Artist Statements
The Sube (willow) Series
The Sube (willow) Series contains contemporary mixed media paintings of abstract images
inspired by the basketry, beadwork, and surrounding petroglyphs of the Northern Paiute Tribe
of my home in Nevada. The cross (four directions), the circle (cycle of life), and the human form
are all images found in repetition and abstraction throughout this series. My influence for these
works is my Paiute culture, growing up in the high desert of Nevada, and becoming a mother.
I observed these influences and merged them onto canvas, creating stories and visual images relating
to Paiute life and the world around us. In the Sube Series, I have combined the actual willow branches
and river stones with acrylic washes and mediums to create a visual in which the Paiute life is told through
a new medium inspired by the old. Willows, tules (cattails), and pine nuts are all very important staples
to the Paiute people, being sources of food, shelter, and everyday tools. I integrated these images and
objects into my artwork as my interpretation of landscapes and how I view the beauty of my culture
as well as nature itself. I consider these works to be my contribution to my tribe and culture through
the eyes of a Native woman, mother, and artist.
The process of these works evolved from painting figures and landscapes to photography and finally
the combining of mediums and painting styles to create my current mixed media work. I start with a
stretched canvas or wood panel and build up a thick layer of molding paste, papers, and washes.
I create my own acrylic washes to conserve paint and leave nothing to be washed down the drain. I use
a water atomizer as my paintbrush dispersing the washes over the many layers to create my images and the
highly textured surface. These textured surfaces transform from two-dimensional canvas to three-dimensional
objects when I attach the willow, stones, or objects to the surface.
I see these works as a personal collaboration of my culture, individual
development, and curious expression of the world around me.
NDN
PERSPECTIVISM SERIES 2002
NDN PERSPECTIVISM is an interpretation of two perspectives based on
a theory by VineDeloria, Jr. in the book
God is Red. He suggests that
natives possess a perspective,
called the “spatial perspective”, that is seen through cycles
of space
and places of life as opposed to sequences of time. Time, on the other
hand,
has a series of beginnings and ends in a rigid sense of unforgiving
past,
present, and future, the “linear perspective”.
Throughout this series I use the image
of the medicine wheel in repetition to convey the idea of the spatial
perspective. The circle with lines facing in the four directions (the
medicine wheel)
defines the personification of the cycle of life. The seasons, moon phases,
the
human being, animal, and plant from birth to death all follow a cycle
of life
defined by the circle. Spatial perspective theory helps explain the
relationship Natives
have with the sacred places, all livings things, and the creator. This
relationship
can also be defined as religion.
It is obvious that Natives are a misunderstood
culture, and this is because
there is no breaking of the cycle of stereotypes that many cultures
in America are
enduring in this society. One of my goals in this series is to create
pieces that
educate the public about the Native American culture as well as visually
please.
Melissa Melero
Muha Du vah duh (the light at night, moonlight)