We all live in a worlds of spirits: those of our remembered family and friends; those of important people, places, events, gods, animals; and the spirit that resides within us. Every culture has its own unique spiritual worlds. I have always enjoyed learning about the spirits that inhabit the minds and influence different peoples’ lives. The images below are but a few examples that remind me of the diverse world of spirits.
The Dogon occupy the Bandiagara Escarpment of Mali, an important World Heritage Site. The Dogon were preceeded by people who left many wood carvings. Representing spiritual forces,Tellem carvings (figure 1) continue to be made (now often for tourists) by the current residents. Among the many objects that were found in the caves in the cliffs are hard wooden carvings with raised arms, presumably in prayer for rain.
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Lillian Pitt, an American Indian artist who lives at the Warm Springs Reservation, captures the spirit of her people in many media. This example, “Shadow Spirit: Awakening to Awareness,” is of fired clay with glass and steel, copper, and abalone shell pieces in the hair. (Figure 2.) (Lillian Pitt says that she cares about the hair because she was once an hairdresser.) The spirit is held in place by a metal frame, anchored in a natural stone base. Many of Pitt’s spiritual works are found in museums throughout the country.
The third spiritual representation is of a man praying to the Virgin Mary to rid his maize crop of grasshoppers. (Figures 3 and 4.) It is an alebrije (carved and painted, segmented, wooden figures) from Oaxaca, Mexico, made by Jose Juan Santiago Luna, the grandson of one of the earliest and best known alebrije sculptors from La Union, Mexico.
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In Mexico, the Catholic religion is dominant; and figures representing aspects of biblical stories are common as are images of saints and angels. I particularly liked this representation of Saint Michael standing on the vanquished body of the Devil. His shield and sword in hand and the halo around his head denoting his saintliness. (Figure 5.) This representation is made from tin (lata), originally from tin cans. Alphonso Santiago Leyva is the best of the several tin scuptors of Oaxaca.
At the Day of the Dead, many Mexicans picture the spirit of their dead in sugar creations. In preparation for my eventual demise, a Mexican friend had this sugar skull of me created. (Figure 6.)
John Hagen is an Alaskan native artist and fisherman who has created many large wooden carvings, totem poles that incorporate glass from earlier poles, as well as silk screen prints. Figure 7 represents the spirit of Eagle. He lives and works at Alaska Indian Arts in Haines.
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In 1978 I obtained the painting of an animal sprit of the forests of the Andes (Figure 8) in the Otavalo Market of Ecuador. Painted by Criolla, (I don’t remember his first name.) an art student from Quito. I was reminded of the green of the countryside and the birds and other animals that give life to the area. Otavalo, located just north of the equator, is the largest outdoor market in Ecuador. Its traders travel the world to sell native Andean goods. Local, contemporay artists sell their works there as well.
Figure 9 was created by Manuel Izquierdo, an immigrant artist from Franco’s Spain. He taught art at the Portland Art Museum School for many years as well as sculpting in wood, bronze and doing exquisite etchings. Several of his large bronze, abstract sculptures grace parks in Portland. This unusual assembled wooden piece,made in the 1980s, is entitled “The Oracle.” It dominates the spirit world that I go to for inspiration.
I think of Uncle Sam as the long-time sprit of the United States, white and male and thus now politically incorrect. This little figure (Figure 10) is a folk art creation from Wolf Creek, Beamon, Iowa. It is now turned out in multiple copies for tourists.