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First People of America

Native Americans in art

Featured Work

Kokopelli Playing with Dogs by carolsuzanne

This painting is acrylic on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. It is 11” w x 14” h. Kokopelli was one of the earliest spirit figures represented in the petroglyphs and cave art of the very early Native Americans - the very first Americans. He was believed to bring success with crops and also to bring good luck with the ladies. He was usually depicted playing a flute and was considered to be the patron of music. He is often depicted with a hump on his back - sometimes this is considered to be a deformity and sometimes a sack that he carries on his back.
Pottery of the Old Ones- Southwestern Oil Painting by Barbara Applegate

An 11 X 14 stretched canvas oil painting by Barbara Anne Applegate was created in my Grants Pass,Oregon Studio. / It depicts Two pieces of the Pottery of the old ones, some call Anasazi is originally a Navajo word that archaeologists have applied to people who farmed the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah & Colorado before 1300 AD. At the top There is an image of the homes of the old ones. They are gone but not Forgotten. They were the predecessor of the modern Pueblo Indian of the South Western USA. Featured in / The First People of America
Tiny Tot Fancy Shawl Dancer by Raven SiJohn

Some say the modern day Pow Wow competition dance known as the Ladies Fancy Shawl Dance has its roots in a ceremonial dance called the Butterfly Dance. Here is a Cherokee account of how that dance came to be. I’ve been told the Shoshone have a similar story but I heard this version from Cherokee dancers in North Carolina. These dancers told me the Ladies Fancy Shawl Dance is a representation of the following Butterfly Legend: Many, many years ago when the Earth was still quite new, there was a beautiful butterfly who lost her mate in battle. To show her grief, she took off her beautiful wings and wrapped herself in a drab cocoon. In her sadness, she could not eat and she could not sleep and her relatives kept coming to her lodge to see if she was okay. Of course she wasn’t, but she didn’t want to be a burden on her people so she packed up her wings and her medicine bundle and took off on a long journey. She wandered about for many days and months, until finally she had gone all around the world. (To this day, butterflies go on long journeys, but that is another story.) On her journey she kept her eyes downcast and stepped on each stone she came to as she crossed fields and creeks and streams. Finally, one day as she was looking down, she happened to notice the stone beneath her feet, and it was so beautiful that it healed her sorrow. She then cast aside her cocoon, shook the dust from her wings, and donned them once more. She was so happy she began to dance to give thanks for another chance to begin her life anew. Then she went home and told The People about her long journey and how it had healed her. To this day,The People dance this dance as an expression of renewal, and to give thanks for new seasons, new life, and new beginnings. The shawl in the Fancy Shawl Dance represents the butterfly’s wings, the fancy steps and twirls represent the butterfly’s style of flight. This is another reason you will sometimes hear the Fancy Shawl Dance Competition referred to as ” the butterfly dance.” At Crow Fair in Montana, I was told another story about the Fancy Shawl Dance. While the Crow people also equate this dance form as an expression of re-emergence and renewal of life forces, they have a very different explanation of how it began. Their version goes like this: When the men returned from World War II, many of them were impressed with the dance troupes they had seen perform in Europe, and the colorful clothing the European dancers wore. A transformation began in the Men’s Traditional Dances as these men began to incorporate bright colors into their traditional outfits, and add aerobic movements into their interpretation of traditional dances. This evolved into a very strenuous dance competition category called the Fancy Dance. The young ladies of the time thought this looked like a lot of fun and they wanted to try it, too. Not to be out done by the men, some of these bold young women began to strap two bustles to their backs and compete in the Men’s Fancy Dance category at pow wows. Well, as you can imagine,this did not go over very well with the men, who were outraged at women who were forward enough to push their way into a MAN’s category of competition. (Remember, this was the 1940’s.) What was even worse, many times the women were beating the men in competition! This was considered pretty disgraceful from the men’s point of view, yet they also had to keep their women happy. Eventually, a council of Elders got together to ponder what they could do about this pitiful situation. After much thought and consideration,it was decided to give the ladies their own category of Fancy Dance, but something more regal and graceful, which was more suited to the expected behavior of women. The Elders decided that the Butterfly Dance would be suitable for adaptation to this new dance style for women. Thus, the Fancy Shawl Dance category was begun in modern competitions. By the way, the Crow Fair All Indian Rodeo and Pow Wow is coming up the third weekend in August at Crow Agency, Montana. If you only go to one pow wow in your lifetime, this is the one I would recommend. It’s the largest outdoor powwow in America, and there are over 1,000 tipis in the encampment, which has earned it the title of “Tipi Capital of the World.” Read more about: / Dance Regalia of the Fancy Shawl Dancer / How the Fancy Shawl Dance Competition is Judged / Crow Fair
Spider Rock Arizona USA 16 X 20 oil on canvas by Barbara Applegate

Spider Rock stands with awesome dignity and beauty over 800 feet high in Arizona’s colorful Canyon de Chelly National Park (pronounced da Shay). Geologists of the National Park Service say that “the formation began 230 million years ago. It stands windblown sand swirled and compressed with time created the spectacular red sandstone monolith. Long ago, the Dine (Navajo) Indian tribe named it Spider Rock. Stratified, multicolored cliff walls surround the canyon. For many, many centuries the Dine (Navajo) built caves and lived in these cliffs. Most of the caves were located high above the canyon floor, protecting them from enemies and flash floods. / This painting was created in my Grants Pass, Oregon Studio / Featured in / Spirit of the Native American / First People of America
Two Mountain Goats -- Modern Cave Painting by carolsuzanne

Acrylic on back stapled stretched canvas. 14”w x 11”h. This painting was inspired by the ancient petroglyphs in canyons and caves of the North American Southwest. The petroglyphs are thousands of years old and represent the creative expression of the very earliest Americans.
L'apache by Colombe Cambourne

Oils on canvas 40cm x 50cm / Cover photograph on the “Sacred Spirit” Chants and Dances of the Native AmericansCD

Recent Work

Graphite Excercise by graphiteaz

Original Art done in Graphite, 2b pencil on illustration board. Done from the photo on a postcard found in a gift shop. Photographer is well known, but don’t konw who. Strictly for fun, not for sale.
Graphite Excercise Indian Chief by graphiteaz

Original done in 2b pencil on illust. board. / Not for sale
Chimayo N Cosmos, Chimayo, New Mexico by Barbara Applegate

This painting of Chimayo, New Mexico in spring is a 16 X 20 Oil painting by Oregon artist Barbara Anne Applegate. / El Santuario de Chimayo, a National Historic Landmark, is located east of Espanola in the town of Chimayo, New Mexico, on NM 76. Constructed from 1813 to 1816 as a private chapel, this small adobe church is considered to be one of the most beautiful examples of Spanish Colonial architecture in New Mexico. Known as “the Loudres of New Mexico” because of the healing power of the mud found there. El Santuario was a privately owned chapel until the year l929, at that time several / people from Santa Fe bought it and turned it over to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. This has been Featured in the Following Groups: / Retired and Happy / New Mexico Has had aTop Ten Challenge Win in: / Christian Churches, Statues and Crosses
Church at Acoma, New Mexico by Barbara Applegate

San Esteban del Rey Church and Convent, located at Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico / Begun in 1630, only 32 years after Juan de Oñate took possession of New Mexico in the name of King Philip II of Spain, San Esteban del Rey Church was one of the few Spanish missions to survive the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. / Acoma Pueblo, sometimes known as “Sky City,” is probably the oldest continuously inhabited town in the United States. Acoma, which means the People of the White Rock, has been inhabited since the 12th century. The town is dramatically located on a sandstone mesa which rises 367 feet above the valley (7000 feet above sea level). / This 9 X 12 Oil painting by Barbara Anne Applegate was created in my Grants Pass, Oregon studio, USA
Red Hand Horse by carolsuzanne

Acrylic on back stapled stretched canvas. 24” x 18”
Cankpe Opi by Jan Landers

‘Cankpe Opi’ is Lakota for Wounded Knee…..the site of a massacre which occurred on December 29, 1890 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. On that bleak winter morning, the Sioux chief Big Foot and some 350 of his followers camped on the banks of Wounded Knee creek. They were surrounded by 500 US troops who were to disarm and arrest them. Sitting Bull had been murdered just days before. During a meeting to try and come to a truce, a shot from an unknown party was fired; this anonymous shot started the massacre. Indians ran to get their guns and defend themselves, but the surrounding army cut them all down. Over 300 Sioux were killed that day, and the massacre officially ended the Indian Wars but began the years of recrimination against the US government for their brutality toward the Indians. In the late 90’s, we visited the Wounded Knee Monument and it was one of the most chilling experiences I have ever had. Sitting there on the grass outside the fenced area which holds many gravesites, looking out over that valley, I could feel the strong Spirits of the Ancestors. I heard them singing and the beating of the drums permeated my being…I will never forget that feeling…. Today, sitting here in my home on this most beautiful winter’s day in the Rocky Mountains where I am safe and warm, I thought of that awful day and was compelled to create some art to honor those who died there that day in the snow covered hills of South Dakota….
Big Cave Buffalo by carolsuzanne

This painting was inspired by ancient images of buffalo and cattle that can be found in caves and canyons across the North American Southwest and in Europe. The painting is acrylic on gallery wrapped stretched canvas and is 24”w x 18”h. 501 views as of 11/18/09
Raven Totem Shield by Jan Landers

After creating the Coyote Shield, I have decided to do an Animal Totem Shield series using my artwork combined with my photos of animals. This one embodies the Magical energy of Raven. also available as tees: /
Rain Prayer by Bezay

Please listen to the accompanying music, I am very selective about which pieces have a companion piece This beautiful Navajo woman of the earth had just finished making me this beaded necklace as a gift for giving her a ride back from town. And the clouds were all about Aztec New Mexico
Apache by Bezay

Strength, Determination & Pride – there in his eyes Let these languages of these who came first never be forgotten, the lure of the city and money is dwindling the old ways In order for man to move forward we must always remember our past Albuequerque, New Mexico / /
Old Friends by Bezay

The Taos Cemetary New Mexico US, Only Earth people are buried here and swells up in my throat everytime I visit. It has been in use for nearly a thousand years
Window Rock Cedar ~ Oil Panting by Barbara Applegate

Window Rock- getting its name from the hole in the 200 foot high sandstone hill (Window Rock) located / right on the the New Mexico and Arizona state line about 27 miles northwest of Gallup, New Mexico, and about 6 miles southeast of Fort Defiance,Arizona. it is just across the New Mexico-Arizona state line, on the Arizona side, in Apache County. / Window Rock is the administrative Capitol and administrative center of the Navajo Nation. / This 8 X 10 oil painting is painted on canvas pad glued to a hard board. Created in my Grants Pass, Oregon Studio FEATURED IN / New Mexico Group