if predictions regarding possible disruption of national and global food chains come to pass . ( My state currently imports nearly 98 percent of its foodstuffs even as it exports a comparable amount of its own agricultural production .)
The most salient features of the “ Sacred Earth , Caring Community ” drawings and subsequently , of the mural , included a majority of women and children performing timeless agricultural activities . These included the broadcasting of seed by a woman balancing a clay water jar on her head , the opening of a headgate for the irrigation of recently sown fields by another , and the piling up of dirt around a tall corn plant by a little boy who is kneeling beside it full of wonder and concern . Another child is seen hauling water for the plant , while next to him , his mother and younger brother head off toward the fields to gather harvest .
On either side of this grouping are other powerful women including a smiling lady who holds a large , gleaming conch in her arms , evocative of the sea . On the opposite side , an elderly woman is seen baking bread in an earthen oven . Next to her , a young man is shaping a large clay bowl bearing the image of a deer deemed sacred to the Pueblo peoples . At each of the mural ’ s ends , two colossal young , Native Americans , a male and female , hold the entirety of the space within their sacred embrace . The young man is invoking the powers of the universe with his upturned gaze , arms and hands , while the young woman is in a state of peaceful repose , a small child seated playfully upon her lap .
As serene as the foreground may seem , the transition into this new age of renewed intimate contact with the earth is at best partial . The skies , inhabited by Mayan gods seated in council and gifting humankind with the gift of corn , are tumultuous . By turns , they flood the world with excessive rain or scorch the ground with the unabating heat of the sun . It is a reminder that our prolonged disregard for the earth will continue to have long-term effects even after we have stopped burning fossil fuels . As a result of erratic weather , the woman who is baking bread is also wading through knee-deep water , while the bent , young man holding a shovel is putting out a wildfire .
When I began painting the mural , I was convinced that I needed to employ brilliant colors in order to give viewers a respite from the monotonous , pervasive grey of the city . As soon as I heard viewers ’ exclamations of joy over the effects of using so rich a palette as well as of their close identification with its personages , I knew that I was on the right path . Of gigantic proportions — 50 feet long by 12 feet high — the mural reawakened my body to the benefits of hard physical work and my spirit to the power and majesty of the earth itself .
For me , the best part of this ambitious undertaking , however ,
42 plenty I summer growing 2023