"kani dal hoot skell (who is that? old marten)" captures a sacred encounter between artist and creator in the spring forests of Klamath country. This copper plate etching tells the story of a moment when Gmukamps—the Klamath creator who takes the physical form of pine marten, known as Skell or old marten—revealed himself during a medicine gathering expedition. While harvesting cottonwood buds along a logging road, the artist found himself sharing space with this most sacred of beings, sitting together in spring sunlight in a communion that transcended ordinary time. The red-brown ink and cream paper echo the colors of pine marten fur, while the open path carved through the center of the print maps the logging road where this meeting occurred. The intricate patterns etched into the copper plate become a visual language for the teachings received that day—messages written not in words but in presence, in the simple act of being acknowledged by the one who shapes the world. When both beings rose to continue their journeys, the encounter remained, pressed into metal and memory, a reminder that the sacred moves through the world in forms both wild and willing to be seen.
- Current Location: Sovereign Native Studio
- Collections: Prints