"Many Nations" Print Availability

This painting is composed of 2 Acrylic paintings entitled “The Women of the 4 Directions” (Left Half) and “The Women of the Pueblos” (Right Half). It has been digitally recreated to allow the artist Daniel Ramirez to hand paint every one at a time in order to implement the colors and details that can be appreciated in the 2 original paintings in acrylics. The “Women of Many Nations” is the second painting from the World Longest Native American Painting project. It is preceded by “The Women of the Great lakes” and followed by “Passing-on Traditions”.

“WOMEN OF THE FOUR DIRECTIONS”

The Women of the Four Directions is from my series entitled, “Caring for Our Elders,” and it demonstrates my drawing, painting and design skills as we go into 2011. Over several years I have been painting the series on the elders and it has developed into my plan to create the “World’s Longest Native American Painting.

-- My feelings have grown the more I think about the role of our Native women, whether mothers, sisters, grandmothers—they are all so important to us. My painting is an honoring for them. It is the “humanity” of their lives that they bring to our lives. We as tribal people we need to recognize how important it is to honor them in any way we can; this is my honoring for them.

The idea behind this painting is the importance of our Four Sacred Colors, the four colors of man, the Four Directions, and lastly, the associated Sacred Plant of each direction. I describe this piece from left to right as eight women of different tribes that represent each of the directions including, on the left two women of the (NW) Western tribes including one friend of mine. They are wearing regalia that is black which represents the west. They also hold a stalk of Sage in their hands. Next, the women in white represent the Northern tribes including a contemporary Odawa woman and a Saginaw Chippewa women (my aunt Margaret Waynee). They are holding Sweetgrass braids in their hands. The next couples represent two Eastern bands and they wear yellow and hold in their hands a bundle of Tobacco leaves. The Eastern bands represented are Cherokee and Choctaw. The fourth couples are in red colored regalia, they represent the South, hold Cedar in their hands and are from the Tohono Odham Tribe and the Osage people.

This design is a combination of women I have drawn from memory; sometimes friends. Others are drawn from photographs for accuracy. The yellow figure on the right was found on the internet while I was searching the archives for photographs of women from the Cherokee nation. This is an important element of my painting process. It is important to me to be able to use these methods in my process in order to make the information within the piece clear. Each painting from this theme, the series called “Caring for Our Elders,” informs the next painting and helps me to develop what the next subject of the next painting will be. To this end, “The World’s Longest Native American Painting” has been developed and conceived for several years, however it will be a entirely new and complete idea.

“WOMEN OF THE PUEBLOS”

"The women of the pueblos" is part of the World Longest Native American Painting project following the piece entitled the Women of the Four Directions. These 2 paintings together create the composition entitled "The Women of Many Nations". On this part of the project, Daniel Ramirez describes here the different and various Tribes we can encounter in a small geographical area such as New Mexico.

The first woman on the left is dressed in a traditional outfit (black manta) carrying on her head a beautiful water jar also called Olla. She represents the Water Carrier of the Taos Pueblo in northern NM. The three young women next to her with their very recognizable hair style are the Hopi Women also dressed in their traditional outfits with a young child holding in her hands a traditional rattle from the Hopi People.

The Woman following them with white hairs is a portrait of Maria Martinez who is famous for her invention of the Black Pottery that she created during the early 20th century in the San Ildefonso Pueblo located between Santa Fe and Taos, close to the Santa Clara Pueblo just outside Espanola. She presents to us one of her black pot creation.

Then we have the three traditional Dancers from the San Felipe, Santo Domingo and Isleta Pueblos located on the side of the Rio Grande just outside Albuquerque. Daniel describes here 3 generations of women holding in their hand the sacred bundles of evergreen that they use during their dances to honnor Mother Earth. They always dance with bear foot. They are dressed in the their traditional regalia composed of the Black Manta, their woven belts and their Blue Tableta on their heads. The Blue Tableta is very traditional and represents the harmonious balance between the sun and the moon.

The first woman with a very identifiable water jar on her head is the potter and water carrier of the Zuni Pueblo. Zuni pottery often includes in their designs an animal clan symbol such has the Deer which is one of their clan symbols. She is dressed in the very traditional black manta outfit like the woman close to her who is also a water carrier from the Acoma Pueblo. These 2 women are dressed the same way because Daniel wanted to remind us that a long time ago these people were not divided like they are today. They were all part of a large population of Natives who lived peacefully together.

Finally, the last three women are three generations of women from the Navajo Nations. They are dressed in the very traditional Velvet outfits with their beautiful Concho belts at their waist. These Navajo women are not pueblo women. They are Dine People coming from the North Western territories of America. A long history of conflicts between the Pueblo Indians and Navajo Indians is at the origin of the complex population of the Southwest Indian Tribes. Over the centuries, the Women of both Nations have developed a particular relationship based on sisterhood in order to keep the peace between these nations. This is why traditionally every pueblo woman has a "sister" from the Navajo Nation.