Arctic Stories

After making several piece that included sea birds I kept wandering about the ocean and landed, easily, in Inuit mythology. This is the work contained in the Butler-McCook House & Garden show sponsored by CT Landmarks.

Keep reading for the longer version of how I got to these stories...

Over the last year as I muddled about with my work imagining and drawing birds trapped in oil spills and other at sea disasters the Audubon Society began a campaign to broaden understanding about the impact rapid warming in the arctic is having on species of birds we know and love locally. And I have always been a fan of Inuit art, often including a segment for kids when I teach. So I started reading...about new species being discovered deep in the trenches of the ocean, about Inuit life and the stories that make up their understanding of the world and all other kinds of arctic wonders.

Another reason I have been interested in the Inuit is that they seized upon traditional art-making as a way of life when their hunting and gathering ways were altered by the encroachment of modern life. Years ago I had read the story of Skeleton Woman as told by Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run With Wolves. http://mavenproductions.com/index.php/services/dr-clarissa-pinkola-estes/ and I sought out the book and story again as I tried to embrace and feed my own bones of sadness after the snow storm accident last October 30. Skeleton Woman led to Sedna, the Inuit Goddess of the Sea...and suddenly a series of images was hatched. The Inuit people are spread across the world north of us and their stories of Sedna differ slightly from region to region. I created a panel that depicted an aspect of one of those stories and then a panel of text to accompany it.

then I created panels that depicted the new sea species being discovered. For the small but lovely gallery at the Butler-McCook House & Garden I displayed 4 of these completed panels along with 4 of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Spill drawing. The preceding works are the panels. The stories have similarities and I have romanticized some details and minimized others, so you will see overlap in the texts.