Today is ditching day here.
There is an “official” one for the village, a day on which all boys and men are expected to participate in reclaiming the water systems from winter: cleaning, clearing, digging, routing (and those unable to do the physical labor help in other ways). But today is the day here, on Wings’s land, and five men of varying ages are here to help.
This morning has turned out to be perfect for it, bright and clear and sunny, air rapidly warming, only a gentle breeze so far to disturb the air. Even so, there will be no burning today, only clearing and digging, because at this time of year the wind can rise in an instant. Yesterday evening provided a perfect example of that phenomenon, when gathering clouds to the west suddenly coalesced in the embrace of tornadic, rotating winds, bringing a few sprinkles of rain before spinning out eastward between the peaks. Most people here know better than to allow fire to become a tool of the trickster winds; Wings certainly knows it better than most.
This is also the season when the effects of the long winter — and the newly frenetic activity that inevitably accompanies the spring warm-up — become clear. It’s tempting for humans to refer to these effects as “damage,” but in fact, they are simply the natural order of things, the dam and flow of dormancy and revival.
And not all of the current ditching work is done by humans. In this place, beavers are an elemental (and essential) presence in and for the habitat. They are builders, architects of a healthy ecosystem; their constructive capabilities help clear some waterways, reroute others, and provide lodging and shelter not only for themselves but for other members of the larger natural community.
Today’s featured work is the beautifully literal embodiment of this tiny builder, one rendered in remarkably realistic fashion out of fantastically-matrixed pink alabaster. From its description in the Other Artists: Sculpture gallery here on the site:
Master carver Ned Archuleta (Taos Pueblo) has created this miniature “furry” version of Beaver, his coat etched into a chunk of pink alabaster stone with beautiful variable matrices. His broad, flat tail has the cross-hatching carved right into it; two tiny pieces of turquoise form his eyes. Another angle shown below.
Pink alabaster; Sleeping Beauty turquoise
$125 + shipping, handling, and insurance
As the description notes, Ned has always been a master at evoking form from stone: In a few long, broad strokes, he can summon a realistic representation of powerful spirits. But Ned has always been brilliantly talented at the other end of the scale, as well — small, meticulously detailed works that delineate individual lines of fur with precision and produce remarkably life-like cross-hatching on Beaver’s broad flat tail. In this instance, he did so by way of a truly phenomenal small specimen of pink alabaster, one with rich inclusions of dark red matrix. And at the tip of the face, a pair of tiny Sleeping Beauty turquoise cabochons form perfect brilliant eyes.
Beaver is known for his industriousness, for energy and accomplishment on eminently practical levels. Beaver builds, not only for himself, but for clan and community and habitat. At this moment, as the world warms and we enter the busy days of spring labor, his spirit is one to inspire us: to remind us to look for the natural dam and flow of the earth’s currents, and to renew and maintain them in harmony.
~ Aji
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