These masks are based off various Mvskoke-Creek deities and monsters. Being so far removed my culture and being a direct result of the civilization process, I had to learn from other tribes to learn about my own tribal history. In this case, I was greatly influenced by the Southwest tribes. I have a play I am trying to manifest which expands on the stories of these various deities and monsters. I currently have a short film titled Sunecke (Journey) which uses each mask represented as one of the 21 major arcana cards in the Tarot as a short introduction to the various deities and monsters. I also made various tools for communicating with the spirits as well as messages that present Mvskoke history.

These particular pieces were made around the same time I was making the various Mvskoke-Creek deities/monsters masks. A majority of them were influenced by the religious imagery of Saint Sebastain, Onuphrius and various portraits of the elite who were considered leaders of sorts during the era of forced relocation for the Mvskoke among other tribes. You will notice rabbits in some pieces including deer, wolf or fox skulls. Chufe (rabbit), Yvhv (wolf) and Chulv (fox) were tricksters of sorts in Mvskoke folklore. In my experience, Christianity has a firm grip on the American Indian psyche. My grandfather was sent to a boarding school and made to speak only English. As in the 1790’s under Washington’s 6 point civilization plan, the Bible was the main tool for reading and learning. He soon grew up to became a Baptist preacher. That particular belief soon became the norm in the household. Any traditional thought or practice had been overshadowed. In his later days he studied and met with others who attended and practiced under the Peyote Church. He encouraged me to continue to study my Mvskoke heritage and left me his library on indigenous studies. Even my grandmothers church which is Methodist Baptist, the elements of Christianity and Native thought are combined. Think Spirituals but in the Creek language and so on. The main goal of the Missionaries when they first arrived was complete assimilation. Even when Harvard was first built, the whole purpose was to assimilate and the Indian, printing Indian Bibles in the Algonquian tongue and all. For me, religion comes off as a form of trickery when applied to indigenous culture. It makes one forget who they are and where they come from.

These pieces were made after doing a show for Dan Brackett (deceased) who was running the Jacobson House gallery. I had just wore myself out with the collage style of work I was doing so I shifted to oil pastel (with acrylic at times). I would basically try to do a painting a day if time permitted. It was sort of my statement on the desire for immediacy here in the US and the tendency the US has in ignoring the past, especially the atrocious results that came from Westward expansion and the eradication of any cultural beliefs or practices. When the Mvskoke first emerged from the Spine of the World and Hessaketvmesse (Master of Breath) cleared the fog, the Wind clan was the first to emerge. It’s small bits of information like this that has been lost due to the civilization process and assimilation. This is where Dead Feather comes from. Unless you were raised traditionally, you would not know this. One has to actively search this information out.

I was a horrible alcoholic for most of 2012 through 2015. I was still writing poetry of sorts and that desire was beginning to wear down. I quit drinking in 2015. Instead of keeping with writing poetry, I shifted my thought to making art of sorts. I couldn’t verbally express my frustration and confusion concerning my cultural isolation and religious affiliation, which is a result of George Washington’s 6 point civilization process. A process which extends generation after generation after generation. To be completely cut off from any sense of cultural identity was the ultimate goal of the Great Father when it came to the Mvskoke. One must also consider that the Mvskoke were the first to be civilized under Washington’s six point plan. Also, being deaf and trying to communicate with others is a daily burden. I started observing my surroundings and looking into the class system that was present before me and how easily people are swayed into subscribing into a certain belief or drawn to consume certain products or trends. Of course this was mostly attained through advertising in magazines and media outlets. The general message seemed to be “Consume, consume, consume, consume. Even if the planet suffers, consume.” I imagined the concentrated powers of these media corporations, oil companies, bankers, real estate agencies, medical/pharmaceutical/insurance companies, lawyers/judges, university/educational institutions, government departments and politicians living comfortably while the working class suffered the consequences all while footing the tax bill. It has been programmed into the psyche of the working class/lower class since birth to consume. But, there is also the lack of a proper education on my part to consider. If you’re not a part of a fraternal society or brotherhood of some sort, you’re not going to make much of a difference in the world. A lot of these world leaders seem to be working together through various organizations. For example, the Trilateral Commission, The Council of Foreign Affairs, The Bilderberg Group, Freemasonry, as well as many of the Ivy League Schools and their fraternities and various other organizations and institutions all determined to control how you consume and how they will exploit the planet giving off the impression they are trying to help the Earth and looking out for your own good when they are actually isolating the population and having them rely more and more on technology and artificial intelligence, spending millions (if not billions), on war and tools of destruction, and in turn destroying the earth more and more all while distancing the human connection to the planet and each other, regardless of one’s political or religious preference. You know, neo-liberalism, globalization, the Fourth Wave Industrial Revolution and all that jazz. Their lives are pre-determined just as the common man’s life is pre-determined. This mentality is generational. A lot of these modern world leaders are sons and daughters of those who are continuing the “legacy” of their beloved brotherhood or fraternal organization. The philosophy of the Great Father civilizing the Mvskoke-Creek (under George Washington, a known Mason) has expanded to the modern day masses and the children’s children of Western Expansion. It comes down to control of land, resources, basic human rights and civil liberties under the guise looking out for your well being/protecting your sensitivities. That’s just the nature of the beast. So, I took up a batch of fashion magazines and went to work making collage type pieces trying to figure out my place in the whole scheme of things. The poses the models used in these magazines were a perfect example of our twisted sense of reality. Our false sense of what success looks like. Our obsession with self indulgence, instant gratification, death and religion. Upon closer observation, there were elements of a dark spiritual nature as well. One becomes desensitized to these images and elements so the imagery/messages become accepted as the norm over time.

* It’s important to note that I’m not an educated individual. And I’m not a political person. I’m simply making use of my personal experience, observations and surrounding environment.

These are general art ideas. Things that interest me and fit into the Dead Feather concept. Celebrity obsession, the occult, esoteric matters, royalty, order, the Elite. Things of that nature. Oil pastel was my go to medium for the most part. Acrylic came later. I don’t like to waste time on a piece so, I consider myself a minimalist of sorts. Acrylics are time consuming to me. I prefer the former. I think I have like five hundred and some odd pieces. You may notice lines in the background in a majority of these pieces. Being deaf, the idea is that it represents sound and the vibration or bouncing of sound. Sometimes they connect to certain letters or words. There’s somewhat of a Mind, Body, Spirit element. A sort of “Everything is connected some how some way” train of thought that was present at the time. Also, there’s a lot of repetition of those lines so it ties into the media and the message of “consume” I had mentioned earlier in the 2012-2015 notes. I’m a fan of symbols and symbolism. I like the shape of certain letters and finding the origins of words. My logo or signature I use is a combination of the letters D and F in the Phoenician and Greek alphabet. I like the idea of sigils too. Magick, or at least the illusion of magick always fascinates me. It has been around since ancient civilizations. I looked to the Sumerians as a sort of inspiration in putting the Dead Feather concept together over time as well as traditional Mvskoke and Seminole practices of magick that have been documented. In later works, the colors I use are of Creek and Seminole importance. Red representing Cedar in medicine (heleswv) and war/defense when it came to their towns (Red Sticks). White represents ginseng in medicine and peace when it came to their towns (White Sticks). Yellow or gold is based on Seminole face paint colors. These colors meant death or that you were ready to die. The black represents the West from which we emerged, the Spine of the world. I had read somewhere that red, black and white are also the main colors used in advertising. The large Spirit messages/banners with Mvskoke history information are repeated in these colors. A sort of reference to the whole media repetition idea I had mentioned earlier.

From 2006 to 2010 I self published 5 books of poetry. Mostly horrible love poems or poems of despair. Mainly nonsense from a raging alcoholic. There’s a lot of bad religious imagery I tried to capture. I don’t advise reading it. I started making handmade chapbooks. They were very limited. I think like 50 tops. I combined the best of poems from that era and made a collection of poems titled Evidence. At the same time I made a children's ABC book for learning the Mvskoke-Creek alphabet. Most recently, I tried to teach myself Creek from reading a beginners language book. I ended up taking all the Creek phrases I found and rearranged them into a series of poems. The result is a chapbook of poems which I handmade (50) later to be translated into a short film titled Porretv (To Witch). I don’t write much these days. I got that out of my system a long time ago. But sometimes, an idea comes and I just go with it.

I have cut back on painting since 2020. I am currently focused on getting a series of short films, a full length film and a play manifested. All of them will be silent films of sorts and involve the masks and be narrated through soundscapes and body movement. Any donations granted in helping this manifestation will be greatly appreciated. Mvto.