Hopi Indian culture was destined to go viral, in a galaxies far far away.
This is part of an ongoing project, where I'm
attempting to draw a picture on every
map in an old Rand McNally atlas.
Stay tuned for more!
Māori Woman
No doubt, the number one priority on my bucket list is to visit New Zealand one day. In tribute to the indigenous people of this beautiful island, here's a portrait of a Māori woman.
Signed prints of this piece are available HERE, in my Etsy shop
Sitting Bull
His name was Sitting Bull, and as an advocate for indigenous rights, he towered like a Standing Rock.
Prints of this piece are available HERE (in my Etsy shop)!
Indigenous peoples
I recently read a book called Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari. In it, one concept he discussed is how borders of countries are just artificial constructs. They don’t exist unless enough people are convinced that really they do exist. Looking at an old map of North America, I kept thinking of all the indigenous peoples inhabiting this space long before European colonization set in. From the Inuits, to the Cree, to the Hopi (and on and on), this is a little tribute to the native tribes of this land.
Prints of this piece are available here!
Lux Vidal
Here's a portrait for a new client, Sarah Lawrence College, in Bronxville, NY. It depicts alumna, Lux Vidal, a noted anthropologist. She devoted her life to studying indigenous tribes in the Amazon region of Brazil. She became a forceful advocate for supporting the rights and culture of the Xikran tribe. Not only was this a fascinating assignment to collaborate on, it gave me an opportunity to incorporate one of my favorite elements into the artwork, maps! A special thanks to designer, Hannah Fichandler, and editor, Jean Smith, for this fantastic assignment.
Below are sketches I submitted for this project:
Southwest Survey Portraits
These portraits are part of a new series, inspired by Wheeler’s Photographic survey of the American West. From 1871-1873, George M Wheeler led an expedition to create topographic maps in the western states. He took with him two photographers, Timothy O’Sullivan and William Bell, who documented the journey. For me, these landscape photos act as inspirational launching points for drawings. The image above portrays naturalist John Muir, who was considered “Father of the National Parks”. Stay tuned, I’ll be posting more portraits soon!
Portrait of a Paiute woman, who's tribe was indigenous to the Kanab Creek, Utah
President Theodore Roosevelt, who was pivotal in creating the US National Park system