I walked in today to relative silence, one of those surreal moments at the Fest when music could not be heard. So I took a peek at the Contemporary Crafts section. Immediately I was struck by Mark Orr's menagerie of ravens. All of his wood sculptures incorporate the Raven with various objects: hearts and balls and eggs and keys.

Symbolic in nature, his work has a whimsical appeal. Ravens stand guard over his booth, holding keys in their beaks or perching on croquet balls. For the artist, the raven represents the "scavenger" or "gatherer" of found objects from the past. He thinks of them as messengers, and uses symbols to convey these messages. I wouldn't say the symbology is too complicated; according to his handout, a raven perched on a heart is for us to remember what's most important to us, and the raven holding an old watch is a reminder of the passing of time.

The raven has held a role in many cultures. Native Americans thought of the raven as a storyteller, trickster, and the Scandanavians believed that their god Odin sent ravens around the world each day to gather news of the day's events and report back to him. Although the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival includes many cultures, Scandanavian is not among them, so it was fun for me to see this reminder of my Norse ancestors. Orr, being from Pinckney, Michigan, is probably the closest I'm going to get to experiencing my German/Scandanavian culture here at the Fest. And as I consider the ravens -- the Norse named Odin's birds "Thought" and "Memory" -- charged with telling the stories of the day, I can't help but feel a little ravenish myself.