Artist inspirations, part 2

"Everlasting Flower Of Fire"

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Boozhoo! I dedicate this blogpost to my little sister Jéssica María Taylor who lives in Louisiana. Jéssica is a very gifted artist and a beautiful person who inspires many. She is abundantly filled with the spirit of life. She is truly one of a kind.

Jéssica speaks many languages: English, Spanish, Hindi, Creole, Cajun French, Haitan. She even speaks a little Anishinaabemowin. Her colorful paintings speak an intense, yet universal language that everybody understands. Some of her canvases are optimistic, full of life, and mystically bright with dazzling colors; others reflect darkness and despair.

But where Jéssica goes, the sun shines.

To me, she is ishkode waawaabigonii: a Flower of Fire.
 
The above is a painting that Jéssica spontaneously made of herself last year after I showed her an image of a jewelry set I designed: a squash blossom necklace and matching earrings. The name of the set is Gaagige Bimaadiziwin-Shkode ('Everlasting Fire Of Life') - See detail below. The design of the pendant is inspired on a sacred Midewiwin chant that roughly translates into:
 
“The flower Of Fire
Will come to my aid”
 
Originally it is part of a sacred love song about a man presenting an ishkodebagonii (cardinal flower) to his love but since I am her brother I gave it a slightly different interpretation for the occasion.


> Read part 3 of the series.

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About me and my sources of inspiration:

My name is Zhaawano Giizhik. I am an American currently living in the Netherlands. As a writer and a non-commercial artist and jewelry designer, I like to draw on the oral and pictorial traditions of my Ojibwe Anishinaabe ancestors from the American Great Lakes area. For this I call on my  'Spirit Memory'; which means I try to remember the knowledge and the lessons of my ancestors. The MAZINAAJIMOWIN or ‘pictorial spirit writings’ - which are rich with symbolism and have been painted throughout history on rocks and etched on other sacred items such as copper and slate, birch bark and animal hide - were a form of spiritual as well as educational communication that gave structure and meaning to the cosmos. Many of these sacred pictographs or petroforms – some of which are many, many  generations old - hide in sacred locations where the manidoog (spirits) reside, particularly in those mystic places near the coastline where the sky, the earth, the water, the underground and the underwater meet.

The jewelry shown on my blog pages serves as teaching devices and is not available for purcchase.

Teaching Stories, part 6

"The Fire Within"

Updated October 28, 2023

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Boozhoo,

Today's blog story features a beautiful painting and poem written by Simone McLeod. The canvas and poem honor a great friendship that promised to last forever but eventually broke under the pressure of intergenerational trauma-related circumstances. 

After she wrote the poem Simone explained it to me as follows:

"This poem is a depiction of when two people are bound by trust, respect, and harmony.""

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THE FIRE INSIDE

Held in the warmth
Of love's embrace
Safe and secure
Looking at your face

Feeling your hand
So gentle and sure
You pull me close
With such allure

Last on my mind
When I seek sleep
First in my heart
Wake from the deep

The fire within
Burns strong and true
When you whisper
"I love you"

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Read part 7 in the Teaching Stories series.

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About the authors/artists:

Simone McLeod (her traditional name is Aki’-egwaniizid, which is an Ojibwe name meaning "Earth Blanket") is a Cree/Anishinaabe painter and poet, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1962. She belongs to he Name doodem (Sturgeon clan) of her mother's people, the Azaadiwi-ziibi Nitam-Anishinaabeg (Poplar River First Nation) of Manitoba. Simone descends from a long line of Midewiwin seers and healers and artists. Her artwork has been appreciated by several art collectors and educational and health care institutions from Canada, as well as by art lovers from all over the world.

Zhaawano Giizhik, an American currently living in the Netherlands, was born in 1959 in North Carolina, USA. Zhaawano has Anishinaabe blood running through his veins; the doodem of his ancestors from Baawiting (Sault Ste. Marie, Upper Michigan) is Waabizheshi, Marten. As a writer and non-commercial artist and  jewelry designer, Zhaawano draws on the oral and pictorial traditions of his ancestors. In doing so he sometimes works together with kindred artists. He has done several art projects with Simone in the past.

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Artist inspirations, part 1

"The Appeal"

- Updated August 31, 2017

Boozhoo, hello!

As a jewelry maker, a graphic designer and a writer of blogs and articles, I sometimes ask myself: where does my inspiration come from? And: which artists inspire me the most? Part one of a new blog series.

The first question is the more difficult one to answer since there is no simply-cut answer. 

So, since the answer would be too complex to fit in the rather simple context of a blog post, I will not dwell on it further here.

As for the second question, who provided the most inspiration, the answer is simple - yet also slightly paradoxical. 

I say without hesitation that it is the late Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) painter Norval Morrisseau, by far the most important Canadian artist that ever lived and whose traditional name was Miskwaabik Animikii (Copper Thunderbird), who has been my main inspirator - long before I even realized I had artistic ambitions. 

The paradoxical element lies in the fact that two entirely different art disciplines are involved: where Norval Morrisseau - and those many other brilliant Native Canadian artists who followed Morrisseau's footsteps in the form of the New Woodland School of Art - used to be painters pur sang, I chose silversmithing as the primary means to express myself.

Stylistically speaking, however, there are other artists who more or less follow the Woodland School discipline but use a more minimalist style than Morrisseau. These artists exert a profound influence on my work - even more than Morrisseau himself. The first painters and graphic artists who come into mind here are, among others, the late Jackson Beardy, the late Carl Ray, the late Benjamin Chee Chee, the late Cecil Youngfox, Stanley Panamick, Samuel Ash, James Binijima Simon, Leland Bebaminojmat Bell, Simone McLeod, and Clemence Wescoupe. Yet it was Norval Morrisseau who re-awakened my spirit memory and opened my eyes because he, by inventing an entirely new language, made visible with the aid of a paintbrush unspeakable things that I felt inside but could not describe before. 

Above all, Norval Morrisseau, who went by the spirit name of COPPER THUNDERBIRD and started to paint in the very year I was born (1959), made me realize that the job of an artist is always to APPEAL TO THE INNER SPIRIT and DEEPEN THE MYSTERY THAT IS ALWAYS THERE UNDER THE SURFACE. 

So, Copper Thunderbird is the reason why I chose the artist's path.

“I wanted to be a Shaman and an artist. I wanted to give the world these images because I felt this could bring back the pride of the Ojibwa, which was once great....My aim is to reassemble the pieces of a once-proud culture, and to show the dignity and bravery of my people.”

- Norval Morrisseau/Copper Thunderbird (1931-2007)

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About the buckle design

This silver-and-turquoise/red coral belt buckle I once created for my long-time friend Frits Terpstra. Even after so many years he still wears it with pride and right below his belly - well, the last time I checked anyway.

The design, with its flowing outlines and explicit narrative character, originates from the deep appreciation I feel for my Anishinaabe heritage - a once hidden treasure that Norval Morrisseau made me aware of in various different ways and levels of consciousness, more than I would ever have thought possible.

The symbolism

The overlay design, in which human and animal realms mystically merge, features black-outlined imagery inspired by the sacred texts of Anishinaabe/Algonquian traditional stories.


The design, which is reminiscent of the graphic tradition of the New Woodland School of Art - particularly the minimalist style of, for instance, Benjamin Chee Chee and Stanley Panamick who used simple, flowing outlines set against a light background -, symbolizes an invocation of the Spirit of MA'IINGAN (Wolf). It is an appeal for guidance and skills and strength to make the right decisions.

Ma'iingan nimayaawishimaa.

(The wolf, I honor him.)

- A petition for the wolf's good medicine 

The buckle depicts the story of MA'IINGAN, an Anishinaabe hunter. He belongs to the wolf doodem, and you can see him with outstretched arms, praying to his bawaagan or personal "guardian spirit" asking him for strength and spiritual guidance; he even becomes one with it.

Guardian spirits

Native spirituality, contrary to the great world religions, has a strictly individual character. An Anishinaabe person will find protection in the course of his life by following the Anishinaabe Mino-Miikana, the Good Native Road, through the sacred songs and medicinal formulas of the Midewiwin or personal objects such as amulets and medicine bundles - and through dreams and seeking visions that evoke special spiritual powers.

These powers, which may be collected in varying degrees, often appear in the form of bawaaganag or dream visitors. 

A bawaagan or baawaagegan - like the wolf in the belt buckle - presents himself as a spiritual helper, who personally provides the dreamer with special blessings enabling him to exercise exceptional powers of various kinds, and bestows upon him (or her) control over some area of human experience that is of assistance in the daily round of life. 

Examples are: the healing of ailments, or predicting the future, or encouraging the young to develop individuality and self-growth, or exercising good leadership, or being a good mother, or keeping family and community amply supplied with food and materials, or making beautiful or powerful works of art; or whatever special social skill is needed to help keeping intact the framework and well being of Anishinaabe society.

Animal totems

An animal doodem (totem), such as that of the wolf, is really a social organization, making all Anishinaabe persons born under its sign one in birth, function, and purpose. A given doodem basically denotes one of the five main needs of the People and one of the five elementary functions of Anishinaabe society. The animals that feature the five principal totems (or clans) are: AJIJAAK the Crane (leadership), WAABIZHESHI the Marten (Food and military strategies), AWAASII the Catfish or AGWADAASHI the Sunfish (Science), and MISHIIKENH the Turtle (Medicine). MAKWA the Bear and MA'IINGAN the Wolf represent the Defense (Warrior) totem.

"Ma'iingan n'doodem, ma'iingan n'doodem

Naniizaanizi, naniizaanizi.

Gaawiin n'ga bimiwaaganezisii

ga geewe."

("The Wolf is my totem, the wolf is my totem

Dangerous is he, dangerous is he.

Without a wound, unmarked

Will I go home.")

- Ancient Anishinaabe war chant*

Creation proces of the belt buckle

This solid buckle, which is 3.3 inches wide by 2.4 inches high, is executed in a combination of two (related) silversmith techniques. These techniques originate from the American Southwest: overlay and the domed shadowbox. A heavy plate of silver is cut out in the oval shape of the buckle, hammered into a dome shape, and then 'worked open' with a jeweler's saw.

This means I cut out the outlines and all the individual interior segments of the designs of hunter, wolf, and paw; including the "shadowbox" frames of the paw, into which, eventually, the settings for holding the turquoise stones will be soldered.

The domed plate I then soldered (overlaid) on top of another silver plate. Thus a hollow space was created. Next, the various parts of hunter and wolf were put (soldered) back in place, like pieces of a puzzle. Then the bezels for holding the stones were made and soldered inside the corresponding 'shadowbox' frames.

Next, sulfur, in a liquid form, was applied to the bottom layer of silver that shows through the cutouts.

This oxidizes (darkens) all recesses and interior 'lines' of the designs. Finally a high polish is put on the raised surfaces. This, in combination with the darkened recesses, creates the illusion of depth, and adds a rather pronounced, almost threedimensional quality to the overall design.

My merging of the above-mentioned metalworking techniques into a wide range of influences of the graphic art of the Canadian Woodland Painting School has resulted in a unique style, which is both quintessentially Native and absolutely modern.

The "Appeal to Brother Wolf" design, with its explicit narrative character, is indeed an artistic statement, testifying to the deep appreciation I feel for my Anishinaabe heritage.

Miigwech, thank you!


> Read part 2 of the series. 

* Source: Basil Johnston, Ojibway Ceremonies, p. 71, Bison Book University of Nebraska Press, Bison Book Printing 1990.

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Jewelry photography by ZhaawanArt. Bawaagan / Spirit Helper - sterling silver, turquoise & red coral storytelling belt buckle, 83 x 61 mm (3.27 x 2.4 inch). The belt buckle is not for dsale.

Artwork: 'Spirit Fish' by Carl Ray (1975).

About me and my sources of inspiration:

My name is Zhaawano Giizhik.  I am an American currently living in the Netherlands. As a writer and a non-commercial artist and jewelry designer, I like to draw on the oral and pictorial traditions of my Ojibwe Anishinaabe ancestors from the American Great Lakes area. For this I call on my manidoo-minjimandamowin, or 'Spirit Memory'; which means I try to remember the knowledge and the lessons of my ancestors. The MAZINAAJIMOWIN or ‘pictorial spirit writings’ - which are rich with  symbolism and have been painted throughout history on rocks and etched on other sacred items such as copper and slate, birch bark and animal hide - were a form of spiritual as well as educational communication that gave structure and meaning to the cosmos. Many of these sacred pictographs or petroforms – some of which are many, many  generations old - hide in sacred locations where the manidoog (spirits) reside, particularly in those mystic places near the coastline where the sky, the earth, the water, the underground and the underwater meet.

Teaching stories, part 5

"Where Is It That You Dwell?"

Updated: November 4, 2019

This morning I heard a song on the radio - a track by Gare Du Nord -  that caused me to think. At some point in the song, the lyrics go as follows: "Breathe in, breathe out...is the quintessence of life, it's what it's all about."

It made me realize that, in a metaphorical way, it is inspiration that is the quintessence of life. After all, doesn't the word inspiration derive from the Latin verb inspirare, "to blow into or upon; to breathe into"?

But where does one find inspiration, or a vision, when it is needed most?

I believe that for an artist, the factor time is unimportant when it comes to design inspiration, or receiving a vision - your vision will appear sooner or later. Finding inspiration - or manidoo, as my Native ancestors used to call it -, is certainly not an easy task; after all it means descending to the depths of one's soul, or perhaps ascending to the supernatural realms of the manidoog and the aadizokaanag, the mysterious spirit helpers that dwell somewhere out there in the Universe. 

Do not think of it, however, as a heavy responsibility or even a burden, but as something intangible and weightless - like the breath you exhale when you rise to greet the cold morning sky.

Or the sight of a snow-soaked forrest gleaming in the morning sun after a freezing rain.

Or the sudden unexpected appearance of diamond dust in a winter sky.

Or perhaps like a nimbaawaagegan (ancestor-spirit), who, if you're lucky, comes wafting across from the other world to visit you in a dream, giving you directions and expanding your inner awareness.

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=An invocation to the spirits=

The lessons of my Native ancestors teach us that if one wishes to acquire a waaseyaabindamowin (life-guiding vision), a manidoo (spirit) or an aadizookaan (spirit-helper) will come and give a person direction - as long as he or she prays in a good way.  

Giizhigoong w'da debweweshin, n'dewewiganim.

Aandi endaayeg?

"My drumming shall resonate in the sky world.

Where is it that you all dwell?"

- Ancient Midewiwin invocation to the spirits of the sky*

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I strongly believe in the law of serendipity, which, in the context of today's topic, mandates that one does not go about looking for inspiration; it will present itself to you. More often than not, the manidoo appears when you least expect it to happen, because there's usually something else, another interest or goal - sometimes as passionate or intensively felt as the thing you're looking for - that will lead you to it.

Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologistst, once said: “Your vision will become clear when you can look into your heart. Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakens.” Inspiration comes from within, this is very true. Yet I also believe that a big part of it is somewhere out there; sometimes the spirits of our ancestors visit us and breathe their wisdom and visions into us. That, I believe, is the true meaning of inspiration. But we never know when or where it will visit us. All we can do is work hard, put our soul into our work, and keep our senses open.

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Read part 6 in the Teaching Stories series.

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Vanochtend hoorde ik een song  op de radio - een track van Gard Du Nord - , met een tekst die me aan het denken zette. Het refrein ging als volgt: 

"Breathe in, breathe out...is the quintessence of life, it's what it's all about".

("Adem in, adem uit... ademen is de kern en de definitie van leven.")

Deze woorden deden me beseffen dat, in figuurlijke zin, de essentie van ons leven wordt gevormd door inspiratie. Immers, is het woord inspiratie niet afgeleid van het Latijnse inspirare dat inademen of inblazen betekent - en is de adem nu juist niet de primaire bron van onze levensenergie?

Maar waar vinden we inspiratie, of een visioen, wanneer we het die hardst nodig hebben?

Ik geloof persoonlijk dat  de factor tijd onbelangrijk is waar het bijvoorbeeld gaat om het vinden van ontwerpinspiratie voor mijn sieraden, trouwringen en grafische kunst e.d., of om het vinden van een visioen. Uit ervaring weet ik dat deze zich vanzelf een keer aandient. 

Ik zie het wachten op inspiratie, of een visioen, dan ook niet als een verantwoordelijkheid die zwaar op me drukt maar eerder als iets gewichtloos, zoals de ijle adem die ik uitblaas wanneer ik naar buiten ga om de koude ochtendlucht te begroeten.

Of als de plotselinge verschijning van poolsneeuw, mysterieus glinsterend in de vroege zonneschijn.

Het is mijn ervaring dat inspiratie en visioenen zich juist openbaren wanneer je er niet op verdacht bent; gewoonlijk is er iets anders, een andere interesse of een ander doel - iets dat je misschien met evenveel passie en intensiteit ervaart als datgene waar je al zo lang naar op zoek bent - dat het creatieve proces plotseling op gang brengt...

Giizhigoong w'da debweweshin, n'dewewiganim.

Aandi eendaayeg?

"Het geluid van mijn drum zal weerklinken in de luchtwereld.

Waar is het dat jullie verblijven?"

- eeuwenoude Midewiwin-lied gericht aan de luchtgeesten



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* Source: Basil Johnston, Ojibway Ceremonies. University of Nebraska Press, First Bison Book Printing 1990, p. 102.

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Jewelry photography: by ZhaawanArt. AANDI ENDAAYEG? (Where Is It That You Dwell?) - 18K yellow gold, 14K white gold, blue titanium, turquoise, rose quartz, red coral, black onyx necklace. From the Manidoog ('Spirits') series. The piece serves as a teaching tool and is not for sale.

About me and my sources of inspiration:

My name is Zhaawano Giizhik.  I am an American currently living in the Netherlands. As a writer and a non-commercial artist and jewelry designer, I like to draw on the oral and pictorial traditions of my Ojibwe Anishinaabe ancestors from the American Great Lakes area. For this I call on my manidoo-minjimandamowin, or 'Spirit Memory'; which means I try to remember the knowledge and the lessons of my ancestors. The MAZINAAJIMOWINAN or ‘pictorial spirit writings’ - which are rich with  symbolism and have been painted throughout history on rocks and etched on other sacred items such as copper and slate, birch bark and animal hide - were a form of spiritual as well as educational communication that gave structure and meaning to the cosmos. Many of these sacred pictographs or petroforms – some of which are many, many  generations old - hide in sacred locations where the manidoog (spirits) reside, particularly in those mystic places near the coastline where the sky, the earth, the water, the underground and the underwater meet.