“COMMON EIDER PAIR” - wooden lobster buoy, cedar heads/tail, acrylic paint, 2019.  Collection of the Artist. 

Last summer I was given a wooden buoy made and fished on Matinicus by C. Pratt, another islander cut the buoy in half and I used the pieces to make a pair of Eider Ducks. The idea of using buoys in a series of seabirds interested me and I decided a few more might be a good idea. When the Matinicus Library received funding for a Children’s building, I thought of my Eiders, their island roots and the potential for a series of “buoy birds” to honor the island’s fishing heritage and support the expanding island library. 

Picture sequence -Pair Common Eiders by D. Sears, HighWater Studio - Matinicus Island, 2019, half the original buoy, rough hen without paint, (detail) Eider hen, Eider Drake.