Dame Helen Mirren
(click image to enlarge)
Stacey Gregory

“Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

 from “Ulysses” by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

I had almost finished a painting of a white chicken and that evening, Dame Helen Mirren appeared on Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” wearing a black gown with a high lace collar. At Colbert’s request, she read the last verse of “Ulysses” which made Colbert and me cry. I thought, “This woman deserves a chicken.” I went back to my painting and put a ring of black neck feathers and a white lace collar (I took a screenshot of Helen and replicated the lace) around the chicken’s neck. The poem is about wisdom and will and Dame Helen read the poem with such emotion and presence that I continue to YouTube the piece to give me a lift in spirit. Dame Helen Mirren went on to inspire “KLUCKED!” a series of cultural icons reimagined as ornamental chickens.