Ghost Dance I

By Pat Calderone

Ghost Dance I

$3800.00 Plus shipping

Acrylic and Mixed medium on canvas. Framed 40 x 64

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Here the artist was inspired by the late 19th century Native American ceremony called the Ghost Dance I.  It was then that Paiute prophets Tavibo and Wovoka had a vision of a dance that would restore the beautiful land of their ancestors, land that had been taken by the white settlers. Native Americans from many nations came together to share their dream. Tragically the intentions of this ceremony were misunderstood and ended with the massacre at Wounded Knee. But the vision and the dream still speak to us.

Today the sense that things are coming apart troubles nations around the globe. More than ever we hunger for the very values underlying the ghost dance vision: a commitment to personal integrity and nonviolence, a passionate concern for the political and cultural boundaries.

One day the sun died in the sky and in the darkness hope was born again. The world that once was there still waited, longing to return.

And if the people kept to peaceful ways–doing harm to no one, speaking only truth–then all could dance the ghost dance without fear, and make the torn earth grow new skin, the buffalo and the elk return, and all will be well at last.

For the earth grows tired.

Maybe if we all dream.

Maybe if we all sing.

Maybe if we all dance.

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