more about BISON (and the parallels)
This art process. It's an unraveling. Little by little more is being revealed to me.
At the end of September, I experienced a deeper level of inner turmoil. When this happens to me, I ask for direction. The direction that came was "buffalo" (although BISON is the proper term).
And so, I know (from a lot of previous experience) that my job was not to try to figure out why but to follow the bison.
And so I did.
With one of my predominantly favorite subjects being the cow and having painted a good share of horses, from afar, I may look like I am a contemporary western artist. But I have never considered myself one. And bison...I cannot recall being spiritually moved by their presence.
So, this bison thing felt like a stretch and a real mystery.
And then, I began to do a little research. I honestly knew nothing about these giant, iconic creatures.
Bison are herbivores. They are survivors of extreme conditions: very hot, dry summers and very long, cold winters. Bison are anatomically built so they are able to plow through the heavy snow to find their nutrients. A bison's primary predator is the wolf. The only time a wolf has any success in maiming or killing a bison is from behind. Because of this, bison can have stand offs with wolves for days at a time.
I cannot help but notice parallels with what has been brought to a head in our country lately.
Those survivors of extreme conditions. Those forced to have stare downs with "authority" for the length of their lives (can you imagine the effect this has on one's physical, emotional and spiritual immune system?), unable to turn their backs because it's been proven to NOT BE SAFE.
And when Laura Brown commented on my personal instagram post at the end of September and said, "Back to the beginning. The VERY beginning." ...
It has always been hard for me to stomach the fact that this country was initially built on manipulating, victimizing and taking what was not ours (just to put it simply) from already high functioning (in my humble opinion) communities, traditions, rituals and systems. And yes, the bison, literally show up here. These people (part of OUR history) committed nonsense killing of the bison (to the point of extinction) in order to create the extinction of "our country's" original inhabitants.
Why do we, the youngest of countries, assume the adolescent mentality of ego and entitlement over and over again, century after century? Will there EVER be a time when we surrender and say, "We (obviously had it wrong and WE ARE SORRY. Teach us. We are willing to learn from YOUR wisdom." ???
At the end of September, I experienced a deeper level of inner turmoil. When this happens to me, I ask for direction. The direction that came was "buffalo" (although BISON is the proper term).
And so, I know (from a lot of previous experience) that my job was not to try to figure out why but to follow the bison.
And so I did.
With one of my predominantly favorite subjects being the cow and having painted a good share of horses, from afar, I may look like I am a contemporary western artist. But I have never considered myself one. And bison...I cannot recall being spiritually moved by their presence.
So, this bison thing felt like a stretch and a real mystery.
And then, I began to do a little research. I honestly knew nothing about these giant, iconic creatures.
Bison are herbivores. They are survivors of extreme conditions: very hot, dry summers and very long, cold winters. Bison are anatomically built so they are able to plow through the heavy snow to find their nutrients. A bison's primary predator is the wolf. The only time a wolf has any success in maiming or killing a bison is from behind. Because of this, bison can have stand offs with wolves for days at a time.
I cannot help but notice parallels with what has been brought to a head in our country lately.
Those survivors of extreme conditions. Those forced to have stare downs with "authority" for the length of their lives (can you imagine the effect this has on one's physical, emotional and spiritual immune system?), unable to turn their backs because it's been proven to NOT BE SAFE.
And when Laura Brown commented on my personal instagram post at the end of September and said, "Back to the beginning. The VERY beginning." ...
It has always been hard for me to stomach the fact that this country was initially built on manipulating, victimizing and taking what was not ours (just to put it simply) from already high functioning (in my humble opinion) communities, traditions, rituals and systems. And yes, the bison, literally show up here. These people (part of OUR history) committed nonsense killing of the bison (to the point of extinction) in order to create the extinction of "our country's" original inhabitants.
Why do we, the youngest of countries, assume the adolescent mentality of ego and entitlement over and over again, century after century? Will there EVER be a time when we surrender and say, "We (obviously had it wrong and WE ARE SORRY. Teach us. We are willing to learn from YOUR wisdom." ???
Comments
Post a Comment