As part of the ongoing work that I have been doing for CAMP in 2011, these are the first two mixed media pieces that I have ever completed. I’m enjoying this delicate time-consuming process and the expressive use of oil. I feel it is one of the most authentic artistic methods I have been able to use in conveying the spirit of this work.
This style marries the polar opposites; the tangible and spiritual aspects I experience when participating in a pow wow circle. Real vs. Expressive…Linear vs. Whole…Materialistic vs. Spiritual…and the connectivity between worlds.
Every dancer is a prayer to me – real and spirit at the same time. Using two different techniques of visual imagery, I am attempting to communicate to you, the very real experience of dancing a prayer at the pow wow. As ever, I am so grateful to my Blackfoot relations and family for introducing me to this way of being and welcoming us so warmly into the family and community.
If I have done my job as artist, conjuring illusionist and dancer, you will hear the drums and the singers and you will not know where one world ends and the other begins.
Hunya.
The group show “Body of Evidence” opens at Elevation Gallery tomorrow, (November 26, 2011) featuring these new works. I’ll be there from 2-3 pm MST if you can drop by.