Creation
Artist Ernest Smith, Seneca
Mixed Media On Panels, 20th Century
This painting depicts a moment in the Haudenosaunee story of the creation of the world. The Great Spirit is standing beside an open hole in the heavens, caused by the uprooting of a tree in the Heavenly Land. A woman falls from the Sky World toward the dark watery world below. Geese fly up to slow her decent. A dog also leaps into the sky to try and rescue her. A great Turtle offers its back as a resting place, while a muskrat dives for soil to place on the turtles back, where is spreads to become an island.
Creation
Artist Ernest Smith, Seneca
Mixed Media On Panels, 20th Century
This painting depicts a moment in the Haudenosaunee story of the creation of the world. The Great Spirit is standing beside an open hole in the heavens, caused by the uprooting of a tree in the Heavenly Land. A woman falls from the Sky World toward the dark watery world below. Geese fly up to slow her decent. A dog also leaps into the sky to try and rescue her. A great Turtle offers its back as a resting place, while a muskrat dives for soil to place on the turtles back, where is spreads to become an island.