TITLE: Embrace 2023 SENTIMENT: Happy anticipation of new beginnings GIFT-GIVING SUGGESTIONS: Proclaiming lovely events of the year! This figure holds a red heart engraved with 2023 to mark celebrations of love, such as Valentine's, weddings, births, graduations… milestones to remember with happiness. Willow Tree is a reminder of someone we want to keep close, or a memory we want to touch. Simplicity of form and the absence of facial features signify Willow Tree. Hand-carved figures reveal their expression through body gestures only... a tilt of the head, placement of the hands, a turn of the body. Since 1999, American artist Susan Lordi has worked in partnership with DEMDACO to produce, market and distribute Willow Tree, her line of carved figurative sculpture. From her studio in Kansas City, Lordi hand carves the original of each figure. This piece is cast from Lordi's original and painted by hand. Each piece is intended to be open to interpretation from the viewer. "Willow Tree isn't so much about the tangible piece. It represents an emotion or it marks a memory." –Susan Lordi