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Caballos
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An optimistic note for a troubled world:
I am featuring the white horse a symbol of freedom in combination with the tapetes (rugs) of a small village in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Teottitlan de Valle is populated by artesanos of Zapotec origin who honour the environmentally responsible tradition of using natural dies from insects and plants for their wool tapetes. I was drawn to this village having heard of its weaving culture, their shared use of land and prohibition of large hotels of foreign ownership.
The patterns I use in my paintings are derived from rugs of my Zapotec weaving friends in Teotitlan - Juan Carlos
They shared with me the symbolic meaning of the patterns in their art. Simplistically speaking dots reference corn, triangles – clouds and mountains, yellow- the earth, interrupted parallel lines – rain; all elements to be honoured and protected.
Who is she?
Maureen Enns spent in depth time in remote locations around the world documenting and creating artworks about the wild, the free, the misunderstood. Her paintings today are the result of many experiences ranging from:
-Crossing the Australian desert by camel -" Back of Beyond" opened in Brisbane during Expo 88 and toured Australia
-Spending time Kenya, Africa creating a body of work for a documentary film, "Game's End"
-Riding Spud, her quarter horse through Banff National Park to photograph the misunderstood grizzly bear, publishing "Grizzly Kingdom", 1995 and was the subject of the CBC documentary, "The Grizzly and the Artist"
-Living in Kamchatka 9 summers to study the emotional lives of grizzlies, release two books "Grizzly Heart" and Grizzly Seasons" 2003, co-authored with Charlie Russell. Documentary "Living with Giants" released 2003.
-Published "Wild Horses, Wild Wolves - Legends at Risk at the Foot of the Canadian Rockies", 2015, Rocky Mountain Books
-Exhibiting in Zipolite, Mexico “The Naked Sea” where she focused on the patterns of sea turtles, combined with that of plastic that could kill them.
Maureen and Biscuit, 2001, Kamchatka
Contact:
email: maureenennsstudio@icloud.com
email: maureenennsstudio@icloud.com
