Friday, December 31, 2010

Winter Dancers


Group of Winter Dancers – Qagyuhl, Edward S. Curtis, c1914

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Hawk Made a Light By Striking the Flints Together, and Set Fire to the Ball


Hawk made a light by striking the flints together, and set fire to the ball, Charles Livingston Bull, c. 1918

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A House for North Wind


Away up on the top of a mountain, he made a house for North Wind, Charles Livingston Bull, c. 1918



"Then Raven made North Wind also. He wouldn't tell how he did that, either. But away up on the top of a mountain, he made a house for North Wind.
It had ice all over the roof, and icicles hanging down from the eaves. There was snow everywhere.

Then Raven went into North Wind's house and said, 'Your house is all white.' And that is why high mountains are white with snow, even to this day."

From Raven and the Winds in Old Crow and His Friends - Animal Adventures Based Upon Indian Myths Katharine B. Judson, 1918

Monday, December 20, 2010

Three Little Indians


Three Little Indians (Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada), Charles W. Cushman, Sep. 1938

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Two Little Indians


Two Little Indians (Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada), Charles W. Cushman, Sep. 1938

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Monday, December 13, 2010

Scarlet Ibis


Scarlett Ibis, R. Havell, 1837, after John James Audubon

Sunday, December 12, 2010

American Flamingo


The Birds of America: American Flamingo, John James Audubon, 1838

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Family Grave


A Family Grave Scaffold, Richard Throssel, Crow Agency, Montana, 1905

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Burial Platform


A Burial Platform – Apsaroke (The grave of Hairy Wolfs wife), Edward S. Curtis, 1908

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Saturday, December 4, 2010

For a Winter Campaign


For a Winter Campaign - Apsaroke, Edward S. Curtis, 1908 (man on left identified as Hunts to Die)

Friday, December 3, 2010

I Like America and America Likes Me V


I Like America and America Likes Me, Josep Beuys, 1974. Photograph by Caroline Tisdall

I Like America and America Likes Me – American Beuys

American Beuys: I Like America & America Likes Me
Essay from 1990 by David Levi Strauss from his book between dog & wolf, Essays on Art and Politics



.../
Upon arrival in the room with the coyote, Beuys began an orchestrated sequence of actions to be repeated over and over in the next three days.
A triangle is struck three times to begin the sequence. This triangle that Beuys wears pendant around his neck is the alchemical sign for fire (dry,
fiery, choleric warmth), which ancient glacial Eurasian shamans sorely needed. It is also a sign for the feminine element (earthy & mercurial)
and for the creative intellect, and it is the Pythagorean symbol for wisdom. Striking its three sides three times, Beuys calls himself, Coyote, and
the Audience to order.

After the triangle is struck, a recording of loud turbine engine noise is played outside the enclosure, signifying "indetermined energy" and calling
up a chaotic vitality. At this point, Beuys pulls on his gloves, reminiscent of the traditional bear-claw gloves worn by "master of animals" shamans
such as those depicted on the walls of Trois Freres, and gets into his fur pelt/felt, wrapping it around himself so that he disappears into it with the
flashlight. He then extends the crook of his staff out from the opening at the top of the felt wrap, as an energy conductor and receptor, antenna or
lightning rod.

Beuys bends at the waist and follows the movements of the coyote around the room, keeping the receptor/staff pointed in the coyote's direction
at all times.

When the beam of the flashlight is glimpsed from beneath the felt, we recognize the figure of the Hermit from the Tarot – an old man with a staff,
holding a lighted lamp half-hidden by the great mantle which envelopes him.
/...


Full text here.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I Like America and America Likes Me IV


I Like America and America Likes Me, Joseph Beuys, 1974. Photograph by Caroline Tisdall.

I Like America and America Likes Me III


I Like America and America Likes Me, Joseph Beuys, 1974. Photograph by Caroline Tisdall.

I Like America and America Likes Me II


I Like America and America Likes Me, Joseph Beuys, 1974. Photograph by Caroline Tisdall.

I Like America and America Likes Me






I Like America and America Likes Me, Joseph Beuys, 1974 (felt blanket, flashlight, shepherd's staff, copies of the Wall Street Journal - delivered daily, live coyote)
Photographs by Caroline Tisdall.