Visioning Station

"Stars & Stones", 2020

The above part of this drawing is based on some geometrical figures that interest me as well as a configuration of stars that I'm always searching for when I look up at the night sky...

If you look at the relationship between Sirius, Canis Major, the Belt of Orion, Aldabaran, Taurus and the Pleiades you'll see they're in a nearly perfect line. I find a lot of meaning in the relationships of those stars and constellations. The line suggests a narrative and the mythological meanings of the stars and figures suggest the archetypal story of the hero's journey...
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The cairn in the lower half of the drawing is based on the one outside our home in Kanab. When I was at Southern Oregon University, the Native American Studies professor told us about the "visioning stations" found at the tops of many of the mountains in the Siskiyou range. A visioning station is a cairn on top of a mountain where young Native Americans would pray concerning their futures. Typically the crowning rocks on the top of each cairn would point to nearby sacred mountains. Thus, a sort of constallation of visioning stations was formed across the Siskiyou range...

This image is about the connections we seek and the connections we make in life and how they hold us together; especially during times when chaotic forces try to separate us and tear us apart.

I thought this would be a great image to share on a site like Society6. They are currently selling these prints for 40% off the regular price: https://society6.com/joshuabaird