This has been a day of extremes: ungodly hot, giving way in mid-afternoon to a sudden icy cloudburst. It was not any mere momentary storm, either; the torrent lasted a good hour, with softer showers thereafter. Even now, toward the north, thunderheads have coalesced into a bold new blue-black bank across the sky.
This is classic summer here, despite the calendar’s insistence that the season does not arrive until Sunday, and in many ways, it is the best of the season, too. Inconvenient, certainly, but if you’re used to it you’ve already planned your schedule around it. But this is the time of year when we get the vast majority of our rain (snow in winter is another matter entirely), and the contrast between the fiery heat and the icy chill of the storm holds its own stark beauty.
At this time of year — at least when customary patterns hold, as they did today — afternoons are reserved for indoor work as much as possible. In years past, Wings would get a great deal of studio time on summer afternoons; mornings were devoted to the hard labor of outside chores for both of us until either the heat became dangerous and unbearable or the wild weather hit.
But every now and then, we would take time out just to enjoy the gifts of the season, and to show our appreciation for them, too. It’s a dual dynamic embodied in today’s featured work, one of brilliant jewel-toned color and the meticulous attention to the tiniest traditional details that are the hallmark of the artist (and Wings’s “brother,” as our peoples reckon such things), Frank Rain Leaf. It’s a wonderfully traditional image, a beautiful manifestation of culture and place alike, and one that embodies the traits of appreciation, honor, and gratitude: a song for the fire, and for the waters, by a young man in old-style dress, playing his cedar flute in an arbor built by hand. From its description in the Other Artists: Wall Art gallery here on the site:
Frank Rain Leaf (Taos Pueblo) evokes both ancient and modern representation of person and place in this acrylic painting of a traditionally-dressed Pueblo flute player. This is one of Frank’s most iconic and popular images, one he has used as a model for smaller art media such as greeting cards. It’s an image of the warm season, as awash in color as the bed of the Rio Pueblo it depicts. A young man in traditional moccasins, leggings, wrap, and braids sits beneath an old-style arbor, built by hand, blanket off to the side and a fire at his feet, while he plays a Native flute, an accompaniment to the song of the river.
Acrylic on canvas; wood frame
$425 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Fragility requires special handling; extra shipping charges apply
I took this photo years ago, in our old gallery, which is why it seems so out of proportion. It’s actually a perfect rectangle, in a beautifully rich wooden frame, but the place it hung, and the reflection from the door, conspired to warp it photographically. It is in fact one of Frank’s brightest works: scarlet robe; emerald leaves; amber flame; turquoise waters. It was painted from the perspective of a now-elder who grew up entirely immersed in his culture and community, conversant not only with its ways but with all the finer historical details of its past and present.
And it has always seemed to me, this piece, to be the signal illustration of summer in this place. It’s a time of overwhelming heat but also of cooling shade and waters, of all the brilliant jewel tones of the season’s medicines, of the relaxing feel of early morning, before the sun is high, or of evening, when the mercury drops, a fire often still required in either instance. And it reminds me to be grateful: to honor every aspect of this time of year, its gifts so crucial to the land’s survival, and to ours. It’s a time for the flute, for a song for the fire, and for the summer waters, and for gratitude for all the medicines of time and place and spirits.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
