Thursday, December 31, 2020

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk'

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk':

This beautiful creation of Mother Earth and Father Sky-Sun offers each of us an opportunity to walk, always, in balance and harmony by remembering them as our elemental parents. We remember … we have access to an orderly and supportive life view within the context of the Sun, Moon, seasons, the natural world, and the elementals of wind, earth, fire, water and the directions of the Medicine Wheel … Universally, the traditional view of life is one of a sacred nature. Myriad helpers and companions accompany each person, and these helpers may be recognized through vision, dream, inspiration, or experience. Vision, dream, and inspiration are personal and vital connections to enhanced understanding, experience and attunement with the Spirit World. In this way, we honor ourselves as Sacred Beings and begin, or continue, to participate as co-creators in a living world. And so, we move in wholeness and beauty.

May we have a strong body
May we have a good mind
May we have a heart full of love
And know no fear.
Aho!
-- Minisa Crumbo

Of all the paths and choices and histories, the energetic pathways of the directions and elementals are the most real and vital … I think they are only found by mind-oriented persons who comprehend the true energetic, light components of the Medicine Wheel … fuse, merge, again and again with the strips, rays, fibers, and channels of light … Find places of being that are lighter and broader … just make sure that once the light paths open up, and you know it, that some mental program stores it 24-7, making awareness and experience of the light never far from surface consciousness, making the full experience known, close and available, as soon as possible. Form new habits of association … linking the moments like beads on a string until they can be slipped over the head and worn … Our thoughts are our reality. We must think better, smarter, longer, and deeper about ourselves, our world, and what we really want that to look, feel, and be like. Be it. Do it. Don’t let up.

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists (SAAM)

Picturing the American Buffalo: A Conversation (SAAM)

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists (SAAM)


'Hunting the Spirit Buffalo' by Woody Crumbo (1930s)   

Crumbo was born in Lexington, Oklahoma, the son of an Indian mother and a French father. He attended government schools as a child and showed such promise that he received a scholarship to the American Indian Institute in Wichita for his last two years of high school. While at the Institute, he became interested in expressing Indian tradition and culture through his art. After three years at the University of Wichita he transferred to the University of Oklahoma where he studied with Oscar B. Jacobson. At the early age of 21, Crumbo was appointed Director of Indian Art at Bacone College, the only institute of higher learning exclusively for Indians. Bacone offered Crumbo the unique opportunity to familiarize himself with his heritage and to instill in him cultural pride. At that time he conducted research into Indian design and revived ancient techniques of silverwork, vegetable dying, and weaving.

Crumbo’s career has been diverse; known also as a musician and Indian ceremonial dancer, Crumbo played the cedar wood flute and danced with Thurlow Lieurance’s symphony in Wichita. He also worked as a designer with the Douglas Corporation, with the Gilcrease Collection in Tulsa, and from 1960 to 1968 as curator of the El Paso Museum of Art.

A Pottawatomie Indian, Crumbo explores in his art the traditions and ceremonies of his own tribe as well as those of the Creek, Sioux, and Kiowa nations, and says of his work, ​I have always painted with the desire of developing Indian art so that it may be judged on art standards rather on its value as a curio—I am attempting to record Indian customs and legends now, while they are alive, to make them a part of the great American culture before these, too, become lost, only to be fragmentarily pieced together by fact and supposition.

Crumbo works in oil and egg tempera, as well as in watercolor, sculpture, stained glass, and silkscreen. Under the guidance of Olle Nordmark, he also learned etching. The largest collection of Crumbo’s work, about 175 paintings, is owned by the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, although his work has been exhibited in many museums throughout the United States.

Virginia Mecklenburg The Public as Patron: A History of the Treasury Department Mural Program (College Park, Maryland: University of Maryland, n.d.)

Monday, December 28, 2020

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk'

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk':

This beautiful creation of Mother Earth and Father Sky-Sun offers each of us an opportunity to walk, always, in balance and harmony by remembering them as our elemental parents. We remember … we have access to an orderly and supportive life view within the context of the Sun, Moon, seasons, the natural world, and the elementals of wind, earth, fire, water and the directions of the Medicine Wheel … Universally, the traditional view of life is one of a sacred nature. Myriad helpers and companions accompany each person, and these helpers may be recognized through vision, dream, inspiration, or experience. Vision, dream, and inspiration are personal and vital connections to enhanced understanding, experience and attunement with the Spirit World. In this way, we honor ourselves as Sacred Beings and begin, or continue, to participate as co-creators in a living world. And so, we move in wholeness and beauty.

May we have a strong body
May we have a good mind
May we have a heart full of love
And know no fear.
Aho!
-- Minisa Crumbo

Of all the paths and choices and histories, the energetic pathways of the directions and elementals are the most real and vital … I think they are only found by mind-oriented persons who comprehend the true energetic, light components of the Medicine Wheel … fuse, merge, again and again with the strips, rays, fibers, and channels of light … Find places of being that are lighter and broader … just make sure that once the light paths open up, and you know it, that some mental program stores it 24-7, making awareness and experience of the light never far from surface consciousness, making the full experience known, close and available, as soon as possible. Form new habits of association … linking the moments like beads on a string until they can be slipped over the head and worn … Our thoughts are our reality. We must think better, smarter, longer, and deeper about ourselves, our world, and what we really want that to look, feel, and be like. Be it. Do it. Don’t let up.

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists (SAAM)

Picturing the American Buffalo: A Conversation (SAAM)

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists (SAAM)


'Hunting the Spirit Buffalo' by Woody Crumbo (1930s)   

Crumbo was born in Lexington, Oklahoma, the son of an Indian mother and a French father. He attended government schools as a child and showed such promise that he received a scholarship to the American Indian Institute in Wichita for his last two years of high school. While at the Institute, he became interested in expressing Indian tradition and culture through his art. After three years at the University of Wichita he transferred to the University of Oklahoma where he studied with Oscar B. Jacobson. At the early age of 21, Crumbo was appointed Director of Indian Art at Bacone College, the only institute of higher learning exclusively for Indians. Bacone offered Crumbo the unique opportunity to familiarize himself with his heritage and to instill in him cultural pride. At that time he conducted research into Indian design and revived ancient techniques of silverwork, vegetable dying, and weaving.

Crumbo’s career has been diverse; known also as a musician and Indian ceremonial dancer, Crumbo played the cedar wood flute and danced with Thurlow Lieurance’s symphony in Wichita. He also worked as a designer with the Douglas Corporation, with the Gilcrease Collection in Tulsa, and from 1960 to 1968 as curator of the El Paso Museum of Art.

A Pottawatomie Indian, Crumbo explores in his art the traditions and ceremonies of his own tribe as well as those of the Creek, Sioux, and Kiowa nations, and says of his work, ​I have always painted with the desire of developing Indian art so that it may be judged on art standards rather on its value as a curio—I am attempting to record Indian customs and legends now, while they are alive, to make them a part of the great American culture before these, too, become lost, only to be fragmentarily pieced together by fact and supposition.

Crumbo works in oil and egg tempera, as well as in watercolor, sculpture, stained glass, and silkscreen. Under the guidance of Olle Nordmark, he also learned etching. The largest collection of Crumbo’s work, about 175 paintings, is owned by the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, although his work has been exhibited in many museums throughout the United States.

Virginia Mecklenburg The Public as Patron: A History of the Treasury Department Mural Program (College Park, Maryland: University of Maryland, n.d.)

Friday, December 25, 2020

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk'

 Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk':

This beautiful creation of Mother Earth and Father Sky-Sun offers each of us an opportunity to walk, always, in balance and harmony by remembering them as our elemental parents. We remember … we have access to an orderly and supportive life view within the context of the Sun, Moon, seasons, the natural world, and the elementals of wind, earth, fire, water and the directions of the Medicine Wheel … Universally, the traditional view of life is one of a sacred nature. Myriad helpers and companions accompany each person, and these helpers may be recognized through vision, dream, inspiration, or experience. Vision, dream, and inspiration are personal and vital connections to enhanced understanding, experience and attunement with the Spirit World. In this way, we honor ourselves as Sacred Beings and begin, or continue, to participate as co-creators in a living world. And so, we move in wholeness and beauty.


May we have a strong body
May we have a good mind
May we have a heart full of love
And know no fear.
Aho!
-- Minisa Crumbo

Of all the paths and choices and histories, the energetic pathways of the directions and elementals are the most real and vital … I think they are only found by mind-oriented persons who comprehend the true energetic, light components of the Medicine Wheel … fuse, merge, again and again with the strips, rays, fibers, and channels of light … Find places of being that are lighter and broader … just make sure that once the light paths open up, and you know it, that some mental program stores it 24-7, making awareness and experience of the light never far from surface consciousness, making the full experience known, close and available, as soon as possible. Form new habits of association … linking the moments like beads on a string until they can be slipped over the head and worn … Our thoughts are our reality. We must think better, smarter, longer, and deeper about ourselves, our world, and what we really want that to look, feel, and be like. Be it. Do it. Don’t let up.

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists (SAAM)

Picturing the American Buffalo: A Conversation (SAAM)

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists (SAAM)


'Hunting the Spirit Buffalo' by Woody Crumbo (1930s)   

Crumbo was born in Lexington, Oklahoma, the son of an Indian mother and a French father. He attended government schools as a child and showed such promise that he received a scholarship to the American Indian Institute in Wichita for his last two years of high school. While at the Institute, he became interested in expressing Indian tradition and culture through his art. After three years at the University of Wichita he transferred to the University of Oklahoma where he studied with Oscar B. Jacobson. At the early age of 21, Crumbo was appointed Director of Indian Art at Bacone College, the only institute of higher learning exclusively for Indians. Bacone offered Crumbo the unique opportunity to familiarize himself with his heritage and to instill in him cultural pride. At that time he conducted research into Indian design and revived ancient techniques of silverwork, vegetable dying, and weaving.

Crumbo’s career has been diverse; known also as a musician and Indian ceremonial dancer, Crumbo played the cedar wood flute and danced with Thurlow Lieurance’s symphony in Wichita. He also worked as a designer with the Douglas Corporation, with the Gilcrease Collection in Tulsa, and from 1960 to 1968 as curator of the El Paso Museum of Art.

A Pottawatomie Indian, Crumbo explores in his art the traditions and ceremonies of his own tribe as well as those of the Creek, Sioux, and Kiowa nations, and says of his work, ​I have always painted with the desire of developing Indian art so that it may be judged on art standards rather on its value as a curio—I am attempting to record Indian customs and legends now, while they are alive, to make them a part of the great American culture before these, too, become lost, only to be fragmentarily pieced together by fact and supposition.

Crumbo works in oil and egg tempera, as well as in watercolor, sculpture, stained glass, and silkscreen. Under the guidance of Olle Nordmark, he also learned etching. The largest collection of Crumbo’s work, about 175 paintings, is owned by the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, although his work has been exhibited in many museums throughout the United States.

Virginia Mecklenburg The Public as Patron: A History of the Treasury Department Mural Program (College Park, Maryland: University of Maryland, n.d.)

Monday, December 21, 2020

'Winter Solstice' excerpts from 'Spirit Talk'

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk':

Winter Solstice: By the calendar of the natural world, the winter solstice marks the ingress into the profound precincts of the deep Mother Earth Womb, the original confirmation point of all seed soul, sprout, and rootlet growth. The days and nights of silent contemplation and Quiet Time observances have served to quiet the mind and prepare the body, much as the field is prepared to receive the new seed. Winter means that much of the northern hemi-turtle shell of this hemisphere is blanketed by the purifying powers of Snow Woman’s gifts and freezes … We live always within the Sacred Rainbow Hoop. This hoop of life is a threshold of all the moments of the eternal present. The eternal present we now find ourselves within and contemplating is the first of the White Plains of Spirit, others will follow in succeeding seasons, each with basically the same purifying intent. The winter solstice, embedded within the purifying power of the cold, cloaked with the white plain of purity, located in and upon the wisdom body of the original gift, represents the core wisdom quality of winter … Conscious arrival and acquaintance with the Winter threshold of the Sacred Medicine Wheel Hoop of Life is a primal renewal experience, made ceremony. If this is a new concept to you, trust that you have entered into one of the most beautiful and comprehensive systems in this galaxy and beyond for containing, supporting, and interpreting life in a sacred way. Best wishes upon this journey. The winter solstice is a naturally occurring station within the year and, as such, has accrued a long history. The holy days, holidays, are usually grounded in natural phenomena that grew out of the Creative Mind and manifested in the first, most beautiful and enduring gifts of our Mother Earth, our Father Sky-Sun and the myriad of clustering entities we call the powers and fixtures of the natural world … This then, is the sacred charge: to bring oneself forward in all possible wholeness, mindfulness, and beauty, and to conceive of and design ceremonies of personal meaning, fulfilling the sacred charge to be happy and enjoy life. This winter solstice is our time to unite with the natural world. Take these long nights to rest, tell stories, celebrate, and dream deeply of life before the stronger suns call us forward once again to grow and to labor. But for now, enter into and be one with the conceptual Return of the Light.

Sunday, December 20, 2020

'Winter Solstice' excerpts from 'Spirit Talk'

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk':

Winter Solstice: By the calendar of the natural world, the winter solstice marks the ingress into the profound precincts of the deep Mother Earth Womb, the original confirmation point of all seed soul, sprout, and rootlet growth. The days and nights of silent contemplation and Quiet Time observances have served to quiet the mind and prepare the body, much as the field is prepared to receive the new seed. Winter means that much of the northern hemi-turtle shell of this hemisphere is blanketed by the purifying powers of Snow Woman’s gifts and freezes … We live always within the Sacred Rainbow Hoop. This hoop of life is a threshold of all the moments of the eternal present. The eternal present we now find ourselves within and contemplating is the first of the White Plains of Spirit, others will follow in succeeding seasons, each with basically the same purifying intent. The winter solstice, embedded within the purifying power of the cold, cloaked with the white plain of purity, located in and upon the wisdom body of the original gift, represents the core wisdom quality of winter … Conscious arrival and acquaintance with the Winter threshold of the Sacred Medicine Wheel Hoop of Life is a primal renewal experience, made ceremony. If this is a new concept to you, trust that you have entered into one of the most beautiful and comprehensive systems in this galaxy and beyond for containing, supporting, and interpreting life in a sacred way. Best wishes upon this journey. The winter solstice is a naturally occurring station within the year and, as such, has accrued a long history. The holy days, holidays, are usually grounded in natural phenomena that grew out of the Creative Mind and manifested in the first, most beautiful and enduring gifts of our Mother Earth, our Father Sky-Sun and the myriad of clustering entities we call the powers and fixtures of the natural world … This then, is the sacred charge: to bring oneself forward in all possible wholeness, mindfulness, and beauty, and to conceive of and design ceremonies of personal meaning, fulfilling the sacred charge to be happy and enjoy life. This winter solstice is our time to unite with the natural world. Take these long nights to rest, tell stories, celebrate, and dream deeply of life before the stronger suns call us forward once again to grow and to labor. But for now, enter into and be one with the conceptual Return of the Light.

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists (SAAM)

Picturing the American Buffalo: A Conversation (SAAM)

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists (SAAM)


'Hunting the Spirit Buffalo' by Woody Crumbo (1930s)   

Crumbo was born in Lexington, Oklahoma, the son of an Indian mother and a French father. He attended government schools as a child and showed such promise that he received a scholarship to the American Indian Institute in Wichita for his last two years of high school. While at the Institute, he became interested in expressing Indian tradition and culture through his art. After three years at the University of Wichita he transferred to the University of Oklahoma where he studied with Oscar B. Jacobson. At the early age of 21, Crumbo was appointed Director of Indian Art at Bacone College, the only institute of higher learning exclusively for Indians. Bacone offered Crumbo the unique opportunity to familiarize himself with his heritage and to instill in him cultural pride. At that time he conducted research into Indian design and revived ancient techniques of silverwork, vegetable dying, and weaving.

Crumbo’s career has been diverse; known also as a musician and Indian ceremonial dancer, Crumbo played the cedar wood flute and danced with Thurlow Lieurance’s symphony in Wichita. He also worked as a designer with the Douglas Corporation, with the Gilcrease Collection in Tulsa, and from 1960 to 1968 as curator of the El Paso Museum of Art.

A Pottawatomie Indian, Crumbo explores in his art the traditions and ceremonies of his own tribe as well as those of the Creek, Sioux, and Kiowa nations, and says of his work, ​I have always painted with the desire of developing Indian art so that it may be judged on art standards rather on its value as a curio—I am attempting to record Indian customs and legends now, while they are alive, to make them a part of the great American culture before these, too, become lost, only to be fragmentarily pieced together by fact and supposition.

Crumbo works in oil and egg tempera, as well as in watercolor, sculpture, stained glass, and silkscreen. Under the guidance of Olle Nordmark, he also learned etching. The largest collection of Crumbo’s work, about 175 paintings, is owned by the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, although his work has been exhibited in many museums throughout the United States.

Virginia Mecklenburg The Public as Patron: A History of the Treasury Department Mural Program (College Park, Maryland: University of Maryland, n.d.)

Friday, December 18, 2020

'Winter Solstice' excerpts from 'Spirit Talk'

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk':

Winter Solstice: By the calendar of the natural world, the winter solstice marks the ingress into the profound precincts of the deep Mother Earth Womb, the original confirmation point of all seed soul, sprout, and rootlet growth. The days and nights of silent contemplation and Quiet Time observances have served to quiet the mind and prepare the body, much as the field is prepared to receive the new seed. Winter means that much of the northern hemi-turtle shell of this hemisphere is blanketed by the purifying powers of Snow Woman’s gifts and freezes … We live always within the Sacred Rainbow Hoop. This hoop of life is a threshold of all the moments of the eternal present. The eternal present we now find ourselves within and contemplating is the first of the White Plains of Spirit, others will follow in succeeding seasons, each with basically the same purifying intent. The winter solstice, embedded within the purifying power of the cold, cloaked with the white plain of purity, located in and upon the wisdom body of the original gift, represents the core wisdom quality of winter … Conscious arrival and acquaintance with the Winter threshold of the Sacred Medicine Wheel Hoop of Life is a primal renewal experience, made ceremony. If this is a new concept to you, trust that you have entered into one of the most beautiful and comprehensive systems in this galaxy and beyond for containing, supporting, and interpreting life in a sacred way. Best wishes upon this journey. The winter solstice is a naturally occurring station within the year and, as such, has accrued a long history. The holy days, holidays, are usually grounded in natural phenomena that grew out of the Creative Mind and manifested in the first, most beautiful and enduring gifts of our Mother Earth, our Father Sky-Sun and the myriad of clustering entities we call the powers and fixtures of the natural world … This then, is the sacred charge: to bring oneself forward in all possible wholeness, mindfulness, and beauty, and to conceive of and design ceremonies of personal meaning, fulfilling the sacred charge to be happy and enjoy life. This winter solstice is our time to unite with the natural world. Take these long nights to rest, tell stories, celebrate, and dream deeply of life before the stronger suns call us forward once again to grow and to labor. But for now, enter into and be one with the conceptual Return of the Light.

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

'Winter Solstice' excerpts from 'Spirit Talk'

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk':

Winter Solstice: By the calendar of the natural world, the winter solstice marks the ingress into the profound precincts of the deep Mother Earth Womb, the original confirmation point of all seed soul, sprout, and rootlet growth. The days and nights of silent contemplation and Quiet Time observances have served to quiet the mind and prepare the body, much as the field is prepared to receive the new seed. Winter means that much of the northern hemi-turtle shell of this hemisphere is blanketed by the purifying powers of Snow Woman’s gifts and freezes … We live always within the Sacred Rainbow Hoop. This hoop of life is a threshold of all the moments of the eternal present. The eternal present we now find ourselves within and contemplating is the first of the White Plains of Spirit, others will follow in succeeding seasons, each with basically the same purifying intent. The winter solstice, embedded within the purifying power of the cold, cloaked with the white plain of purity, located in and upon the wisdom body of the original gift, represents the core wisdom quality of winter … Conscious arrival and acquaintance with the Winter threshold of the Sacred Medicine Wheel Hoop of Life is a primal renewal experience, made ceremony. If this is a new concept to you, trust that you have entered into one of the most beautiful and comprehensive systems in this galaxy and beyond for containing, supporting, and interpreting life in a sacred way. Best wishes upon this journey. The winter solstice is a naturally occurring station within the year and, as such, has accrued a long history. The holy days, holidays, are usually grounded in natural phenomena that grew out of the Creative Mind and manifested in the first, most beautiful and enduring gifts of our Mother Earth, our Father Sky-Sun and the myriad of clustering entities we call the powers and fixtures of the natural world … This then, is the sacred charge: to bring oneself forward in all possible wholeness, mindfulness, and beauty, and to conceive of and design ceremonies of personal meaning, fulfilling the sacred charge to be happy and enjoy life. This winter solstice is our time to unite with the natural world. Take these long nights to rest, tell stories, celebrate, and dream deeply of life before the stronger suns call us forward once again to grow and to labor. But for now, enter into and be one with the conceptual Return of the Light.

Monday, December 14, 2020

'Winter Solstice' excerpts from 'Spirit Talk'

Excerpts from 'Spirit Talk':

Winter Solstice: By the calendar of the natural world, the winter solstice marks the ingress into the profound precincts of the deep Mother Earth Womb, the original confirmation point of all seed soul, sprout, and rootlet growth. The days and nights of silent contemplation and Quiet Time observances have served to quiet the mind and prepare the body, much as the field is prepared to receive the new seed. Winter means that much of the northern hemi-turtle shell of this hemisphere is blanketed by the purifying powers of Snow Woman’s gifts and freezes … We live always within the Sacred Rainbow Hoop. This hoop of life is a threshold of all the moments of the eternal present. The eternal present we now find ourselves within and contemplating is the first of the White Plains of Spirit, others will follow in succeeding seasons, each with basically the same purifying intent. The winter solstice, embedded within the purifying power of the cold, cloaked with the white plain of purity, located in and upon the wisdom body of the original gift, represents the core wisdom quality of winter … Conscious arrival and acquaintance with the Winter threshold of the Sacred Medicine Wheel Hoop of Life is a primal renewal experience, made ceremony. If this is a new concept to you, trust that you have entered into one of the most beautiful and comprehensive systems in this galaxy and beyond for containing, supporting, and interpreting life in a sacred way. Best wishes upon this journey. The winter solstice is a naturally occurring station within the year and, as such, has accrued a long history. The holy days, holidays, are usually grounded in natural phenomena that grew out of the Creative Mind and manifested in the first, most beautiful and enduring gifts of our Mother Earth, our Father Sky-Sun and the myriad of clustering entities we call the powers and fixtures of the natural world … This then, is the sacred charge: to bring oneself forward in all possible wholeness, mindfulness, and beauty, and to conceive of and design ceremonies of personal meaning, fulfilling the sacred charge to be happy and enjoy life. This winter solstice is our time to unite with the natural world. Take these long nights to rest, tell stories, celebrate, and dream deeply of life before the stronger suns call us forward once again to grow and to labor. But for now, enter into and be one with the conceptual Return of the Light.