Sentimental Reminder ~ "Seeds of Suns"

 This is a painting where I reinterpreted and reimagined my Great-Grandfather’s artwork of the Native American Indian, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce that resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.  I call my painting “Seeds of Suns”.         
​{ oil on 22 x 28 canvas }    

 My inspiration and appreciation for art spoke to me early in life as I discovered the world around me covered with beautiful paintings that my Mom used to decorate the walls of our home. Most of this artwork which my Mom displayed in my childhood home was created by her Mother’s Father  -  my Great-Grandpa, William Purcell McDonald.

   It has always filled me with great pride and wonder knowing and seeing how accomplished my great-grandfather was with his art, particularly with much of his famous Rookwood Pottery.  Below is a picture of one of his painted Rookwood Pottery vases honoring Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce on exhibit in The American Wing of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. – It is the piece I reinterpreted for my “Seeds of Suns” painting.
​
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibit description reads:
​

Vase.  Decorated by William P. McDonald
(1865-1931), Rookwood Pottery Company
(1880-1967), Cincinnati, Ohio, 1895-1900
Stamped and incised: conjoined RB surmounted by fourteen flame points/51385/WPMcDonald
Earthenware
The Rookwood “Standard” background glaze of orange brown reflects the nineteenth-century palette.  The vivid portrait of the beloved and proud Chief Joseph of the Nez Percéé is a sentimental reminder of the romance of the American West.
​

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/9355 

​​
   Our national museums are a treasure to me. Earlier this year I found it interesting to discover more about my Great Grandfather and his Rookwood Pottery when I happened to come across the book Rookwood and the American Indian on the bookstore shelves in the iconic Union Terminal which is now repurposed as the Cincinnati Museum Center.  Below is a picture collage that I took on my visit to the beautiful museum including some pictures of the book and a few of its pages.  { Some information that I did not know about my great-grandfather until I read the first couple lines of a biography profile in Rookwood and the American Indian was that, “William McDonald was born in Cincinnati on September 18, 1864.  He was an accomplished violinist who had to choose between art and music for his career.”  ~ After this discovery, I found it pretty wonderful to learn a little about his musical artistry as well. }

​  Through this exercise of painting William P. McDonald’s vessel of Chief Joseph, I have come to feel in my heart that not only do I share the spirit of art with my Great-Grandfather, but I have come to feel that we also share in our love and mourning for the Native American people and their culture including their tradition of teaching their profound wisdom and respect for our planet as the source of being – for the earth and sky and for the Great Spirit that animates all life in and through them.  This “Seeds of Suns” painting is a “sentimental reminder” to me of these legendary heroes of mine - - of my Great-Grandfather, of the beloved Chief Joseph, and of this planet earth and her heavenly lands whose deep layers of sentiment create for us a home. 

​

Some process pictures. { I started playing with this composition in May of 2016 and was just working from the floor since we were in the process of moving that summer.  After my initial start, I did not get back to working on the painting and putting it on my easel until September of that year. }

A photo of my artist Great-Grandfather, William Purcell McDonald :

* More images of my Great-Grandfather’s artwork including some of his renowned landscapes are linked in the following blog:
Air to Water: The Revolution of Ten Koi

* New Blog about a Christmas 2021 visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the exhibit of my Great-Grandfather's artwork of Chief Joseph:

The MET at Christmastime - Chrissy Breslin Schroeder