Seagulls and Sego Lilies
Charlotte Burgoyne (1926– )
- Medium
United States
ca. 2006
Ceramic vessel
“This is a small, sculpted, glazed porcelain vase, royal blue and colonial white in color. It is meant to depict my pioneer heritage and the stories told to me as I sat at the feet of my great-grandmother Sarah Peters Squires. She wrote in her autobiography: ‘In consequence of the scanty harvest of 1848, breadstuff and other provisions became very scarce in Salt Lake City Valley. Many of the people were compelled to dig sego roots upon which to subsist.’ She told of the seagulls saving the crops from the crickets. To show the faith of our pioneer ancestors is the motivation of my ceramic work.”