Tribal Connections: The 17 featured people are all part Native American and represent 5 different tribes whose designs, colors and symbols continuously reappear throughout the 24x30 drawing including the center circle which denotes everyone’s interconnectedness. The 4-pointed center star in design and colors symbolizes the 4 directions, the 4 stages in a human’s life, the 4 races and the 4 components constituting one’s personality. The designs within the inner circle reflect Sioux, Blackfeet, Omaha, Ojibwe and Ho-chunk traditions. Properly placed in their respective directions are the tobacco plant in the North, used for smoking the sacred pipe, hiding among its leaves Iktomi the spider who according to some legends brought fire to the people despite its diminutive size, and braided Sweetgrass for smudging in the East. In the South is the sacred red cedar, also used for smoking, and in the West dried leaves of Prairie sage, again used for smoking and medicinal purposes. The southern cedar hosts an aquatic turtle called Red-eared Slider, native to the Atlantic Coast and the South. Turtles are considered guarantors of long life, good health and wisdom and protect particularly newborns and women. The swan is a strong female spirit guide, as are the buffalo and the Grizzly bear. The horse is a male guide and associated with all Plains Tribes as is the eagle whose value as totem animal denoting keen insight, strength and wisdom cannot be overstated. The outer yellow and red rims of the art piece contain words in each of the 5 languages alluding to either the entire image or the recipient. The colors, patterns, placements and types of objects all carry inherent deep meaning and nothing in this picture is unplanned. |
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