Flying Woman by Cheryl Collins is a sculpture shaped by time, transformation, and personal meaning.
Originally developed over nearly two decades, the form evolved through many iterations before reaching its final expression. With the addition of wing elements featuring a double spiral motif, the figure achieves a sense of lift and release, embodying freedom after a long process of refinement.
The sculpture carries a deeply personal story. First conceived as a collaboration between Cheryl Collins and her husband Gary Max Collins, the work stands as a tribute following his passing during the COVID era. What began as a shared creative vision has become a continuation of that connection, expressed through form, movement, and intention.
Collins’ work often draws from themes of nature, growth, and spiritual reflection. Her sculptures are grounded in organic forms that suggest emergence and renewal, inviting viewers to connect with ideas of gratitude, resilience, and transformation. In Flying Woman, these themes come together in a figure that feels both rooted and ascending.
An award-winning artist, Collins has worked extensively in bronze, fused glass, and mixed media. Her work is featured throughout southern Utah, including installations at Dixie Regional Medical Center, the Center for the Arts in Ivins, and the Desert Rose Labyrinth Sculpture Garden in Kayenta. Through her practice, she continues to create pieces that reflect both personal journey and universal experience.
Previous Entries
Morrigan – 2025
$45,000 – 60″ x 14″ x 18″ – wood (tamarisk tree trunk) with steel base, crow & nest
Sponsored by Art Around the Corner Foundation Board Members
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“Morrigan” was created from the trunk of a large invasive tamarisk tree removed from the Desert Rose Labyrinth Sculpture Gardens in Kayenta, & was lightly carved by Cheryl Collins to expose the shape of a crow near the top of one of the branches. Metal artist, Trent Ripplinger created the metal crow, crows nest, steel base and snake to complete the sculpture.
Crows represent the spirit of family & community, protecting the flock, intelligence, healing, & unexpected magic & energy. The sculpture is named Morrigan, after the Celtic Goddess Morrigan who is often portrayed with crows. Morrigan symbolizes ancestral healing, rebirth & sovereignty. Morrigan’s blessing: “May you awaken to a newfound hope that, even in your darkest moments, you have never been alone.”
Walk Lightly – 2024
$48,000.00 – 9′ x 2.5′ – Steel
Walk Lightly is a heron sculpture inspired by Barbara Ward’s quote, “We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do.” The quote is carved into the body of the bronze and steel sculpture. Herons are known for their graceful balance, patience, and self-reliance, and are said to represent harmony and the resolution of conflicts. The process of turning inspiration into sculpture and creating art in collaboration with other artists has been a wonderful journey of shared vision, inner growth and bonding friendships. Displaying art with the intention of sharing the inspiration and beauty with others is icing on the cake.
Bird Woman – 2023
“Bird Woman” was inspired by a pattern of stones in my patio in the shape of a woman’s body, with a bird’s head. She showed herself to me one evening in 2022 when I was sitting on the patio, asking the universe for help and strength as my husband was at death’s door. The stones had been there for 22 years, but had gone unnoticed until the full lunar eclipse that symbolized release and letting go. I took a picture of the stones, traced them, and created a fused glass Bird Woman, which was the first creative project I had done since my husband’s decline a year and a half before. The piece represented strength and support in my time of desperate need. My good friend and talented artist, Trent Ripplinger, caught the essence and importance of Bird Woman, and created her larger-than-life in corten steel. Bird Woman represents our interconnection, inspiration from the universe, and the power of the creative force to heal and support us.
Cheryl Collins and Trent Ripplinger have been good friends and artists working separately and together, co-creating projects for clients for 20 years. Cheryl primarily does fused glass and bronze sculpture, while Trent works with all types of metal. At a young age, Cheryl was intuitively drawn to nature, photography, art, and poetry. She majored in art and worked in a variety of media before she found her love of fused glass and bronze sculpture. Her work in the local community can be seen at the entrance to the St. George Regional Hospital in St. George, at the Desert Rose Labyrinth Sculpture Gardens in Kayenta, and in the monument at Vista Charter School in Ivins, Utah. Cheryl and Trent came together on this inspired project for Art Around the Corner 2024.
Website: CollinsArt.net
Love the Earth – 2022
