Inspiration from the Past

I think I'm not running on all my cylinders. On Sunday, I watched the mailman walk up to my house to deliver the mail, and I thought, since when did they start delivering the mail on Sunday? That's when I realized it was SATURDAY, not Sunday. That shocked me a bit. Then this morning, I showed up at 8 a.m. at my tax guy's office only to be told my appointment was not today, it's tomorrow. So I drove home and decided what I really wanted to do with the rest of my day was go back to bed with a bag of Oreo cookies. Realizing that this plan would ultimately come back to haunt me, I decided to do something fun on this gray snowy day - I would go to see the Matisse exhibit at the museum. The exhibit was a treat, but the real moment of inspiration came as I left the exhibit.

As I passed through the adjoining room of Native American artifacts, I came across a beautiful Innu Indian warrior hunting coat of the 18th century. The accompanying text informed me that Innu Indians originated in what is now Quebec, and for them, hunting caribou was considered not only a survivalist routine but a holy occupation. The caribou and their god needed to be appeased for the hunt to be successful. Before the hunt, the warrior's wife created a hunting coat out of the hide of the previous slain caribou. The motifs on the coat were dreamed by the hunter and given to his wife to interpret and paint with earth pigments. Here's the part that struck me - the success of the hunt depended on the skill and artistry of the coat's creator!

A great example of the importance of women and art in society!

Image courtesy of : Naskapi News, One Nation, One People