Stargazer was commissioned as part of a show called HAND / MADE for MICA's Exhibition Development Seminar. Participating artists were asked to respond to the original 19th-century marble sculpture Sleeping Children (pictured below), by artist and former MICA student William Henry Rinehart.
Text from Hand/Made show wall text:
For her Hand/Made commission, Stargazer, Nancy Daly created a large spherical sculpture constructed of many small plastic casts of a porcelain Hummel figurine. Hummel figurines were originally kitschy, mass-reproduced objects designed in the 1930s and based on the sketches of Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel. They became extremely popular in the wake of World War II as countless American soldiers sent them home from Europe. In recent years, selected Hummels have been reproduced in limited editions to specifically commemorate U.S. wars and military actions. The base of the figurine that Daly cast originally read: “Looking for a peaceful world.”
Rhinehart’s Sleeping Children was produced and reproduced like the Hummel figurines, first as a funerary marker and later as a fine art sculpture.