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The Stories with the Images, Part 1
So far I have completed four woodcuts in the "Ancient Wisdom" series. Here are the stories associated with two of them.
1. "Journey"
My understanding of the interpretation of Native American rock art is that images with a depiction of a hand reflect the personal experience of the artist. A spiral represents a journey. A spiral going "away" is an outbound trip. A double spiral is a journey away and back. What an ingenious way to represent a long trip in a small space (rock surface or tanned hide)-- coil the miles up. If one were to accept all of this literally, the journey could be a vision quest.
2. "Stone Circle"
This simple woodcut depicts a circle of stones that can be found, often partially buried, throughout the plains of North America. In earlier times, some Native Peoples anchored the sides of their hide or brush shelters with stones that they gathered, undoubtedly with considerable effort. Since then the shelters have disappeared and the people who built them are gone, but the rings of stones remain.
