The sculpture consists of five separate sculptures, that make up a family. Grounded in figures from Santa Clara Pueblo oral tradition the sculptures are named:
Father
Mother
Little one
Moon Woman
Mountain Bird
The sculptures were built in-situ over the summer of 2007, Nora Naranjo-Morse worked with her niece Athena Swentzell Steen and her husband Bill Steen who are experts at building structures with natural material, and the family of Don Juan Morales from the Mexican state of Durango, as well as many volunteers including museum staff and visitors.
Materials
The Sculptures are made entirely of natural materials: dirt, sand, straw, clay, stone, black locust wood, bamboo, grass, and yam vines. These natural elements were selected to take on a life of their own and thus affect the sculptures over time. In this way the materials ensure the forms are 'always becoming'.
Dimensions
The five sculptures range in size from seven and a half to sixteen feet tall.
History and Location
On May 24, 2006, the National Museum of the American Indian announced that Naranjo-Morse had won its outdoor sculpture design competition. "Always Becoming" was selected unanimously from more than 55 entries submitted by Native artists from throughout the Western Hemisphere. During the summer of 2007, on the grounds of the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC, Naranjo-Morse built a family of clay sculptures. The commissioned work is located on the 'Native landscape' at the museum's south entrance on Maryland Avenue S.W. near 4th Street and Independence Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C. A public dedication, officially opening these public works of art, took place on September 1, 2007. The sculptures are intended to disintegrate over time, and the lives of sculptures from the initial idea through the continued process of stewardship are being documented by Filmmaker Dax Thomas. As the sculptures disintegrate the films of their life will form a more permanent record of their existence and are therefore an essential part of the artistic process, and the work of art itself.
