Now that the early hours of these summer days have ceded space to fall, each new day breaks clear and cold upon a glowing Earth beneath a dawn-lit sky. The heavens are lit with peach and coral and rose; the earth shimmers with gold as bright as the new-turned leaves in the willows.
These are the waning days of this ceremonial season, and our small world here seems ready to usher honor the sacred with a smooth and early transition to autumn.
Today’s featured work embodies dawn-lit skies and glowing earth, sacred ceremony and change of seasons simultaneously. From its description in the Other Artists: Sculpture gallery here on the site:
Master carver Ned Archuleta (Taos Pueblo) works in classic Pueblo fashion — with the stone, not against it. The result is an iconic form of a Pueblo elder, wrapped in the traditional blanket and wearing an eagle feather. Pink alabaster mounted on cedar base. Sculpture stands 13-1/4 inches high including base (carving 11-3/4″ high; base, 1-1/2″ high); carving 5 inches across at widest point by 1-5/8″ deep; base 5-7/8 inches cross by 3.5 inches deep. All dimensions approximate.
Pink alabaster on cedar base
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Weight requires special handling; extra shipping charges apply
Ned’s elder sculptures have always seemed to capture the world in which we live: wholly traditional, made of regional stone and mounted on local wood, and manifest in the colors of earth and sky. The pale pink shades are in no way diminishing of such works’ immanent power; rather, it feels as though they are robed in the very light of dawn. And this one, particularly, is possessed of a clear sense of motion: part of the dance to the drumbeat of the earth’s heart, perhaps leaning forward just a bit closer to hear its whispered words.
The time for dancing remains a month off yet; here, these waning days of August are still a season of the sacred. But the earth is preparing herself already; it seems that, like us, she anticipates a hard and early winter, too. But before the snow flies, we will be granted several weeks yet of warm autumn days — days that break upon a glowing earth beneath a dawn-lit sky.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
