This Week's Post: The Stories with the Images, Part 1

This weekly blog post and its host website cover a wide variety of Fred Montague's environmental commentaries, gardening topics, and wildlife/art activities.  Please browse the website and the blog archives for topics you are interested in. 

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The Stories with the Images, Part 1

So far I have completed four woodcuts in the "Ancient Wisdom" series.  Here are the stories associated with two of them.

1.  "Journey"
My understanding of the interpretation of Native American rock art is that images with a depiction of a hand reflect the personal experience of the artist.  A spiral represents a journey.  A spiral going "away" is an outbound trip.  A double spiral is a journey away and back.  What an ingenious way to represent a long trip in a small space (rock surface or tanned hide)-- coil the miles up.  If one were to accept all of this literally, the journey could be a vision quest. 

2.  "Stone Circle"
This simple woodcut depicts a circle of stones that can be found, often partially buried, throughout the plains of North America.  In earlier times, some Native Peoples anchored the sides of their hide or brush shelters with stones that they gathered, undoubtedly with considerable effort.  Since then the shelters have disappeared and the people who built them are gone, but the rings of stones remain.

Journey: A New Woodcut for Winter 2015

Most of my woodcuts depict  wildlife subjects;  however, there is a small, but growing, number that reflect my understanding of "ancient wisdom."  Those include "Stone Circle," Wa-Maka-Skan," and "The Storyteller's Circle,"

"Journey" is the fourth in this series.  Interpretations of Native American rock art suggest that a spiral depicts a journey.  A single spiral might be a group or individual travelling to another place. A double spiral often recorded a journey away and then back again.  The image of the hand is thought to relate the message to an individual-- in this case a personal journey and a return.  Perhaps it is a transforming quest that brings one back home, maybe a vision quest.

This limited edition woodcut print is matted in a 14" by 12" mat.  The image is 8" by 5.5".  The edition size is 88 signed and number prints.  The current price is $48. To order, please visit the "Woodcuts" gallery.