No, it has nothing to do with the Tish Hinojosa song of the almost-but-not-quite-identical name. In fact, it predates the song by a good decade, at least.
It’s the name Wings gave to one of his signature series, an homage to some of the female spirits of his tradition and a way of honoring contemporary women.
The spirits in question are the Corn Maidens, and they play an integral role in the traditions of Pueblo peoples. Come with me to learn more about these spirits, and about Wings’s special way of bringing them into being.
The Corn Maidens are female katsinam (kachinas), spirit beings that are a part of the tradition of the various Pueblo peoples. Stories of how the Corn Maidens came to be vary among Pueblo nations, and the ancient versions of those stories very often are not something that is repeated to the wider public. Today, though, there seems to be general agreement on the basic role they play.
In his recent one-man show, Taos Pueblo: Ancestral Places, Sacred Spaces, Wings described both that role, in part, and how he interprets and manifests that role within his chosen medium:
The Corn Maidens, of course, are female kachinas, and as enigmatic and mysterious as any archetypal Woman. Some 20 years ago, to honor their nurturing power and essential mystery, I launched a series I entitled The Mona Lisa on the Rio Grande. Each necklace is a unique personification of our Spirits of the Sacred Feminine, embodied in a single gemstone set into the traditional kachina headdress made of sterling silver.”
In the dominant culture, virtually everyone knows of the Mona Lisa (La Gioconda), by Leonardo da Vinci. Among European cultures and their descendants, she embodies all the mystery and femininity of essential womanhood. Rendering the Corn Maiden as an intrinsically Pueblo version of the Mona Lisa was a way for him to translate their centrality, their importance, their iconic identification with cultural concepts of Womanhood into an artistic language easily accessible to outsiders.
As with all of Wings’s art, each iteration of the Corn Maiden is unique; no two are ever identical. However, each also shares common features and traits: a large round gemstone cabochon to form her head; a hand-stamped setting for the stone, cut to evoke the Maiden’s traditional headdress, known as a tablita (Spanish for “little tablet”). When Pueblo women chosen to personify the Corn Maidens perform in traditional dances, part of their regalia includes the tablita, a heavy headdress usually carved of lightweight wood and hand-painted with traditional symbols. It takes dedication and skill to be able to wear the headdress, balance it properly, and dance, all simultaneously.
In the last ten years or so, particularly, he’s begun making the settings dual-sided: Although not reversible, the reverse of each setting bears traditional stampwork, and sometimes silver or copper overlay. They may be hung from sterling silver chains, but more often, their size and solidity dictate that they be strung on a strand of beads, whether silver, turquoise, or another gemstone. The central cabochons likewise vary: Most often, they are turquoise, but he has been known to use other stones, such as the onyx cabochon shown above, or, in the instance of one commissioned piece, bloodstone jasper of such a deep green that it was nearly indigo in color; shapes are typically round, sometimes oval, and more rarely, heart-shaped.
Finally, each is given a unique name, independent of her role as Corn Maiden, but still consonant with her identity as a spirit being. For example, in a nod to the pitch-black liquid stone and the celestial imagery on the setting, the onyx version shown above is called, quite simply, Night Spirit. Below is a photo of the reverse side of the same piece, followed by an excerpt of the description as it appears on the site under the “Necklaces” gallery:
In this personification of the Corn Maiden, a jet-black cabochon of liquid onyx, resting in a hand-cut tablita headdress of sterling silver, embodies another aspect of the Spirit of the Sacred Feminine. She hangs suspended from a strand of polished onyx beads accented with natural green turquoise, all hand-strung on sterling silver chain. Part of Wings’s signature series The Mona Lisa on the Rio Grande.
Sterling silver; onyx; onyx beads; green turquoise beads
$1,025 + shipping, handling, and insurance
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
