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| The Night they Burned Dixie Down |
In the end, and you will see why, I chose Steve's title 'The Night they Burned Old Dixie Down' as it encompassed so many historical roads in one pert image of a popular song and touched each of us in some similar way.
At first glance into the cup I was definitely immediately struck by the dancing woman. What she evoked in me was the image of a Can Can singer in Paris, maybe from a painting that I had seen by Lautrec in a museum, maybe just popular culture impressions about Impressionist painting. Below the dancing woman though is the Shaman, the Medicine Woman looking up at the dancer(you can see her profile looking into the dancers feet/skirt), keeping time with one hand and the other hand up to her mouth to express 'shhhhhhh' . This is so in tune with Susan's Night Hunter, stealth, Indian folklore and so on. |
| Shhhhhh |
These two images together made no sense to me and no matter how I tried I could not reconcile them which is why I asked for help in naming it. I looked up the meaning of Old Dixie and of course the most common explanation is that this is the name of the Southern Confederate States during the Civil War, which is also what the song is about.
A string of interesting impressions continued to come up: American Indians and the mixture of cultures:
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| Indian Riding Horse w Bow & Arrow |
During that time in New Orleans $10 dollar notes were issued called 'Dix', the French word for Ten. Suddenly with this information I felt that there was a connection between the Shamanistic vision at the bottom of the cup and the energy and urgency of the Dancer on top.
Of course, I became a little over fascinated with New Orleans, it's Indian Tribes and the mixture of Cultures that came about through the centuries.
I could go on forever, every cup is truly like a painting, symbolism abounds, if you look deep enough the story is there for the taking. ( to the left of the dancer, Steve, is a confederate soldier holding up a flag -of victory or submission I don't know...
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| Confederate Soldier |
You all have inspired me so much, I didn't really even realize how much deeper the stories spilled from the cups could become and so I thank you and hope that we can collaborate again sometime! S
Silvana, your site is like the epitomy of the 100 Days Project, inspiring creative interpretation unique to each artist and writer. This post brings it all into focus!
ReplyDeleteI have to say, the work involved in uncovering the secrets of this one cup has been quite energizing. Interesting that other common threads appeared as separate individuals peered into the smoke; and great that Silvana was able to uncover other links from the era.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I could add that my ancestor, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, founded the city of New Orleans, but that would probably be too unbelievable.
Thanks again, Silvana, for the collaborative opportunity!
Steve, you are welcome and right back at you!As far as your comment about your ancestor, I absolutely would not find that hard to believe, quite the contrary. Specifically because of all the stories I uncovered when I searched Dixie, I was most attracted to the 'dix' notes and the New Orleans connection rather than say, N/S politics etc. As a matter of fact I remember thinking about your name Veilleux, wondering weather it was your given name or not and how it all tied into this new development regarding New Olreans.
ReplyDeleteWithout hesitancy I say, the cups are us. They reveal, cajole, hint at secrets, usurp common beliefs...expose hard facts that have as a foundation our life from the very beginning, entwined in our DNA, (symbols in a cup). At the same time - they inspire a romanticism that is akin to making up pictures out of clouds, paintings from our subconscious, music from our deepest common/community roots, the telling of stories.
It is not uncommon at all to find synchronicity in the cups.
S
susan, I think that might be the highest compliment, thank you so much. I was not sure when I started the blog if there would be any interest in my 'art'. I am thrilled that it has come to this collaborative stage, it's more than I had hoped for and I look forward to exploring more avenues between us. S
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