Fire Dance

Tribal-inspired, the firekeepers dance

TEAM MEETING’

The drums of the Sundance are
amplified even more by the beat of my
heart.

Dancers, medicine men, and fire keepers
stand together as they assess the
moment.

With much prayer the team meeting
begins.

This is a journey is beyond description.

Thank you Grandfather for your
guidance!!!

HO….

Q and A

1/ The painting depicts both your love and interest of the Native American culture and of sports/ football. How were both of these influential in this piece?

Football has been my life. God designed me to play football. I have always been passionate about the sport…from all the technical components to constantly testing ones self. It requires extreme physical skills combined with an un parallel desire and intelligence .

I have many of the exact elements with my art so I approach my art journey with the same plan. So far it has been magnificent…now it is beginning to pick up speed.

2/ When you look at this piece how do you feel? What do you see?

When I see Team Meeting I think of the correlation between football and my personal experience being a fire keeper at the La Kota Sun Dance.

The first and most important comparison that it is about team. Like a successful football team. It is not just one man…it takes a solid group of men.

At the Sun Dance the team involves The Chief…The Head Coach. The Sun Dancers are like the players . The Medicine-men are there to help connect us all to Grandfather …like the Chaplin on a team.
The fire-keeper have the stones ready for the sweat lodge…like the trainers…

Everything is organized and every component relies on the other to carry their load.

3/ How did you become interested the the Native American Culture?

My fathers best friend was his 1st cousin, Al Glover. Uncle Al was part Native American. Growing up we spent a lot of time in Delzura with Uncle Al. There is little knowledge about my dads father, but it is said he was part Choctaw . As I became older I had more native friends. There was a connection in many ways.

I was raised in a very spiritual environment and the native spirituality has been enlightening. God is referred to as Grandfather. My interest in the Environment and graduating from The College of Environmental Design is also in concert with the respect that he native culture feel about Mother Earth.