Carved Wood Mid-Century Sculpture Titled “Miss Num” by Diane Derrick

Diane Derrick is renowned for her allegorical sculptures of women and her many years of activism in the gay and lesbian rights movement. She began sculpting from wood in the 1960s. While changing art studios, Derrick moved her work into a storage facility temporarily. Several days later, the storage facility burned to the ground. All that remained of her life's work were those items that had already been sold to collectors. A digitized and altered image of Apple Mary, based on a slide, appears in Derrick’s book, From Flitch to Ash: A Musing on Trees and Carving (published by Alice Street Editions, 2001), a reminiscence on her carving experiences and the devastation caused by losing her life’s work in the fire.