
And then…Aurora Cadence arrived.
As I looked at her bright eyes, colorful shell, and joyful spirit, I finally understood who she had become; she is my heart come to clay. She is that unexpected moment when a song begins to play and, before you even realize it, you’re smiling. She is the scent that instantly carries you back to your grandmother’s kitchen. She is the picture that reminds you of laughter instead of loss. She is the face of someone you love that suddenly appears in your mind and warms your heart. Where once tears would form, now a deep, loving hug-like warmth lights up my soul.
Aurora is the joy that reaches your soul through memory. As I sculpted her, allowing the clay to speak to me, something unexpected happened.
I realized that I suppose I had finally found the hiraeth I believed didn’t exist. It wasn’t hidden in an old house. It wasn’t waiting somewhere in my childhood. It wasn’t locked away in the past.
It had been living quietly within my own heart all along…in the place where love continues to live even after pain, grief, and death. That is why her name is Aurora. She represents the light that joyful memories bring to the soul. Cadence…
Because sometimes it is a sound that opens the door to those memories.
Every crystal she wears represents a tiny spark of remembered joy. Every colorful cabochon on her shell is a precious moment lovingly carried until someone’s heart needs it again.
I didn’t realize I was telling this story. This is how it always happens. I am always surprised of how feelings come to life in something I did. I reluctantly use the word art or artist in relation to me and what I do; at times, even I am surprised at the beauty in something I create. It’s while I contemplate on how to continue or finish each piece that the conversations between my heart, hands and head know exactly what to do. Sometimes it’s a piece that I am driven to do, not stopping till it’s done. Other times, I feel I am done, but I know I’m not finished. I set the clay thing aside until I’m ready, could take a day, could take weeks. I never know where I’m going with this until I’m there.
And for that, I’m deeply grateful.
Aurora Cadence
“Every joyful memory leaves a little light behind.”
The pure joy I feel, when others recognize the message in what I create! Seeing who she is immediately-and she found her way into a home where love lives, immediately after her debut!!
