Description
The warm tones of the Cheyenne Virgin Mother and Child reflect the sun drenched environment of the southern plains. The mother sits with quiet dignity positioning the child in its cradle between her legs. She wears an elegantly beaded, fringed and painted deerskin dress and a belt of German silver discs. Her leather, rawhide and beaded leg-moccasins are similarly decorated with German silver buttons. The earrings, falling alongside her ribboned braids and framing the multi-stringed bone hair-pipe and bead necklace, are crafted from the same German silver.
Traditional iconography gives witness to the human face of the Sacred. This icon, imaged in the features of America's indigenous peoples, reveals anew that sacred power. It celebrates the soul of the Native American as the original spiritual presence on this continent, and as a prophetic sign, it celebrates the vision of Native and Christian peoples of this land.