Visionary Artist MARTI FENTON

 
 

Introducing The Art of Marti Fenton White Deer Song.

The paintings shown within this site cover the period of my life spent in Taos, New Mexico. Some are from Cottonwood, Arizona. I feel they are about revelation. The revelation is first for myself but I hope they will touch others as well.

Each image has been a doorway into a new perspective on life. Some of the paintings I still own, many have found a home in another country or another state. When I first began painting again after a gap of over 20 years, I was surprised by the images that came forth. There was no resemblance to paintings from earlier in my life. For that reason I felt no ego identification with the images and I didn't care if others were critical or complimentary about them. I didn't identify with them because they emerged with a life of their own and a message that I sometimes understood immediately and sometimes not for a long time. Some are still teaching me.

I knew they came into existence both to teach me and to help me communicate something I otherwise wouldn't be able to convey. Because they cover a span of sixteen years some are technically better than others but I've chosen to mix all periods together. I've found that some of the early ones less skillfully rendered have more power or at least as much power as more recent efforts. They are still my teachers and I hope they give something to others as well.

Much to my surprise, these images resembled religious Icons that emanated their own power and seemed to speak to me about why the different stages of my life fell into a particular order. The Indigenous soul of the Southwest has always spoken to me in ways that I could never explain effectively in words. For this reason most of the images of Pueblo Indian women and some of Pueblo Indian men. Others are of familiar native themes and stories used in a way that felt as if it was bridging a cognitive gap between modern Anglo-American culture and indigenous cultures. Along the way I've come to believe that the primary message coming through these images is that we are all indigenous people but those of us who were spawned within an artificial technical culture and whose immediate ancestors came from another continent have lost their connection with the earth that supports them as well as their ancestral source. It is my wish that we all honor what is indigenous within us and seek to protect the lifestyles of peoples everywhere in the world who have maintained an unbroken spiritual and cultural connection with their ancestors.

 
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