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October Issue 2005
Summit One Gallery in Highlands, NC, Offers Works by Vera Struck
The
Last Dance, an exhibit of works by
Vera Struck opens at Summit One Gallery in Highlands, NC, on Oct.
8, 2005. The exhibition continues through Nov. 21, 2005.
Struck creates artwork to get us in touch with our alchemical memory. Her art is a timeless, erotic bridge between classicism and modernity. Unifying right and left brain hemispheres, Struck's work is designed to provoke viewers into the remembrance that we are human, physical, we emote, and we are still capable of love and spiritual enlightenment.
Cosmopolitan, multidimensional, and amazingly productive, Struck is fastidious and ritualistic about her work. Every workday she rolls out canvas to cover her floor, and then immerses herself in painting. At the day's end she rolls the canvas up to reveal perfect, beautiful parquet floors. This separates work time from the rest of her life, which is full with friends, galleries and constant surprises. Struck has traveled extensively since completing her graduate degree at The Museum School in Boston.
For The Last Dance, Struck wants the viewer to feel the anima and life force of the Native American Ghostdancer. The artist tapped into her own Native American heritage and displays iconographic spiritual energy in her historic mixed media portraits of legendary shamans, their shields, victory wreaths, and headdresses. The artist portrays the bittersweet outcome of Wovoka's message in two uniquely different color palettes.
Wovoka, (1858-1932), a Paiute, and prophet
of a messianic religion sometimes called the Ghost Dance religion.
Also known as Jack Wilson, he was influenced by his father (a
mystic) as well as by the Christian family for whom he worked
and the Shaker religion. Wovoka claimed that during an eclipse
of the sun (Jan. 1, 1889) he had a vision in which God had given
him a message - that after a series of events, all native people,
living and dead, would be reunited to live a life free from death,
disease, and misery. In order to bring this about, however, the
Native Americans would have to follow Wovoka's doctrine of pacifism
and practice the sacred dance he taught them.
To make his message more convincing, Wovoka proved his supernatural
powers by simple tricks, one of which, the supposedly bulletproof
ghost shirt, was to play a tragic part in the massacre of the
Sioux at Wounded Knee. Before long his stature grew from Paiute
prophet to Messiah, and his religion, which spread rapidly through
the western indigenous nations, took on warlike overtones never
intended by its founder. The great popularity of Wovoka's ghost
dance waned as his prophecy failed to materialize and as his converts
were forced onto reservations.
For further info check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 828/526-2673 or at (www.summitonegallery.com).
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