Contextual essay (exhibition catalog): Making the invisible visible. A series of paintings focusing on Native American oral traditions

The PDE for Rankin's program consisted of the selection of fifteen (15) works of art, with a Contextual Essay, that were created during the course of studies into areas of new learning. The paintings were based upon images or ideas prevalent in Native American cosmos. The ideas and images were developed from tales and oral traditions that have been shared around the fireside from generation to generation, While a large body of the works reflect the stories of the Shawnee and Cherokee, other tribal groups are also represented. Some of the ideas and creatures portrayed are almost universal and may appear in the cosmology of various tribes in varying manifestations. Once such creature is Uktena. The concept of this serpent is found in pre-Columbian America as well as 18-19th Century Native American legends. Uktena is seen as a powerful creature who can move from the underworld to our world and to the heavens with great ease. In the heavens, Uktena is the plumed or winged serpent, so often attributed to, but not confined to Aztec and Maya cosmology.;The paintings that were developed represent the artist's journey into experimental methods of painting that depict new images and explorations of Native American paper and pigment making techniques. A Contextual Essay (catalog) accompanies the exhibit of paintings with an appendix that describes Native American paper-making techniques.