Welcome to Rainbow Weaver's YES! Gallery
Medicine Wheel - Wakon
This silkscreen design is made from a color separation of a watercolor painting that I did derived from a Lakota (native American-think “Dances with Wolves”) Medicine wheel pattern. They painted this design on tipis and sacred buffalo-hide medicine shields, and wove the Sacred Wheel of Life onto baskets, and carved it into pottery.
The four colors represent the four directions, times of day, and stages of life: yellow-east, sunrise youth, red-south, noontime, the reproductive years, black-west, sunset, retiring years, and white-north, midnight, the end of life until the beginning of the next stage.
The four totem animals represent stages of personal growth which repeat throughout our lifetimes in cycles. The eagle represents the long-view, idealism, aloofness, a broad and grand, but sometimes immature approach. The mouse (sometimes also represented by a mother coyote) symbolizes the vulnerability of one who is intimately connected to all that they interact with, humble and meek, but hardworking enterprising, and down-to-earth practical, and a good negotiator. The black bear hibernating in the cave suggests a acceptance of the need for times of personal reflection and accountability, taking stock of one’s own responsibility for creating the situations we find ourselves in. The white buffalo stands for the willingness to sacrifice one’s own desires to serve the greater good, immense honor, generosity, and strength.
The swirls in the middle portray the constant cycling of time, what the Lakota call the ‘four winds’. The rainbow surrounding it all speaks to the idea of egalitarian ideals of the mixing harmoniously of every different hue, with each retaining its integrity, and contributing its individuality to a beautiful, diverse, unity.
We are currently in the process of building my web site to showcase my talents as an artist, muralist, photographer and more. Please check back often as we grow. Or call me at the numbers below if you have any questions.