Description
The “Medicine Wheel with Feathers,” by Allen Eckman, is a limited edition cast paper sculpture that depicts the sacred object with cloth twists and eagle feathers dangling from a hoop wrapped in porcupine quills that surrounds four radiating ‘spokes’ resembling a cross.
The medicine wheel, or sacred hoop, is a strong and familiar symbol of the Northern Plains Indian culture. The circle represents the immediate universe, i.e., the family circle, friends and extended family or tiospaye, the world around them and the cycles of life such as the seasons and the stages of life. The cross in the center represents the sacred number four. It symbolizes the four cardinal directions, the four winds, the four stages of life, the four seasons, etc.