Spirit quests
A series that takes a strange path of being considered unauthentic by many.
Spirit quests take many forms: Pilgrimages, tribulations, dancing, meditation, revelation.
These works were inspired at an invitational Pow-wow on Turtle Island in the Saint Lawrence river.
The atmosphere was more of a fall fair and one could purchase crafts in between the dance competitions, even acquire compact disks of the drum players wonderful music. So, by many anthropology standards, these were just tourist offerings. Not to be mistaken as actual spirit quests sanctioned by a religious authority- they were simply a means to aid an economy. Yet, yet regardless of the tag of being called non sacred dances, the dancers danced and some took flight, revealing realms that were mesmerizing and full of revelations if one could but breath deeply of them. The sacred doesn’t wait for a given moment. It happens everywhere and anytime. It can’t be parceled off from ones life, it can be unrecognized, even ignored, but we are part of it
So for me, these dances of movement and colours remain spirit quests. Probably more significantly and appropriately the spirit’s quest to reach us, rather then the dancer’s quest to reach the spirit’s realm.
Art isn’t simply the artist reaching out to another realm, but is a reciprocal process. Like a Mayan two headed spirit serpent, it is reaching out and allowing oneself to be reached. It is a bond, between realms, however ephemeral.
Oil on canvas. Varied sizes. 2008
( Cooliris required - right click full screen)
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