Cactus Gallery LA
"KULTA KÄKÕNEN (Darling Cuckoo)" by artist Ulla Anobile
$ 195.00
Paper mache, wood, acrylics, felt, embroidery floss, 14" x 9 1/2"
Via Ulla: Many Finnish folk songs and poems feature the cuckoo, 'käki'. Käkönen is a form of endearment, and it also happens to be my Finnish surname. It is assumed that such animal-based surnames came from a clan's totemic animal. In surnames, the 'nen' suffix refers to origins, as in 'coming from'. I have many friends whose surnames translate as Foxes, Bears, Wolves, Cranes, Roosters and so on. Particularly in Karelia, animal surnames were abundant.
