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The artist's mother used the word tamanawas to express spritituality. Emerson creates artwork to challenge herself, to feel whole, to express her Native heritage, to express her father's teachings, to express being a Native woman, and as her mother said: Have pride in being Native American.Label
"My parents talked a lot about Native spirituality and Mother Earth. My mother used the
word Tamanawas for spirituality. I thought the Sol Due Falls photo was perfect for a
Tamanawas art piece. I placed animals where trees would be to show that animals are
a part of Mother Earth. The figure in the front is me with the Skokomish Dog and the
gills of a salmon on my shawl. The figure with her hands raised up is my partner,
Jeannette Allen, she is Nii Mii Puu (Nez Perce). I used MS Excel to design
Tamanawas, and did some manipulation before placing into Illustrator for fine
adjustments. I usually have plexiglass prints done of my artwork when juried into an
exhibit."Label
This is an MS Excel bead graph design. I worked on it for a year, completed in the spring of 2021. I saw a photo of Sol Duc Falls and wanted to create a bead design of the waterfalls. I thought of my mother (Bertha) talking about Tamanawas when I was growing up. Her stories motivate and give me ideas for designs, she's present when I create designs from her stories. The stories she shared were from Frank Allen, her grandfather. This art piece is from an idea to design a composition of a flat beaded bag with a landscape of animal spirits with trees, water, and landscape. (Instagram)