About Native American Art History

In Native American art, history is key. The Native Americans used circles and labyrinths to depict the passage of time and the Animals were universal in the meaning of a good year.
   
I treated myself to camping out for a full summer in some of the most beautiful Parks our State and Federal government have set aside for us and our children. One set of campers from northern California and their four year old son staid across from me and after brief how-dee-do's we got to looking at the Mandala and the wife worked for the county and expressed some desire for me to teach the young children this form of stability because they were all "special Ed" children that she worked with. I declined but was intrigued with the idea that someone could actually chart a child’s well-being through the study of each piece they submitted.

 I know personally that one can sit down to a Mandala and the pain, loss, anger, trauma and anxiety all melt away into light and love.

 I have been drawing and painting Mandalas for over a decade with Celtic Knots and Southwestern Indian Art intermingled enough to feel one man's interpretation of his environment and the legacy he chooses to leave behind. Some people know why they are born and some just learn. I'm not too sure which the artist belongs in but I know where he or she doesn't.
   
The Mind roams freely only to stop and focus on demand. The Brain actually tells the mind what to do in order to sustain itself and also act as the arbiter, the referee that calls time-out in order for the mind to expand into worlds never seen before.

So it is with free will and gratitude that we can offer up our blessings in the forms which Mandalas, Celtic Knots and Indian lore forever capture on the wall of a cave or a woven design that's sublime, all set in stone.

Whatever you learn about these forms of Art, I implore you to take up pen and paper and start practicing. After all, that's all great Art is, practice.
          
 Enjoy. Mark T. Dennis