Alabaster Corn Mother
Friday, April 2nd, 2010
“Out of These Stones…”
In the years that I assisted Charles Pratt, he gave me “stuff” but mostly he gave lessons I needed to become a better artist. One, was, this slender piece of pink Colorado alabaster, which I was anxious to carve into something. But it didn’t happen that way, in fact it took a whole year to finally decide how it would be used.
I put it on a shelf…and looked at it while working on other pieces of art, every day, for about a month. I rotated it to another side and studied that for a month. This went on for six months…until finally, I saw something! It looked like the back of a woman, with long hair and blanket designs around the bottom. What about the front? I didn’t know yet, so I asked “what did it seem she was doing? I saw an arm and sleeve! She was holding something, and then I saw her shawl. But it was wobbly, so I sliced a thin quarter inch piece off the bottom to make it level, and saved that piece. Details of this female began showing up: a feather fan, another sleeved arm; it was clear, something very Pueblo was here.
Not having the equipment Charles used (by this time he had moved to Santa Fe, NM) I pulled out an old pocket knife and began the meticulous process of revealing my interpretation little bits at a time. At every break time and at lunch I would sit at the edge of the receiving dock and whittle and carve on this stone. A whole year went by and obviously a lot closer to being completed…my first Corn Mother. And that thin slice of her bottom became her “tableta”, her headdress for dancing. Halfway through this process I had purchased an Exacto knife for the finer details of her fingers, the feathers, the fan, and the designs on the pouch, sash, and headdress. Fashioned after a colored pencil drawing I had made of Corn Mother; even though, using my drawing as reference, the figure was already there.
My co-workers loved to hold it, it fit so smoothly in the hand, and when I held it the colors would become deeper and I could smooth out any roughness.
I entered this sculptured stone in one or two art shows and one gallery (in Santa Fe) but it was not garnering any attention. I queried this mild response to such an exceptional job on my part, and studied it for awhile…then epiphany! From any distance other than a foot away you could not see any of the details because the color of the stone hid all the finer details…it also seemed unfinished even though I thought nothing more could be done to it. So the creative decision-making began…and it was decided we would have to cast it in bronze.
As we planned to translate this piece into bronze it offered us the opportunity to add some corn plants and to contemplate adding colored areas on the piece, which we have done. Finding a foundry in Oklahoma was easy enough, all my favorite artists used The Bronze Horse located in Pawhuska. We made their casting schedule and watched the first few bronzes come to life. It was so exciting. The first edition we made only had ten sets established. And we initially used liver brown patina. However after oxidation occurred, which made greenish spots and patches appear, we decided to color some in acrylic paints, we have sold all ten. We entered this bronze presentation of “Corn Mother-Harvest of Life” in Red Earth 1997 taking 1st Place for Bronze Sculpture. Then on to Santa Fe Indian Market (3rd Place); Indian Summer – Bartlesville (2nd Place); New Mexico State Fair (2nd Place); and Kituwah – Ashville NC (1st Place).
Due to demand we eventually had to cast another edition of fifteen, which we are now offering the last five of this masterpiece in a brand new presentation. See this new presentation at Red Earth 2010. And we will also bring to a close this chapter of Corn Mother, for we do not own her just as we do not own the Black Mesas west of our village…so we release her, to continue blessing wherever she goes. Not bad for an idea that had been birthed twice since she emerged “out of stone”
