Gwynn Murrill ~ Coyote VI and Karl Hofer ~ Early Hour

Usually I don't think of Coyote VI when I'm looking at Karl Hofer's Early Hour from Week 15 here at Fifty Two Pieces. But as I walked down the corridor where Early Hour hangs, the image of the dog looked so much like a coyote that I stopped in my tracks to look again at Hofer's painting. The dog is very stylized. Your mind makes it a dog probably because it's lying in bed with the couple early in the morning. But look again and perhaps it's not really a dog, perhaps it's a coyote and a metaphor for something else.

Gwynn Murrill's animals are all highly stylized. She looks to the positive and negative space. The next time you're in the plaza area of the Portland Art Museum you should definitely take a close look at the surface of the sculpture. The skin of Coyote VI is an amazing combination of gold, brown and red. Then compare the surface as it reflects the light of the sun and compare it to the darker under belly that is in the cooler shaded area. Different surfaces, different effects. Spend a few moments with Coyote VI at different times of the day. You'll come away with a different impression each time.

Gwynn's Cats in Carmel

A show of Gwynn Murrill's "selected cats" at the Winfield Gallery in Carmel California, ended yesterday. I was in Carmel last week. I didn't make it to the show, I didn't know Murrill's coyote would be our next piece because when I was in Carmel Hank was still alive.
Coyote was clearly the right choice. These choices make themselves.
In Carmel the galleries are everywhere. John took pictures of all the houses. We walked on the beach. When we got home LaValle came over, she said we need to get a cat. John is allergic to cats, but probably not great big sculptural ones, like the ones Murrill showed at Winfield.

Coyote

Coyote, it's one of those words if you look too long or say it over and over it begins to sound nonsensical. I like the legend of She Who Watches. Coyote came to a village nestled on a cliff. All the people were doing well, eating well, living the good life. He consulted their female chief, he had the hard job of explaining he would have to turn her into stone so she could watch over the land and the people. Society would soon change, becoming a patriarchy. This legend shows how powerful Coyote is, to have known the future, and to have had the power to change the chief to stone. To have had the foresight to know how different life would be for a society led by men.
Wasco Native artist Lillian Pitt made Coyote mask in ceramic, in 2005.
I like to think about the She Who Watches legend when I see the mask, because I can go around the corner and see a She Who Watches inspired piece by Pitt, Wasco Totem.

She Who Watches is a petraglyph near Horse Thief Lake, out the Columbia Gorge, about an hour past Hood River. You can only go by reservation. I haven't seen it myself, and I grew up here. I heard yesterday that the average american knows over a hundred brand names by sight but fewer than ten plants. She Who Watches needs eyelids.

Gwynn Murrill ~ Coyote VI and others

Looking at Coyote Vi as it sits in the plaza and in the photo as it sat on the grass, I'm struck by what Gwynn Murrill has said about where she would prefer to see her sculptures.

You’re supposed to put them on the 24th floor of a building in the city. That’s where they should be because that’s where they would have industrial or straight lines around them – a minimalist environment. You have to look at the positive and negative form around them, and then it becomes real sculpture.

For me, Coyote VI is much more approachable as a sculpture when it sits in the plaza. If it were in the lawn as it was seen this photo, it would definitely look more like a lawn ornament.

As a side note, Coyote VI is joined on internet searches of "Portland coyote" by this creature. Back in 2002 this young coyote was chased off the tarmac at Portland International Airport. Tri-Met's Red Line to Beaverton seemed like a good place to take refuge. Evidently the fare checkers decided to enlist the help of some wildlife refuge workers and the wiley coyote was removed from the train and taken to the far reaches of the Port Authority property. His story about being new to town just didn't make the grade, busted for no ticket.

Hank

It's time for me to start posting again. LaValle has been such a great partner to take over posting all week as I mourned our dog Hank who died Monday.
Gwynn and her animal sculptures are our inspiration this week. The way she works is liberating I'd say, on this fourth of July. She just slowly goes into her sculptures making decisions a little at a time. Living in the moment, like all good animals.
There was that one moment when I went outside to our little garden and Hank wasn't behind me. All the air caught in my throat. Outside is where we were best. How different everything looked, how silent it was.
Yesterday I painted. I didn't have a plan, I just let the paint make the decisions. Pretty soon I had a turtle and a monkey.
Gwynn Murrill is inside that little Coyote who sits outside the art museum so patiently. Kids jump all over him, hug and hang from him. The artist tells the world what she is in her creations. I am a purple monkey embracing a green turtle with an open hand, staring out at the yellow world.

Gwynn Murrill ~ Coyote VI

Here's an interview with our artist of the week Gwynn Murrill. Light posting day. The internet connections in the outer reaches of Calistoga are limited.

Gwynn Murrill ~ Coyote VI

This transient coyote sits in the plaza area of the Portland Art Museum. Made of bronze in 1986 by Gwynn Murrill, it is life size and attracts quite a bit of attention. Everyone is comfortable approaching this coyote – children, adults, dogs, quite different than in the wild. I used the term transient because this coyote is not part of a group. Coyotes usually run in packs of three or more. Here's another view of PAM's coyote when it wasn't anchored down in the plaza.