This sculpture by Bradford Rhea is titled, Seraphim. It was commissioned by the City of Sterling, and carved from a great big cottonwood tree. Bradford is especially grateful for the community of Sterling for preserving so many of his sculptures—many of them wouldn’t be around today, had Sterling not preserved them. It was inspired from a verse from the Bible, which, when explored further, tells about four living creatures covered with eyes front and back—a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle in flight. Each has six wings and eyes all over. When Bradford was sculpting this back in 1993, he encountered a couple of unusual things: you will notice the eyes of the lion are hollow. When Bradford was carving the lions head there was no wood behind the eyes--there was just a big cavern right there, so the two dark eyes are for that reason, which Bradford felt fit the piece. He recalls using a small chain saw rather than his large one, because it was all done indoors in his studio, and he wanted to limit the fumes during the project. The eagle and wings presented the greatest challenge of the piece, as it demanded he carve against the grain of the wood. We hope you like it!