About the Art from the Artist
(Page 3)

In some ways I do not like to tell you what a painting means. You may see something in the painting that I haven't. Your interpretation and the significance you give to the painting is what’s important. Some people resonate to my paintings without knowing why and they don't want to know why. They enjoy experiencing the symbols and what they awaken in themselves as they respond to the art on an intuitive level. They take those symbols and retranslate them into their own concepts.  

I am expanding myth through creativity by using new symbols in my art form. I express my own interpretations of the myths of becoming. I refuse to limit myself to the traditional ways of expressing them. In that sense, my art is a break from traditionalism.  

We need to move on to a new myth. The old stories are losing their relevance. We're taking quantum leaps and our paradigms are shifting rapidly.  

Many times a painting is a response to something that I wonder about in my mind. Changing my focus allows the images to flow onto the canvas without my mind obstructing the process. The painted images that answer my wondering often surprise me!    

My mind wanders through a pool of universal concepts until I sense an attraction or affinity that manifests within my consciousness as an idea, a concept. It forms in my mind. Then I begin a process of translating the concept into visual symbols.  

As an artist with strong Native American roots, I have been deeply interested in understanding altered states of consciousness as they relate to the role of the artist/shaman. My Navajo tribe does not have a shamanic heritage. The experiences I had with shamans from other tribes taught me to alter my consciousness. Now, I have learned to change my focus without relying upon drugs. While I am involved in the creative process, these altered states allow a free flow of images.  

There is a joy of unbridled exploration, an unlimited source of inspiration and a feel of freeing myself from the technological limitations of the more traditional approaches to art. There is a sense of wonderment upon completing a painting created in an altered state of consciousness because I am not involved in the conscious manipulation of the image. There is a sense of total involvement and interconnectedness with all aspects of creativity. At times a brush stroke seems lyrical. A color or texture seems to stimulate total sensory awareness (smell, taste, sound). I flow with the creative spirit, allowing it to affect me at all levels.   

I use my ability to alter my state of consciousness as a part of a living attitude. In other words, how can I respond to this situation more creatively, instead of simply reacting without thinking?