Mishi Peshu (Underwater Panther)

Title: Mishi Peshu
Materials: Black Ash Burl,Copper,Bison Horn,Deer Antler,Quahog Clam Shell,Pigment.
Size: 17"tall, 20.5"long,5.5" wide.
Date of Completion: May 2011


Mishi Peshu (Underwater Panther)

It was my sincere effort to render this cultural effigy in a way that not only possesses artistry and craftsmanship but also a sensitivity and respect to those who hold this design as sacred.

Mishi Peshu is only one of the many names in the Algonquin language for the entity known in English as the Underwater Panther. For some of the tribes near the Great Lakes and surrounding regions, Mishi Peshu represents the physical manifestation of and the ultimate metaphor for the mystery of the Great Lakes and a symbol of the power and danger of nature.

The Underwater Panther is a deity that has been honored for many centuries through offerings of tobacco into the waters in hopes of safe passage and as a sign of respect. By what I have read and understand, the Water Panther is not a malevolent entity, no more so than nature is malevolent. Indeed, some days the weather and the waves are violent, but never to be considered evil.

I drew my inspiration for this sculpture from a variety of early Woodland Indian sources. I have always loved the Underwater Panthers depicted in quillwork, beadwork and twine-weaving on early Indian pouches. There are also a number of 18th century effigy pipes and ball-headed clubs that depict what may have been intended to represent Underwater Panthers. The universal features that I understand to depict an Underwater Panther are: a cat-like torso, buffalo horns or deer antlers, and an unusually long tail. These features are commonalities shared among many different tribes. There are also charactoristics that are unique to various depictions, such as a "human-like" face and a tail terminating in a fish fin. This effigy is so ancient and shared among so many different tribal groups that many variants are to be expected. This deity is also known as having portions of its body composed of copper. It was thought that the chunks of copper ore found along the shores of the Great Lakes were parts of the Underwater Panther, being pieces of its hair or scales broken off during a battle with a Thunderbird.

My favorite pre-historic image of Mishi Peshu is painted upon the rock cliff along Lake Superior at a place known as Agawa Rock. There are more than a hundred effigies preserved upon this cliff face and they are estimated to be 500 to 3000 years old. Alongside the Underwater Panther painted on the rock are horned snakes. Snakes are often associated with this deity; some of the depictions appear to be a hybrid of the classic Water Panther design combined with the body of a snake. I do not pretend to understand all or even most of the significance of the spirituality of this iconography. What I have learned in this study is but a starting point.

The shape of the tail was suggested to me by the illustration (see top image) rendered by Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin, the first official cartographer in Canada and it dates to the 1670's. Franquelin drew this image based upon the description by the missionary Father Marquette:
"As we were moving along the side of these dreadful rocks - for their height and length - we saw on one of these rocks two monsters painted which at first scared us and on which the bravest sauvage dared not set eyes on for too long. They are as big as a calf, they have horns like deers, a dreadful stare, red eyes, a beard like that of a tiger, the face as something of that of a man, the body covered in scales and a tail so long as to go all around the body going over the head and coming back between the legs ending as a fishtail. The green, the red and the “blackish” are the three colors which make it. These two monsters are so well painted that we cannot believe them to be authored by a sauvage because the best French painters would have a hard time to make them so well and that they are so high on the rock that it is difficult for the painter to reach them. This is roughly the shape of these monsters as we have traced them."

I forged the tail, spine, necklace and claws from solid copper. I find the marriage of copper and burl visually harmonious. Historically, black ash was the species of burl often used by the Great Lakes tribes for making both domestic and spiritual artifacts.

I am not certain that the scalloped design along the back represented spines; it may have been an abstract way to depict the power or energy radiating from the deity. I like to think of this pattern as a representation of water. Many of the tribes surrounding the Great Lakes incorporate this same wave pattern into pipe stems, pipes, pottery, birchbark and engravings.

The silhouette image I included above illustrates the negative space, one of my favorite aspects of this sculpture is the harmonious play of geometry, being almost entirely composed of repeated elliptic curves, spheres and cusps.

My sincere appreciation and thanks to Scott Meachum for his insight and guidance throughout this project as well as his help in drafting this body of text.
I would also like to thank Steve Delisle for his exact French translation of Father Marquette's historic description.

Compassion

Sculpture Materials; Black Ash Burl, Moose Antler, Birchbark, Iron, Sealing Wax, Pine Pitch, Lead.
Base Materials; Copper, Iron, Leather.
Height (including base); 24 inches.

I began sketching my ideas for this sculpture in February 2010. My inspiration came from an early 19th century Ottawa sculpture illustrated in the book, Splendid Heritage, by John and Marva Warnock, 2009. The original carving is believed to have been made by the Ottawa carver, Chief Blackbird, for a Jesuit mission sometime before 1840.

My sculpture is not a strict reproduction of the original. I made several changes, seeking to add my own inspirations, yet staying within the authentic historic parameters of material, design and construction methods common to early Native American carvers of the Great Lakes region.

I chose Black Ash for the body as it is indigenous to the Great Lakes region, as well as the historic home of the Ottawa people. I colored the wood by constructing a smoke chamber and feeding a small fire of cedar and pine bows for two days. My intent was to obtain a patina and color that is so often associated with wooden objects darkened by many years within a native lodge.

The hands and feet are pierced with antique hand-forged iron nails and are secured with very old red sealing wax. Like the original, I used birchbark to represent the loin cloth.

In keeping with this Northern theme of materials, the arms, legs, head and thorns are secured with pine pitch. Using pitch makes it possible to disassemble the piece so that it could be packed tight for travel as if it might have been carried from mission to mission by an early Jesuit traveling by canoe.

The head is articulated and can be posed. This I was able to do by hammering a musket ball into a rod, thereby connecting the head to the neck with the ability to turn and tilt, capturing subtle variations of light on its features.

The crown of thorns is made from sharpened slivers of moose antler, secured by pitch and set into holes made with a hot iron rod as was common to native construction methods of the period. I chose to exaggerate the size of the crown tines so as to give it a duel symbolism of a halo.

The base is made from 12 pounds of solid copper with a threaded iron rod that fits into a hole in the figure's back; it can also be hung on a wall without the base. I dappled the surface of the copper in keeping with my interest in the Arts & Crafts movement of the early 20th century...as if Roycroft had prepared this sculpture for exhibit.

Hoyaneh

Title; Hoyaneh
Material; Black Ash Burl, Deer Antler, Trade Silver Earrings.
Size; 21" tall
Date of creation; 2010

I consider this sculpture my finest original creation to date. It is not a copy of any known original but a unique culmination of inspirations adapted from early Woodland Indian art effigies. It was my intention to try to capture the essence of 17th and 18th century Native American sculptures in order that I might be able to render and bring forward something unique that possessed the same essence of an earlier period.

My friend Michael Galban, historian at Ganondagan State Historic Site in Western New York commented;
"Haudenosaunee "chiefs" are called "Hoyaneh" and on their headdress they wear the antlers of authority which is the tangible symbol of office. I was struck by that when I saw your sculpture. However the metaphor is not simply a badge of office but when deer antlers are worn it symbolizes that the people depend on that leader like they depend on the deer for sustenance."

It was from Michael's letter that I titled my sculpture "Hoyaneh". By applying the deer antlers, I was not intending to represent a mortal being, but a spiritual effigy...one of sustenance.

© Steven M. Lalioff 2010

Bust with Crown

I started this carving almost 10 years ago and only finished it in 2009. My studio has many projects in various states of completion. Sometimes I get stalled for lack of just the right tool or materials...sometimes I just get too busy with life.

This carving is not made of burl wood, but made from a 180 year old walnut log obtained from a log barn restoration. There are over 200 growth rings, so this tree began growing about the year 1600. The finish is chip carved and over that a hand made paint. I burnished the painted surface in order to rub through the high points to expose the dark walnut underneath. The design for this bust is based upon a carved effigy head that adorns an exceptional 17th century Native American ball club. As is found on the original club, the eyes of my sculpture are cast in pure lead.

The headdress and 18th c. style trade silver were made by artist Jan Zender. The headdress is known as a chiefs crown and is made from buffalo horn, dyed porcupine quills, horse and deer hair, rawhide, brain tanned deer skin and natural pigments. The original 18th century crown is in the collections of the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.

Jan Zender is one of the worlds leading artists in the field of early Native American artifact reproductions and restoration. I have included a link to his web site at the right of this blog.

photo by Jan Riser