“Bird Woman Study” by Richard Vernon Greeves is a contemplative sculptural homage to Sacajawea—known by many as Bird Woman—rendered in a distilled, almost spiritual form. Unlike more literal depictions, this study offers a quiet meditation on the figure behind the myth: a woman of vision, burden, and resilience, long before the legends caught up to her.

The simplified profile, downward gaze, and flowing lines evoke a sense of inward reflection—less concerned with physical likeness and more focused on symbolic truth. There is no grandeur in this piece, no posturing. Just gravity, grace, and presence.

As a study, it is intentionally incomplete—but in its incompleteness, it captures something many finished works don’t: the becoming. The transformation of a young Shoshone woman into a historical compass for a country still trying to find its way.