I was referred by Brenda Crabtree to an exhibition curated by Rosemarie Spahan. The exhibition will run in conjunction with the Vancouver Opera’s rendition of The Magic Flute written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Rosemarie invited a few artists to watch, on DVD, a previous version of the opera done by the company. It had a heavy Aboriginal Aesthetic but apparently remained true to the original text. We were asked to create an artwork based on the Opera.
I originally intended to do a carving, but when I began workshopping ideas, I imagined colours. I decided to create a triptych painted on wooden panels; each panel is 16”/16”.
This first panel is a representation of Sarastro as a Sun mask, the design around his head is his servant Monostatos. The reason I made Monostatos look like a rat is because of the rendition I viewed by the Vancouver Opera.
The second panel represents Tamino and Papageno; I saw them as on a similar journey or even two sides of the same coin. They are both heroic and foolish in their own ways, this is why I made them a two headed figure. Above their left hand is Papageno’s magic bells and above their right is Tomino’s magic flute.
The final panel in the triptych represents the queen of the night and her three lady helpers. The aesthetics of the queen is related to the Vancouver Opera’s previous version, though the Chilkat was my own choice.
This was a fun project to work on and it was my last project done at the ECUAD Mitchell Press Graduate Studios. I’m going to miss working up there but I feel it was time to move on.
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The great varieties of beautiful and innovative art works in all Native American art. And Haida Paintings are very innovative. Its represent culture and traditions of the indian American native peoples. Thanks for sharing these painting in your blog....Haida Paintings
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