Kabeshinàn Minitig Pavilion on Victoria Island
(November 2017)
A beautiful character building to display some art and crafts right in the heart of Ottawa, Ontario.
Tag: Mohawk
Print-ready ad for magazine for a client www.reikiassociates.com
Currently doing a little of everything as usual. Above is a print ad for a magazine for a client. Keeping to her new branding style I created this card both vertically and horizontally.
I will also be having my very own craft table at this conference (I confess to know little about Reiki itself) but it’s a great opportunity to show some of my work and hopefully get a few sales. My plan was to bring some prints…perhaps some Nez Perce Style necklaces…porcupine quill work…and a few Rustic Benches pieces we do (cutting boards and candle holders).
Various Bone & Bead Wristbands
Mixed Hardwood Cutting Boards
Porcupine Quill Earrings
Small Nez Perce Style Necklace
Bird & Wampum Prints
Some years back I drew this picture on a light yellow paper in black ink. Then before I thought carefully, I framed it at a good expense. Photographing it or scanning it before I did this would have been smart. But hindsight is 20/20!
It was part of a whole series of similar drawings using black and white, blank space, negative and positive space, real objects, natural objects, celestial objects, and imagined objects or beings. Most involved images interpreted from my own Mohawk background; clans, traditional clothing, myths, beliefs, common symbols and my love of the power & strength to be found in my people and the natural world (Mother Earth, animals, the sky, water, fire, etc).
By re drawing in Inkscape (a vector drawing program similar to Illustrator) I was able to play with the images. The new format allowed me to make reasonably priced copies, have the ability to re-size without losing any detail, and to add color if I chose. One would think that drawing on the computer would be a lot faster. It turns out to be somewhat more tedious and at times time consuming -a flowing whimsical thin line that grows gradually to become a thicker line made by using vectors becomes 10 times as long to sort out, were I to just grab a pencil and utilize my years of training, practice and intuition, it would be accomplished in 20 seconds!
Good Spirits
The ‘Good Spirits’, often misinterpreted as ‘bad spirits’ because of their obvious expressions and devilish horns, was an image I found years ago in an old sepia photo. The ‘spirits’ were painted directly on the outside of a tipi and the intention was for these ‘beings’ to ward off or protect it’s inhabitants from actual ‘bad spirits’, enemies, and I’m sure anything with bad intentions (!)
Assiniboin: the painted medicine tipi of a man named ‘Nosey’ is made of canvas. The heavy cotton was supplied to reservations by the Government after the 1880’s, when the buffalo had been killed off and skins could no longer be used. -Fort Belknap Reservation, Montana, July 1906 (“Indians” by Joanna Cohan Scherer, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
The ‘Strawberry Festival’ which takes place when the ‘wild strawberry’ ripens, usually late June, is to thank the Creator for the return of this fruit. The timing coincides with the beginning of all remaining fruit which begins to ripen and can be harvested at this time.
My picture also incorporates a strawberry-design ash basket. This beautiful, labour intensive craft is traditional to the Mohawk people. I’ve never endeavoured to make one myself but appreciate the talent that is required to make these beautiful designs. The weavers use the ash tree, sweetgrass, dyes, various weaving styles and designs to create useful as well as beautiful baskets. Here’s an example of a weaver/artist: http://www.indiancraftshop.com/highlight_of_month/RobinLazore.htm
I created the central figure to be cocooned in leaves (Nature), blue sky/water (Life/Air) encircle, but I also made her/him look fragile, disjointed, broken. A person, depending on their life circumstances and at what instance you encounter them, can be either strong and impenetrable or weak and full of holes. I chose the latter in this instance. The need for the Good Spirits would obviously be more necessary at this vulnerable moment. Being enveloped in Nature, Tradition, other strong symbols of my culture, was to counter that state of being in a positive way. Combining this with the concept of the Strawberry Festival made me think of ‘renewal’/’ripening’/’change’/’giving thanks’….a contrasting but inevitable idea that occurs every year. Mother Earth goes on with her seasons and circle of life, death, ripening and renewal, with or without us.
My Runner Up Announcement in the HUMM
http://www.thehumm.com/online/theprinthumm.cfm?id=201503
theHumm is a free, monthly, independent newspaper covering Arts, Entertainment and Ideas in the small towns and communities of the Ottawa Valley.
I had not realized they were putting the announcement in the Humm this month -I had already been sent an email several weeks ago (and a phone call) regarding the contest and who the winner was, etc. But, I was still slightly taken aback, sitting in front of the fire, coffee in hand, when I spotted my name!
I was impressed with the kind words coming from Ms. Diana Nemiroff, former Director of Carleton University Art Gallery and who was senior curator at the National Gallery of Canada from 1990 to 2005.
An achievement nonetheless. I’ve been invited to showcase some of my jewelry on Friday, June 12th, at the Mera Schoolhouse, during the ‘official’ award ceremony. http://meraschoolhouse.org/
Small Nez Perce Style Necklace – one of my submissions
Assembly of First Nations Mental Wellness Policy Forum, Winnipeg, Manitoba 2015. Artwork: Star Horn
I was commissioned to illustrate a cover for a conference agenda coming up in a couple of weeks. I emailed my printer to get a quote for something and instead he threw me some work. 7 Drawings, including this one, in 5 days or less (!)
I have swollen neck glands, headaches, stiff/sore neck, white spots on tonsils in back of throat…..but it’s WORK!! This is no time for wussies! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I am the official horse…I mean ‘runner up’ for the 2015 MERA Award for Excellence in the Fine Arts and Fine Crafts.
http://meraschoolhouse.org/
“For her part, Star Horn also works and innovates within a tradition. Her visually stunning necklaces, chokers and bracelets show a sensitive understanding of both the techniques of beadwork and a strong feeling for indigenous Plains formal traditions. At the same time, she successfully adapts these forms for the contemporary wearer.” writes Diana Nemiroff.
Ms Nemiroff is the former Director of Carleton University Art Gallery and senior curator at the National Gallery of Canada from 1990 to 2005.
Below are a few examples of my submission for this award. Well, $1000 WOULDA BEEN NICE….but I guess I will settle for this acknowledgement and opportunity to showcase my jewelry in June at the official presentation. 🙂
Ok, so there was a LOST MOUTH GRUARD FIASCO this morning as we readied our son for hockey. Allowing him to sleep with us last night (something which is a ‘treat’ for him and at 9 years of age, we know will disappear soon enough) was nice and comforting, but there was just too much jostling, errant limbs, and not quite enough room to allow a solid night’s sleep. This tiredness leads to a loss of patience and gradual frustration which only made the morning fiasco that much worse. My head is foggy and a nap will be in order shortly. Otherwise my own evening hockey game will be yet another fiasco.
I am teaching myself how to use WordPress in an effort to have more choices to offer clients. The immediate allure of the clean, crisp and simple layouts that WordPress offers is quickly replaced with hours of frustration, forum navigating, and Googling to find coherent answers. It seems I am not alone. I find numerous people, elite computer savvy individuals, asking the very same questions. The responses are often complicated. Much more complicated and confusing than what I thought WordPress was supposed to offer. After some trial and error, crying for help from my partner, and just plain luck, I seem to have gotten the basic hang of how to use a few of the templates.
I’ve decided to utilize this site to display my artwork. I already made a basic html website a year and a half ago but I thought adding another, where the chance of it being seen more was greater, couldn’t hurt.
My other website: http://www.okwari.ca/starhorn/
I’m not much of a writer so I gather it will be a site full of images. My work in various stages. Photos I take. Jewelry I make. And occasional rants.
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