Acrylic Painting on Canvas - Crow over the Kaw River by Ed Tajchman

This is a painting I made in early 2015, it is a crow on a branch sitting over the Kaw River. The inspiration came from an early 19th century photo I found online depicting a design painted on a Haida canoe oar. In many folklore traditions the crow or raven is an animal that can pass between worlds easily, transform into other animals, or is a form that shamans often take. This symbolism is also applied to the river, which can represent a passage through time with two worlds on either side of the river.

Crow over the Kaw River, acrylic on canvas, Ed Tajchman 2015 ©.

Goddess Explaining the Area Of Visual Communication by Ed Tajchman

I call this painting, "Goddess Explaining The Area Of Visual Communication". I had a dream once in which a message similar to this was conveyed through what I perceived to be a higher being of some sort, or special visitor at least. So this is a painting to honor that amazing vision I had in that dream. It is a Goddess like figure who is transforming at her will, a synthesis of plant and human and spirit. There are small human figures inside her feet, and many symbols throughout the piece.

"Goddess Explaining the Area of Visual Communication" by Ed Tajchman © 2013.
Acrylic on Canvas 91 x 91cm.

Native American Art of the Pacific Northwest

Today I am featuring a style of art that has always fascinated me; Native American art of the Pacific Northwest, specifically Haida Art; the work of Johnny Kit Elswa. The Haida people come from the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia near Alaska, which they have occupied for at least eight thousand years. Their highly developed designs and style arose partially from the fact that the islands lacked the more valuable resources of the mainland. They developed their sculptural and design skills which they used to make their art, to trade for what they needed.

Tekul or cirrus clouds, Johhny Kit Elswa 1883

Traditionally, the Haida art style or North Coast art style consisted of (among other things) sculptural works like totem poles, canoes, chests, masks, shields, and jewelry. Their drawings and paintings were made with porcupine quill brushes, and natural pigments found from minerals. Often depicting birds, super-natural beings, whales, fish, bears, and many other animal-forms. I think one reason that Haida art is still popular and still being made is that it reflects the spiritual culture of the people in a beatiful, highly expressive style. One of the first westerners to encounter the Haida noted that:

"Haida were so intertwined with the super-natural world before contact that we used to have to sing and dance hard to prove we were human."

Koot Sparrow Hawk on its Nest, Johnny Kit Elswa 1883

The highly stylized forms with natural colors reflecting spiritual, mythological and super-natural motifs is the reason that I like Haida art anyways. Those are two of the things that I try to bring to my art: an abstracted personalized style (their art was very direct and purposeful though obviously) that reflects the underlying spiritual reality of the world.

Johnny Kit Elswa 1883

"We do not inherit this land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." -Haida saying



Photo source: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Note: the above images are used in fair use; lo-resolution images used for critcal review. Also these images are in the public domain under U.S. and most if not all international copyright law; (life of the author + 70 years, and 120 years since the creation of item). Also note the case of Bridgeman vs Corel, which states that slavish or exact reproductions of an item in public domain does not contain a copyright.

Alex Grey on Themes of His Work

Some would call Alex Grey the most important artist alive today. To quickly summarize his painting, (check out his website, it's awesome: Alex Grey.com), I would say he illustrates spiritual dimensions. I find his art very conceptual, but at the same time very real and down to earth, he's not completely inventing anything, he's revealing the nature of reality to his audience.

"Pointing to those subtle and casual dimensions beyond the physical is part of the purpose of my work. Interweaving the dimensions together - physical, emotional, conceptual, psychic, subtle, and spiritual has been part of my intention, my mission of art, always with the hope that it resonates with people and affirms their own deeper understanding of themselves and the world."

(Alex Grey, Transfigurations, p. 106.)

He's painting realistically and symbolically the concept and reality of spiritual and physical dimensions, which of course is an amazing thing. It's interesting to me the contrast between his paintings and those of Mark Rothko for example, both spiritual and pointing to the same things, just in two entirely different ways. If you haven't purchased an Alex Grey book, you absolutely should, see the link to his website at the top.