Artist Statement
The Inuit believed in the existence of the Soul in all living things. The concept of reincarnation was central to family and community beliefs.
As a vigorous group of Arctic people, the Inuit came from west to east in wave after wave of nomadic bands in search of new land and game. With the re-curved Asiatic bow and toggle harpoon they hunted sea and land mammals. They traveled by kayak and umiak in summer and by dog team in winter.
The Inuit Shaman acted as mediator between the world of man, animals, and the spirit world. He was the keeper of Inuit stories, myths and legends …the repository of knowledge of the land and the secret worlds.
The Viking Norse came into North America by way of migrations from their Scandinavian homelands through the British Isles, Ireland and the Northern Islands, Iceland and then Greenland. They had highly developed religious, spiritual, and cultural beliefs and artistic traditions.
The Viking Norse had a mythological landscape inhabited by gods and goddesses, giants, monsters and demons. Their sagas speak of their Shamanic beliefs.
In Iceland, as a Greenland, the Viking Norse gave names to places and things that held power in their imagination. They used the spirit names of the mountain, river, stream, valley and forest – protective spirits and malevolent ones as well.
My sculptures portraying Viking Norse myths, stories and legends have Norse decorative lines and motifs. These are designs that I have adapted and changed to enhance the visual impact and to convey the sense of belonging to that place and time.
As a storyteller, I have sought to bring life to these ancient voices from a time when these two northern people held a reverence for the land and for all living things therein that provided sustenance and survival.