Thursday, June 15, 2006

Culture Clubs

One was probably enough but Word Tosser really did ask me to do this on behalf of some Sandpointers. So this really is the last one. I promise. This is also the high price spread because of so many moving parts - the jaws of the cannibal birds are articulated, the arrows in the warrior's quiver on the Hopi side are all individually made.

The idea for this set came from our interest in both the Northwest Coast and the Southwest Indian cultures. Both are full of drama and color and I thought the contrasting styles would be great fun.

Okay. The Northwest Coast guys are figures from the Kwakuitl Hamatsa Ceremony. The Kwakuitl reside for the most part on the northeastern side of Vancouver Island. We have Wild Man and Wild Woman of the Woods as King and Queen. The Bishops are versions of Crooked Beak, the Knights Hok Hok and Raven and the Rooks mini long houses. The pawns are coppers, a symbol of wealth. The long houses and coppers are adorned with the artist's crest - a woodchuck for Woodchuckles, the name I use for my work.
The Southwest side features the Hopi Kachinas as represented on Third Mesa. There is the King of the Kachinas and Crow Mother. The King's Bishop is his chief lieutenant, The Queen's is Kokosore. Though he usually tags along with the Chief Kachina, he is played by a boy and therefore I made him Crow Mother's Bishop. See how the mind works here??

The Knights are both female warriors - since the carver is also female. The Rooks mini pueblos and the pawns Nampeyo style pots.

This is what I used to do when I could sit for hours at a time, pain free, and concentrate. This is what I would like to get back to when I can sit for hours at a time, pain free, and concentrate!

In the meantime I sit for short periods and blog! Funny. My husband bought me my own computer so I could build a web site for my work. Instead he created a blogging monster. Maybe, just maybe I can morph back! And then again - maybe not.

Thanks for your indulgence.

3 comments:

Word Tosser said...

Thank you for indulging me... they are so wonderful, amazing, awesome and all the words I can't think of.

MLove said...

Hi,

I finally got a few minutes to scroll through your chess sets. Very nice. You must be endowed with great patience and, of course, talent and creativity.

Thanks for sharing.

Marianne

Tumblewords: said...

This is my fave! Love the design, the symbolism and the southwest colors. Impressive! Articulated cannibal bird jaws, you say? Incredible.