The concept for this piece was conceived in Finland last year during Allison Rietta’s art residency at Arteles Creative Center. Named ‘Blessing the Branches’ because each day in Finland when she walked in the snow-covered forests, and stood watching the birds for a very long time, imaging that as they danced from branch to branch in the trees—it was as if they were blessing each branch. The musicality of the birds themselves, mixed with the silent acoustics of the snow, and being totally alone in the forest was an extremely magical experience that really inspired this piece.