Description: Title 'A Gift From California' Artist Harry Fonseca (1946-2006) Maidu/Portuguese/Hawaiian Artist Date of work1980Medium SpecificSerigraphEdition / State39/75 ClassificationLimited Edition Print Uncirculated Dimensions22.5 x 30.5 *This Serigraph was never framed or sold. Has been owned by the descendants of the printmaker that helped print the work with the artist Harry Fonseca. The work has been in a flat file since 1980. It will be shipped flat-packed shrink-wrapped under foam-core. **'Certificate of Authenticity' (COA) Original print documentation & paper work provided from original print maker... Serigraphics' Albuquerque NM 1029 San Mateo Blvd. Memo on "A Gift From California" This Serigraph was part of Fonseca's exploration of his Maidu heritage. This was before he moved to New Mexico; and this work pre-dates his New Mexico life. Beginning in the early 1970s he began learning more about his Nisenan (Southern Maidu) heritage by attending dances, participating in dances, learning from Maidu elders and doing his own research. This is a Serigraph of four woman making an offering or gift of possibly fruit (Strawberries?) to the creator or 'Great Person' towards the viewer. In California Maidu belief, the world begins with Helin Maideh (Great Person), who first created water and air. He floated on a raft with Turtle at the beginning in that formless world with no sun, no moon, no stars. He was lonely, so he thought into creation Kodoyampeh (World Maker), and together, the three set out to make the world. Turtle dove into the water over and over for days on end—until finally he returned with a tiny bit of earth from the bottom of the waters. They took the dirt, formed it into a cake, anchored it with four white feathered ropes, and that became the world, with its hills and mountains, lakes and streams. Helin Maideh next made the animals, fishes, birds and plants. Then the three set out to populate the earth. There are many stories and many versions, but in one, Kodoyampeh put a willow stick under each arm, and went to sleep. When he woke, the first man and woman were there to greet him. Kodoyampeh made the world comfortable for First People, with food and fire, and changing seasons: Rain Season (kummini), Leaf Season (yominni), Dry Season (ilaknom), and Falling Leaf Season (matminni). He gave them songs and stories to tell to their children and grandchildren. Every Maidu group, every California group, had a different story to tell. Why? The landscape changes in each place as the Ancients travelled through the world. In some spots, snow was piled to make mountains; in others, creatures rested and were turned to stone. The Miwok of Yosemite tell the story of Little Bear, who fell asleep and awoke to find his rock had grown into El Capitan! Welgatim’s Song (at the Crocker) tells the story of Coyote, so mean to his wife Welgatim (Frog-Woman), that she causes a great Flood to wash all the troubles of the world away. *OTHER HARRY FONSECA SERIGRAPHS, AN ORIGINAL DRAWING & ONE ORIGINAL WORK ON CANVAS ARE AVAILABLE. PLEASE CONTACT ONLY IF SERIOUSLY INTERESTED BiographyFonseca was born in Sacramento, California in 1946, and is of Nisenan Maidu, Hawaiian, and Portugese heritage. He studied for a time at Sacramento City College and with Frank LaPena at Cal State University at Sacramento, but was reluctant to become an academic stylist, so he decided not to continue formal art education in order to pursue his own vision.In his close to twenty-year career as an exhibiting artist, Harry Fonseca's work has gone through a number of transformations, but the one constant has been his openness to new influences and sources of inspiration. Fonseca's earliest pieces drew from his Maidu heritage. He was influenced by basketry designs, dance regalia, and by his participation as a traditional dancer. Further, the creation myth of his people, as recounted by his uncle, Henry Azbill, became the source of a major 1977 work, Creation Story. This piece visually embodies the underpinnings of Maidu culture. Margaret Archuleta has noted that the work is a pictorially complex sequence set in a spiral motif. The central focal point is Helinmaiden, the Maidu Big Man, Great Man, or God, as he appears on the raft with Turtle. The continuing pencil and ink drawings are linked together as they rotate in a clockwise movement around the central axis of Helinmaiden, whose importance is expressed by his central placement. The spiral design echoes the cyclical rhythm of the storytelling in connection with the seasonal celebrations.This myth continues to inspire Fonseca, as his 1991 The Maidu Creation Story shows. The basic imagery of this painting recalls petroglyphic symbols, and although less figurative than the 1979 work, still seeks to give visual form to myth. Fonseca does not replicate his past imagery but looks for new ways of connecting to tradition. Regarding the 1991 work, Darryl Wilson has pointed out that Fonseca "was particularly struck by ancient rock art from the Coso Range in the high desert country near Owens Lake [north of Ridgecrest, California]. Because of its powerful appeal, he incorporated some of its images into the similarly powerful and appealing creation story Henry Azbill told him."Another level of transformation is evident in the Coyote series, which Fonseca began in 1979 (and which, after a few years' hiatus, he has started again). The subject of these works is Coyote, the trickster and transformer. Fonseca resituates the culture hero into contemporary settings, such as San Francisco's Mission District. Coyote can become an updated and sneaker-wearing Rousseau, holding his palette on a Parisian quay (Rousseau Revisited, 1986), or headress-clad and sneakered (Coyote in Front of Studio, 1983). Coyote becomes an alembic through which Fonseca filters his vision of the artist, and the Indian, in society.Fonseca's continuing interest in rock art led him to develop the Stone Poems, an extensive series of works exploring the imagery of petroglyphs, not only from California but throughout the West and Southwest, especially Utah. The Stone Poems are not meant to be so much an interpretive recording of rock images but a way of self-exploration. The canvases, some as large as 6' by 12', suggest the size and scope of petroglyphic panels in situ.Fonseca's work took a more political turn with the 1992 Discovery of Gold and Souls in California series. Each of these small mixed-media pieces, measuring about 15" x 11", offer subtle variations on the image of a black cross surrounded by gold leaf and partially covered with red oxide. Fonseca has stated that this series "is a direct reference to the physical, emotional and spiritual genocide of the native people of California. With the rise of the mission system, and much later the discovery of gold in California, the native world was fractured, and with it, a way of life and order devastated."
Price: 2400 USD
Location: Taos, New Mexico
End Time: 2024-08-11T06:01:18.000Z
Shipping Cost: 200 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 14 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Artist: Harry Fonseca
Unit of Sale: Single Piece
Signed By: Harry Fonseca
Size: Medium
Item Length: 30.5 in
Region of Origin: New Mexico, USA
Framing: Unframed
Personalize: No
Year of Production: 1980
Unit Type: Unit
Item Height: 22.5 in
Style: Americana, Art Nouveau, Contemporary Art, Figurative Art, Native American, Pop Art, Primitivism
Features: Embossed, Limited Edition
Unit Quantity: 1
Culture: Maidu/Portuguese/Hawaiian
Handmade: Yes
Item Width: 0
Time Period Produced: 1980-1989
Image Orientation: Landscape
Signed: Yes
Title: A Gift From California
Period: Contemporary (1970 - 2020)
Material: Ink, Paper
Certificate of Authenticity (COA): Yes
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
Subject: Biology, Mythology, Plants, Saint Barbara, San Francisco, Scarface, States & Counties, USA, Women, Working Life, Indigenous Customs And Traditions
Type: Print
COA Issued By: 'Serigraphics' Albuquerque NM Print Maker
Theme: San Francisco, New Mexico, Native American, Santa Fe New Mexico, Taos New Mexico, Contemporary Native American, Los Angeles, A Gift From California
Production Technique: Screen Printing
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
