Hello everyone who stops by!
I've been wondering what project to blog about and since I have so much time invested, I am going to start blogging about the project that I’ve
been working on for over 10 years.
So, where should I start? Should I tell you what I was doing recently that helped me dicide or should I start at the beginning of the project?
Well, since some things are fresh on my mind, I will start on some more recent drawings and work
my way back. Hopefully I can remember enough to fill in the blanks, after all
it really has been over 10 years since I started and even longer for the
writer!
I just finished researching for one of the final drawings
for the final book. Really, it probably
won’t be the final book, but it is for this part of the project, and that means
I will be finished illustrating the original set of books. In the years since
we began this project, I know the writer has come up with more ideas for books,
and guess what, so have I!
Before the research, I e-mailed somebody who hopefully can
help me set up a show for all of these illustrations. Also wrote to
another friend who might have a venue to ask if they would do art
shows. And the first e-mail was to Linda, the lady who wrote the books I am
illustrating. I had a couple illustration prelims for her to review and a lot
of questions for her today.
Before the e-mails, I had spent hours going through the
collection of illustrations I have done for these books.
That got started from
deciding to sit down and work on one of the drawings. There are only a handful
left, but they seem to have evoked my ‘block’ and even though I thought I had
some good ideas, nothing was appearing on the paper.
So, as I went through the books, I put them all in the order
they appear and as I did, I thought about a bunch of possibilities for the remaining drawings,
and I finally settled on a format, hence the research.
As a guideline as far as my blog is concerned, I have
decided I will write something every day, telling you a little about the artwork
I will be sharing here.
So let it begin...
This first one is Titled “Nin Nechis…”
The Title is Potawatomi, and I am not sure if it is how my
Dad would title it is he were here, but its as close as I can get to describing
the drawing. To you that know better, you can correct me if you wish. I plan on titling all of my pieces in my own language. Nin in Potawatomi means ‘me’ and Nechis is ‘fingers’ the next word should describe
what my fingers are doing, ‘weaving’.
Me Fingerweaving. Circa 1992
I
forget exactly, but I know it was down in Indianapolis at a Library there. I had just
finished up an Artist in Residence at the Eiteljorg Museum and was invited to
do a couple more programs while I was down that way. So I took a belt I started
working on at the Eiteljorg and showed the audience some fingerweaving. I still
have the belt, it is still unfinished, and I still have the vest, which I also
made. This illustration is for Midwest Institute Native American Studies,
Potawatomi Crafts/ Potawatomi Today.
This was completed in 2012.
All of these drawings are 8x8 graphite's
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