Woodman Casting Athena [top] Direct

Under the stranger’s patient instruction, they began. Her name—when she finally gave one—was Lys. She showed him how to hollow the statue without cracking the memory within, how to fashion a delicate shell of beeswax that followed every curve Athena’s carved hands had once held. Edrin sat at her side, learning to coax detail from wax, pressing the feel of fingers and feathered owl into the model. He chased the memory of her stern face with the memory of his own children’s small squabbles, the elder’s worn hands, the nodding of the baker. Every life in the village found a line in the wax—an honest thing he could shape.

Created during her time in Rome (1977–1978), the "Casting" series—and specifically the images referencing woodman casting athena