Of Two Minds

Blown and sand carved glass
21" x 8.5" x 10"

"And there was a time when food meant food,” he noted pointedly, for sometimes Raven was of two minds and it was good to remind himself of things. “I’ll bet you’re hungry!”


​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Rising Tides (Top View)

Blown and sand carved glass
8" x 11" x 17"

“Ga! What have we here?” Raven wondered as he waded toward the shore. But before he reached the beachhead, the water around his ankles sucked at him with great force and pulled him back into the bay as the tide suddenly and miraculously withdrew.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Beach Food

Blown and sand carved glass
25" x 12" x 7.25"

“It’s like a bottomless all-you-can-eat buffet!” Raven said and bent over to grab an urchin, when suddenly the tide was upon him--headed in instead of out--tumbling Raven once again.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Keeper of the Tide

Blown and sand carved glass
29.5" x 8" x 8"

He looked for the cause of this chaos, for every effect has a cause, except for the very First Effect, which, of course, still had a cause, though one of a divine and therefore inexplicable nature. He looked around until he saw an old woman pushing the tide in and out randomly and with no regard for the schedule.
“Look here, Old Woman,” called Raven. “Are you the keeper of the tide?”
“I am, truly,” the Old Woman muttered, though she seemed distracted.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Opening the Door of the Ocean

Blown and sand carved glass
12.75" x 24.5" x 24.5"

He went to the beach and lifted the edge of the water and went underneath, down to Killer Whale Town to see if there was some mischief he could scare up.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Salmon Couture

Blown and sand carved glass
8.25" x 22" x 8"

“I am baffled entirely,” said Raven, thinking once again of a world filled with bananas. “You are like a band of Dadaist painters in Berlin! Those are not bonnets you wear on your heads but dead fish, and Easter parades are meant to take place on the Easter holiday, which this is not.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Sunday Bonnets

Blown and sand carved glass
8" x 8" x 14"

He heard that call and he swooped down toward the watery cornucopia, when he noticed a pod of Killer Whales making a parade of some sort. Raven flew closer to investigate.

“What is it you are about, you Killer Whales, parading in the ocean with dead fish on your heads?” Raven asked.
“These are our bonnets,” replied Mother Killer Whale. “We are having an Easter parade,” said she.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Killer Whale City

Blown and sand carved glass
16.25" x 13.5" x 4"

The Killer Whales gathered in the tent cheered and blew air from their spout holes.
“They want to buy the ocean from us,” the Killer Whale Chief continued. “But how can you sell the ocean or the sky? How to do you sell the land? If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can humans buy and sell these things?”

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Helper Whales

Blown and sand carved glass
13" x 23.5" x 5"

“We are going to sink their sailboats as a form of low-violence protest!” said Killer Whale Chief.
“Interesting tactic,” said Raven. “I suppose you’re going after sailboats because they are soft targets and relatively easy to sink?”
“Not at all.”

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Shark Tooth

Blown and sand carved glass
27.5" x 11" x 10"

It was later along his journey under the ocean that Raven ran into the Sharks, who seemed quite friendly despite their reputation as terrorists of the sea.

The sharks turned their lazy black eyes toward Raven, but they did not stop what they were doing, which was dragging their long pointy teeth along the rocks near the shore, causing a great deal of sparks!

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

GMO Salmon

Blown and sand carved glass
13" x 23.25" x 5"

Raven continued along until he saw a cozy cohort of fishing boats gathered around a floating ring of some kind.

“Sir, Raven,” the man said. “We’ve been awaiting your arrival. Welcome to this vessel. I am the captain, though since you outrank me, while on this boat, it is under your command!”
“Thank you, good sir!” Raven cawed, a little startled by the formality. “And may I enquire as to the nature of this operation you are operating?”
“Of course, sir,” said Captain. “We are operating an operation that grows and then releases into the food chain farmed, genetically modified salmon.”

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Salmon

Blown and sand carved glass
12" x 24" x 3"

“Will you take payment in fish?” Captain asked. “If so, I will gladly pay!”
“And what are you paying for?” Raven demanded.
“Your complicity,” Captain said. “Which, by necessity, includes your soul.”
Raven considered that part carefully.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

King Raven Brand TM

Blown and sand carved glass
7.5" x 7.5" x 7.5"

“Very clever,” said Raven. “Nearly devious. And what do you call these Salmon?”
“We call them King Raven Brand Enhanced Salmon-Flavored Food Product TM!” Captain exclaimed. He showed Raven a box with the logo on the side—Raven, wearing a crown, with a small pink salmon in his talons.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Ways of Knowing

Blown and sand carved glass
21" x 22" x 8"

Now finding the solution to a problem isn’t nearly as difficult as finding the problem itself, Raven thought as he flew through the forest looking for solutions. Further, finding the problem isn’t nearly as difficult as realizing that there is a problem to begin with, for we all are steeped in our own ignorance, and we like our ignorance like we like our Ravens: strong, dark and bitter.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Higher Peaks

Blown and sand carved glass
21.5" x 12" x 13"

Raven that afternoon, as he alit upon a mountain top, the moon so close he could touch it. In the dawn-dusk he felt the prickle of the stars on his feathers and he stretch-yawned and cracked his neck.
“I do love this world, though,” he said to himself.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Mountain Goats Realm

Blown and sand carved glass, gold gilt
18" x 13.5" x 13"

“I do love this world, though,” he said to himself.
And he heard a reply which wasn’t him. The reply said: “It is a fine world.”
Raven saw Mountain Goat then, Zen-like and regal with his beard so long, sitting atop the mountain.
“But it is a world full of chaos,” said Raven.
“Chaos is as chaos does,” said Mountain Goat.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

King of All Frogdom

Blown and sand carved glass
12" x 14" x 14"

There is a bay, far north of here. It is a long bay, like a crooked finger, and so narrow that it takes a day to paddle the length of it. It is here where the mountains cut into the earth like a clever, and the bay slices deep into the crust where it is very cold and dark beneath the water. And in this cold darkness lives he King of the Frogs—
“Excuse me,” Raven interrupted. “King of the Frogs? There are so many kinds of frogs. He’s the king of all of them? There’s one king for all Frogdom?”
“Yes,” Mountain Goat said, “One king for all Frogdom.”


​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Thunderbeing

Blown and sand carved glass
25" x 27" x 7"

Mountain Goat pointed over Raven’s shoulder to a resplendent golden bird hovering in the sky over the mountain. With each stroke of the great bird’s wings, the sky cracked with a deafening explosion.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.

Loony Bird

Blown and sand carved glass
12.25" x 17.5" x 7.5"

As he gazed into the water, he heard the spooky laugh of a loon as it sailed by. “I am no danger to you, Loon,” said Raven, because he knew the loon giggle betrayed loon nerves. Upon hearing this, Loon changed its call to a cheerful yodel and sailed up to Raven.

​Excerpt from "The Banana Republic of Raven​: New Takes on Old Stories​" by Garth Stein.