Divine!
Dragonfly Pumpkin Pie
Dragonfly Keys to the Future: Puerto Rican muralist Alexis Díaz
We visited Puerto Rico in December 2019 before the pandemic froze vacation travel. Highlights for us were staying wet in El Yunque rainforest and wandering the streets of San Juan, where I spotted two dragonflies etched on a mural covering the front of the colonnaded Museo de Arte. Their abdomens were shaped like the chunky old keys that open door locks with holes you could peer through.
The artist, Alexis Díaz, is a Puerto Rican street muralist, who also illustrated the island’s Medalla beer cans, with his phantasmagoric roosters, sea creatures, hands sprouting hibiscus flowers and trees rooted in beating hearts.
The woman in Museo de Arte mural, titled “He Who forgets the Past is Condemned to Repeat It” has a heart that sprouts a plant with berries (coffee?) that entwines a thick rod, her spine. An extra pair of arms seem to both support and block her aspirations. The keys to this mystery, of course, must be delivered by the dragonflies! Perhaps they provide the key to memories that the title suggests we must move beyond. Terrific street art honored by one of San Juan’s finest institutions.
Tuscarora Beader
Grant Jonathan makes exquisite traditional Tuscarora beadwork art/souvenirs.
Dragonfly Found Art Pt 2
Is this dragonfly a messenger for the Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia?
In August I was at the house of good friends, Dave and John, enjoying a birthday (mine) cocktail when John offered to show me a secret passageway to Canyon Road. They live near the Tea House and a community of artist studios. On an old adobe wall outside the studios, I spotted this pasted portrait of a shawled woman with a dragonfly eyes. On the bottom left, in red lettering, is ‘Made of Hagop’.
I’m not quite sure where to go with that. I see that Hagop Hagopian was the nom de guerre of a leader of the Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia created to avenge the killing of 1.5 Armenians by Turkey during World War I. Hagop was born in Mosul, Iraq, carried a Yemeni passport, had alliances with the Palestinians and was enemies with Turkey, Syria and Israel. He was 37, in Athens and on his way to Belgrade when assassinated by two unknown assailants with sawed off shotguns.
Such an international web of secrecy, militancy and intrigue. Where does this woman and the dragonfly come in? Her headscarf, hat, jewelry and blouse appear to be traditional Armenian. Is she free? Is this the work of an Armenian artist?
These are the inquiries that found dragonflies take us into. Remain in a state of inquiry!
Deb Haaland: Fierce for All of Us
“You’ve heard the Earth referred to as Mother Earth,” Ms. Haaland said at her Senate confirmation hearing. “It’s difficult to not feel obligated to protect this land. And I feel every Indigenous person in the country understands that,” she is quoted in the New York Times. Deborah Haaland is the first Native American Secretary of the Interior.
She was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris, who said, “History is being made yet again.” Her daughter, Somah Haaland, held the Bible at the ceremony on March 16, 2021.
Haaland is a 35th-generation New Mexican and a member of Laguna Pueblo. “A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,” she wrote on Twitter. “Growing up in my mother’s Pueblo household made me fierce. I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.”
Haaland wore a traditional ribbon skirt with corn butterflies by Agnes Woodward, traditional Laguna Pueblo moccasins and dragonfly earrings by fellow Laguna Pueblo artist, Pat Pruitt. Her voice resonates in her traditional attire.
Deb Haaland was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris as the 54th Secretary of the Interior – Photo credit Tami Heilemann from Interior Dept.
Secretary Haaland in Pat Pruitt’s Dragonfly Earrings after her swearing in. Courtesy photo.
Ancient Egypt: Dragonflies from the Old and Middle Kingdoms
While in Egypt, my friend Jenn Anderson spotted this perching dragonfly at the Tomb of Mereruka. His ancient tomb, or House of Eternity, dates to the Sixth Dynasty (2345-2333 BC) of the Old Kingdom. Mereuruka was a vizier, the highest official serving the Pharaoh Teti, and was married to the Pharaoh’s daughter. As a non-royal, his tomb stands out for its size and grandness. Jenn, who was on her second visit to her favorite country, spotted the dragonfly while strolling along a relief carved panel that depicted a hunting scene of men punting a papyrus raft along the Nile.
This dragonfly is perched on a reed with a frog dangerously close by. In Jenn’s photo, you can see an arm of a boatman, a locust, a fish and, I am guessing, a mongoose. Hunting in the marshy wetlands of the Nile teeming with wildlife was a favored pastime. “Paddling on light reed boats through the papyrus thickets, fishing and fowling, was for the the Egyptians a most desirable way to experience the richness and beauty of divine creation,” according to Dorothea Arnold, curator of Egyptian Art, in “An Egyptian Bestiary,” a publication of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Such scenes were carved with the intention of providing everything that would be needed in the afterlife. Perhaps this dragonfly, having hopefully evaded the frog’s long reach and appetite, would greet Mereruka in the next world.
Archaeological expeditions beginning in 1906 have made the Met’s Egyptian sections an eye-opening marvel to generations of art historians. Dragonfly amulets from the Middle Kingdom, were discovered during excavations at Lisht, a Twelfth Dynasty necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, south of Cairo.
The amulets dated to the Middle Kingdom, ca 2050-1650 B.C., a sort of golden age, with political stability, economic prosperity, and a resurgence of cultural activity in the creation of statuary and fantastic funerary monuments and pyramid complexes. The non-royal dead, like Mereruka, began to be buried with magic wands and rods, amulets of protective animals and fertility figures. Coffins in the shape of a body wrapped in linen wearing a beaded collar were first used at this time.
The dragonfly amulets included a dragonfly bead from a collar. They are made of shiny, bright blue faience, a glazed ceramic material made of silica, alkaline salts, lime and metallic turquoise colorant. “In Egypt, objects made with faience were considered magical, filled with the undying shimmer of the sun, and imbued with the powers of rebirth,” writes Met Curator Carolyn Riccardelli. Amulets found in the coffins were imbued with symbolic meanings and magical properties, such as ensuring the deceased a safe transition and a harmonious afterlife. Butterflies were profuse in the tombs, in faience, silver and gold amulets as well as on painted murals and carvings. A series of gold bracelets from Queen Hetepheres’ tomb bear inlaid butterflies or dragonflies. Please contact me if you have knowledge of the role of dragonflies in Egyptian mythology. Thanks Jenn, for leading me down this path!
Approximately 2-3 cm wide. Public Domain. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 109.
Gifted Dragonflies: Beverly Cox and a Mystery.
For Christmas every year, Beverly Cox comes to Santa Fe with her husband Gordon. Beverly holds a Grande Diploma from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and has written ten cookbooks, including Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking, winner of a James Beard award. We worked together at Native Peoples magazine and I am honored to have her as a friend. She has an elegant kitchen on their remote ranch on the Colorado/Wyoming border that comfortably embraces her international gourmet training.
Beverly and Gordon didn’t make it last year because of the pandemic, but the year before she arrived with two small boxes. In one was a dragonfly that she had chased down and she was excited to share it with me, having saved it since summer. It is always a special moment when someone brings me a dragonfly. So often the excitement of discovery is still palpable. We have visited the ranch which is remotely near Laramie, Wyoming and enjoyed their world class hospitality. I could picture her out on the grassy range in hot pursuit of this darner, probably near a water source for the cattle.
The other box had a piece of jewelry from her mother’s estate and she wondered if I could help her with its provenance. It was a dragonfly pin/pendant made of silver, coral and spiny oyster. Her mother had passed a few years ago and she knew only that it was Native American. I photographed it before returning it to her at La Fonda Hotel and promised to keep an eye out for any clues as to who might have made it. The next spring, up at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, I noticed a pendant that was very similar. It was by Ray Adakai, a Navajo jeweler. Mystery solved!
But not so fast….
I contacted Maddie Adakai, Ray’s sister, just to confirm. She asked me to send a photo of the back of Beverly’s pin (above left) which I did. Maddie is also a jeweler. Then, she updated me with this message:
“So this weekend I made a trip to see my family in NM and my brother Ray took a better look at the photos. He states that the first one is definitely not one of his designs (photo with the red background).
“If you take a closer look at both pins the first one is only a pin and not a pendant combo the series made by Ray were both pendant and pin combos. The dragonfly tail on the first is stamped and not made of soldered silver beads, and the eye design is totally different. The first pin also has rough edges on the soldered points for the pin. Most of Ray’s work is not rough. One of the other design differences is the cutout in the wingspan, Rays work does not have those cutouts… “
Maddie refered me to a gallery in Gallup to further pursue this mystery. So stay tuned!
Here Be Dragons
Follow Dragonfly Detective Jonathan Batkin in this Quick Guide to New Mexico Dragonflies.
In this New Mexico magazine article, I gave Jonathan Batkin the unofficial title of Dragonfly Detective of Santa Fe County. He retired this year from his 24- year tenure as director of the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe. Since the article’s publication, he has heard from many people who were surprised to find out that, in addition to his work with Native American art and culture at the museum, he is such an avid and accomplished odonatologist. His passion for both shines through. He has four documented first species sightings in New Mexico, which is no small feat. He was very generous with his time and expertise when I was working on this article.
The Pacific Spiketail photograph in the article is his, which he made with much excitement. He spent years trying to locate it in Santa Fe County, hiking hundreds of miles, falling into one river, puzzled by its absence. Driving home from what he considered his last gasp effort, he pulled off to the dam below Santa Cruz Lake. Having seen nothing and heading out, one flew right over his truck. Returning the next morning with a friend, they walked down the road and boom! “We flushed it, and then it actually perched right in front of us,” he recalls. “That is what is so exciting to me.”
In addition to Batkin and the dragonflies, we included in the New Mexico magazine article two pieces by Native American artists, Tony Abeyta and Watson Honanie. Tony’s painting, Dragonfly Constellation, is in the La Fonda art collection, and Watson’s magical Dragonfly Cuff is in the archives of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, both in Santa Fe. I will be posting many more beautiful Native dragonflies in blogs to come.
“Open your eyes,” dragonfly (butterfly, bird and more) expert Jonathan Batkin says, “It’s unbelievable what you can see out there if you do.”
Samurai Helmet with Dragonfly
Samurai warriors donned Dragonfly Helmets to summon the victorious insects‘ skills of flight and speed in warfare.
This fantastic samurai helmet, (Kawari-kabuto) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art is tagged as “A favorite emblem of the samurai, the dragonfly was known as kachi-mushi (‘victorious insect’) and was respected for its hunting technique: flying directly forward toward its prey, never wavering from its path.” The embossed clouds below the dragonfly represent flight, a helpful evasive move for a Japanese warrior.
My absolute favorite samurai helmet, however, is this 17th century creation, below, with wings and upright abdomen that appear as though it could lift you up into the air, away from attackers, if you strapped it tightly enough below your chin. I want it! Alas, it is in the Minneapolis Institute of Art and won’t be assisting anyone in battle ever again.
THE JAMES FORD BELL FOUNDATION ENDOWMENT FOR ART ACQUISITION AND GIFT OF FUNDS FROM SIRI AND BOB MARSHALL 2012.31.1A-C Public Domain.
From the MIA site: “During the 15th and 16th centuries, Japan’s feudal families vied for supremacy, amassing vast armies to ensure their dominion and to conquer weaker neighbors. High-ranking lords began to embellish their helmets with sculptural forms so that they could be visually located on the battlefield… In Japan, the dragonfly is symbolic of focused endeavor and vigilance because of its manner of moving up, down and sideways while continuing to face forward. In addition, in ancient texts Japan was often referred to as Akitsushima (Land of the Dragonflies), because of their abundance. They were also thought to be the spirits of rice, since they are often to be found hovering above the flooded rice fields.” Item is on view in the museum, Gallery 219. Take me there.
Navajo Dragonfly
Beautifully abstracted in Navajo sandpaintings, dragonflies were usually depicted as symbols and guardians of water.
In 1948, Lyman and Bailey studied the role of insects in Navajo language, everyday life and religion. It was pioneering fieldwork in ethnoentomology, the study of insects in our culture. Regarding their cosmological role, they wrote, “In Navaho (sic) mythology insects have a position of primary importance in its very beginnings, and also are represented fairly frequently in the sacred dry-paintings which serve to illustrate the myths and provide a magical means of identifying the patient in a religious curing ceremonial with supernatural power.”