Stuart Thompson Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha 1968 90 cm high

Family  1981Acoma Austin Prod Inc 111 cm high

Janet Marston Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha 102 cm high

About the Sculptor Born to be an artist.  As early as three years old, she       remembers gathering a handful of clay and trying to make it spin and shape it.  And she has been an artist all her life. A wood sculptor extraordinaire, she is comfortable with the drawing pencil, paintbrush, clay and plaster. Born and raised in Ladysmith, British Columbia, she returned to her home after years of education, travel and residence in many parts of Canada.  “I returned home to my family, the mountains, the trees, the ever-changing tides of the ocean.  I seek to understand and to protect my home – the earth.  The earth is my teacher, provider and inspiration.” Her twenty-foot black cherry sculpture called ‘Tekawitha’ is on display at the Centre for Ecology & Spirituality in Port Burwell, Ontario.

Juergen Hug        Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha  1993        Eastern white cedar        50 X 190 cm

The Sculptor's comments

Two body halves are growing out of a base, and are connected between two heads by the medicine wheel and the integrated form of the primordial cross symbol.

Each body half represents a part of Kateri that existed both before and after her conversion to Christianity: particularly the permanent harmony searchers animus and anima which represent the male and female aspects of the human psyche.  In the Taoist system this would correspond to the Yin and Yang structure.

The two body halves embrace Kateri's 'light body' and from here energy is released to the beholder and the world.  This energy flow symbolizes the 'mana' from the Great Spirit (Gitchi Manitou).

The articulated hand is the antagonist to the head (brain).  This tension represents the interaction between the practical and the intellectual.

The eagle and the owl symbolize the messenger birds which bring day and night dreams, and their corresponding values in the Anishinabe Mythology.

The carved anonymous face profiles -- at the edges of the light body on both sides -- represent humanity, and depict our society as a unity with the universe.

Hidden in the centre of the base is a built-in secret, sacred place which collects cosmic energies.  In that power spot , prayer intentions, medicines, water, etc. are energized and revitalized for healing purposes.

The making of the sculpture