The Occidental Shaman
2015
15 x 9 x 9 inches
Synthetic clay, texture gel, Strathmore 400 drawing paper, glue, acrylic paint
Whatever they’re called—shaman, medicine men, sorcerers—I feel a kinship with people who travel between the world of the spirit and the physical world. Going into the ether/the void/the spirit world (or perhaps it is all just a world of imagination), I find things, connections, and understandings that haven’t necessarily been done or seen before. This is one of my favorite parts of the art process. The world of the spirit/imagination is a world of nearly limitless possibilities without many of the laws and constraints that physical reality entails. It is not a world without dangers however, and the dangers are not as clearly defined as in the physical world. Fortunately, I generally do not have to confront some aspects of the world of the spirit that are often part of the job of being a traditional shaman or medicine man!