A wonderful collection of contemporary Native California Indian art: Jeremy Peconom (Mt. Maidu), Meyo Marrufo (Eastern Pomo), Kai LaPena (Wintu), and Jaime Lanouette (Nisenan).
Birds of a Feather in the Gallery
All the colors and textures of nature:
brain tanned deer hide with elk antler for the Maidu Digging Pick;
colors of earth paint - chalk-hill white; red clay; moss green.
Dogbane cordage holds things together.
Everything was a living creature – wood or animal – biodegradable:
feathers and scalp of goose for a Head Man Hat of serviceberry.
Generational connection with earth is on show
here, a high level of artistry
in the scrimshaw (scratch-art) decorating an Elk Antler Acorn Spoon.
Juniper wood and river rock for the Stone Hammer, with mule deer rawhide.
Keep in mind, roadkill is fair game: give the creatures second-life,
let them dance as traditional regalia, let them join the hunt: witness this
Mountain Lion Quiver soft as chamois leather.
Nothing goes to waste. Every part of an animal becomes useful art:
Otter Hide Winter Hat,
Post-contact Money Knife of elk antler, brain tanned hide, abalone inlay;
quail feather on a hat of otter and ermine pelts; Maidu
Rod Armor of grizzly brain tanned hide and serviceberry. All
sewed with sinew, the tie that binds these
traditional arts and methods. Make
use of everything at hand, handed down from aboriginal
village sites not so very far from here; baskets
woven of willow and dogbane; designs of deer hoof, lightning’s ziggy
Xs on deep blue sky (where did that blue come from?);
yellow of meadowlark; art that evolved millennia ago from
zero, honoring its tradition in the present as it moves toward our future.
~ Taylor Graham
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