Mesoamerican Art

[Kenm810]

Another rainy day, today so I thought I'd Sharpen a few of my crayons
and trace a little Per-Columbian art to add to the Forum Gallery.

Here's a Maya Vision Serpent that symbolizes the passage of ancestral spirits
and the gods of Xibalba (the maya underworld) into our world.

[William Blankenship]

Pretty cool. Thanks for sharing. I have photos of some artwork from the Etowah indian mounds in North Georgia that exhibit similar features to this. This artwork is from 1000 A.D. to 1500 A.D., the Mississippian Culture. The art I have was originally carved on wooden discs. Ironic that centuries later there would be someone to carve them again. I'll post some of this in the coming weeks.

I wish you could send some of that rain my way.

[liquidguitars]

Very cool Ken!

LG

[RayTrek]

Ken,
Way impressive with explanation as well, you wow me with your vast knowledge and talent, it is very appreciated.
Thanks Heeps
Ray

[Kenm810]

Thanks guys,

I really do a lot of reading, and it just so happens that Art and Art History
are a couple of my favorite subjects.

So here's another one for you.

Maya Ruler King Pacal,
Based on knowledge of the larger cycles of Time as mapped by the ancient Maya,
Pacal Votan knew that humanity as a species would become disconnected from the laws of the natural world
and would fall ignorant of our sacred interdependence with nature.
And believed that we are collectively in a transition phase of the old world dying and a new world being born.

[William Blankenship]

Nicely done. Do you draw these or are you using a scanning probe?

[Kenm810]

Hi William,

I have used my scanning probe for some more sturdy pieces in the past,
but the dried clay or stucco figures are way to fragile for the CW probe.
So some of these are just drawings of photos and tracings, it's much safer all-round.
They carve up will on the CW and with a little faux stone finishing
they make nice wall hangings or mounted display pieces.

[William Blankenship]

Thank you very much for this. It really is a very nice piece. I can't wait to carve this one. What is the history surrounding this one? How old is it?

[Kenm810]

Here ya go,

The Ball Player

From Palenque, Mexico 590 A.D.

Surrounded by hieroglyphs, an ancient ball player demonstrates his skill and strength. The player's ability to manipulate and move the ball into stone rings, without the use of hands, was played to honor the gods with skill. The Maya, game was called (Ulama)and had a religious significance. The ballplayer's solar headdress identifies him as one of the Hero Twins from the Maya epic Popol Vuh. It is generally believed that there were probably two version of the ball game. One was played as a sport, and probably had some betting involved. The other version was a religious re-enactment of the story of the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh. In this case, there were probably only 2 players and the winner and looser were pre-determined. --

[William Blankenship]

This is very nice. I like the history surrounding the piece. Do you have a larger scan of this Black and White artwork? If you do would you be willing to send it via PM?