In Japanese culture, the crane, or tsuru, appears in art, literature and folklore representing longevity, good fortune and fidelity. In the Chinese culture, the crane is also an auspicious symbol of a long life and wisdom. Lake Forest artist Jeffrey Milburn has added something new to crane mythology with his beautiful copper and brass cutouts depicting the birds.
He started with single birds, but observing them as mating for life with a single partner, Milburn began assembling metal sculptures of two cranes intertwining their wings last year. Nearly 50 of them were an immediate sellout.
Standing some 4 feet tall, perched on a limestone rock, the double crane sculptures make great gifts for newlyweds and couples celebrating anniversaries as emblems of unity and commitment.
Milburn’s own story as an artist (read on) testifies to his commitment as a parent. Which makes it especially fitting he will be participating in the 4th Annual Cantigny Fine Art Festival at Cantigny Park in Wheaton on Father’s Day weekend.
WINGED PASSION: Milburn has worked as a roofer and sheet-metal worker for 20 years. In fact, he descended from a roof to be interviewed. “I have a job,” he says, “but I found a passion in my early 40s.” One that arrived serendipitously. Three years ago, to help pay for ice-skating lessons for his daughter Thea, Milburn began making small-size cranes, a bird he always had admired, out of copper. He placed them on the lawn of his front yard priced at $100. The metal alone had cost him half of that.
WINGS ON ICE: Thea began skating when she was 3 1/2 years old. “It was kind of my idea,” says Milburn. “When I saw her jumping and twirling and twisting, I said, she’s going to be an ice skater.” When he took her to a pond in the back woods near their house, “Boom, she skated the instant she hit the ice,” he says. Now 10, she goes each year to the ice skating camp at Lake Arrowhead, Calif., and is skating in national competitions all over the U.S. In 2005, she ended up in 10th place at the Junior Nationals in Denver.
RECIPROCATED GIFT: “My whole life I loved nature and birds,” says Milburn. “It is a godsend that I found something I love. I can’t wait to make them. It changed my life actually. I gave her a gift and in return, I got this gift,” he says of his crane-making career.
AID TO AVIANS: There are two species of cranes, the sandhill crane of which around 100,000 exist, and the whooping crane, an endangered species, Milburn says. His work emulates the whooping crane. “A lot of people don’t know the story of the cranes, that they are endangered, and the species, millions of years old, needs help,” he says.
THE PERFECT SYMBOL: For inspiration, Milburn goes to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis. (starting point for the ultralight-guided migration flights to Florida), where he observes the cranes in their natural habitat. “When I’m there, it is like I’m in a candy store,” he says. “They live in a big pen and, yes, the male bird helps parent the baby birds. That is also the reason why I put two together on one rock. They raise their young as a team. I thought, that is the perfect symbol.” He has donated several of his sculptures to the preserve where they stand in front of the library.
HEAVIER METAL: Last winter, Milburn switched and started doing the cranes in heavier-gauge brass as well as copper. Both are made to withstand the outdoors.
FEATHERED TIN: Somehow the Sandusky, Ohio-native imbues an airiness, a flight-readiness to each metal bird. Working out of his family room, he takes a piece of brass or copper, and draws a body and the wings on it free-hand, then cuts them out with tinsnips. It takes about 10 hours to create each bird, 20 hours for the mated pairs. With the latter, he uses silver solder to join them together, then grinds the solder down. Then he drills to fasten them into the limestone base.
PRICES: Milburn’s work starts at $300 for the smaller pieces. The single copper crane is $400; double, $650. The single brass crane, $500, the double $1,000. Call for prices on custom work.
FOR MORE INFO: 847-769-2490 or visit www.coppercrane.net.
MEET HIM: Milburn will be showing at the Cantigny Fine Art Festival from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and June 18 at Cantigny Park, 1 S. 151 Winfield Rd., Wheaton, and at the Lincolnshire Art Festival, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 8 and 9 at the Village Green at Olde Half Day Road and Milwaukee Avenue, Lincolnshire. For more info on the shows, call 847-444-9600 or visit www.amdurproductions.com.
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mdaniels@tribune.com
