new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Sainte Marie Among the Hurons, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 20 of 20
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: Sainte Marie Among the Hurons in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
"Come kneel before the radiant Boy
Who brings you beauty, peace and joy.
Jesus your King is born,
Jesus is born.
"...they built a small chapel of cedar and fir branches in honour of the manger of the infant Jesus"
Jesuit Relations, 1642
Author of the Huron Carol, Father Jean de Brebeuf, 1593-1649
"an apostle, a brave adventurer, a skilled writer, a careful ethnologist, a man of vision"
With his seven companions, Patron Saint of Canada
"O children of the forest free
O sons of Manitou,
The Holy Child of earth and heaven
There is a history to portrayals of the Madonna in art, and it spills over into portrayals of the angels too. It begins, I was taught, with St. Luke's portrait of Mary, and was respectfully copied by generations of artists with only modest changes.
Here is Cimabue's Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets: Inclined head, three quarter profile, straight nose, wide eyes, small mouth, the Infant's profile a mirror image, the angels echoing the Madonna's features and pose.
 |
| Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Prophets, 1285-86 |
A hundred years later, here is the Wilton Diptych (1395–1399), in International Gothic style with gorgeous blues, and the same features, profile, pose, and echoing angels.
 |
| Wilton Diptych, 1395-1399 |
A little later, the Madonna and Child with Angels, by Fra Angelico, 1395/1400-1455. The faces are a bit different but follow the same pattern.
 |
| Madonna and Child with Angels, Fra Angelico, 1395/1400-1455 |
A hundred years later, Madonna and Child with Singing Angels, Sandro Botticelli 1445-1510. There has been a jump in sophistication; these could be portraits of people we meet today. This Madonna is shown face on, but still with the classic tilt to her head, and the angels' features are echos of each other.
 |
| Madonna and Child with Singing Angels, Sandro Botticelli 1445-1510 |
And that, dear readers, is why I painted the angels in the Huron Carol like this:
From very far, a Kootenay chief of the West coast. First Nations peoples traveled and traded goods, but there were certain geographic limitations - over the Rocky Mountains was too far for this chief, a kind advisor said. But this is a story about miracles and wonders, the impossible made possible. A few mountains wouldn't get in the way.
From the Eastern Woodlands, a Shawnee chief.
How can an artist know how these long-ago people looked, how they dressed and behaved and interacted with others? The diaries and letters of the Jesuit Relations are a valuable resource, as well as other contemporary records, drawings and diaries that also document the oral history of the First Nations. In the Huron Carol we are in allegory, that the nativity in long ago Palestine could just as well have happened among any other people, that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" applies to all of humankind. For the artist, the aim is to represent a common human experience: awe and reverence when meeting true beauty and the divine.
Sioux Chief, of "chiefs from far". Neither the French, English nor Huron verses stipulate how far the "men of authority" would have traveled. I gave it my best shot, choosing near, not so near, and very far. The Sioux were well to the west of Huronia, on the Great Plains.
Day by day the Wise Men get closer, on their long journey from their homelands as they follow the signs in the sky.
Brebeuf's Huron verses read,
"Three men of great authority have left for the place of his birth
Tiscient, the star appearing over the horizon leads them there
The star will walk first on the path to guide them
Jesus, he is born.
A detail from the border of deer, antlers and swirling snow. There were four tribes or nations in the Huron confederacy, the Bear, the Cord, the Rock and the Deer tribes.
Aries the ram, "a rather inconspicuous northern constellation". I don't know if there is an Iroquoian or First Nations name or legend for the constellation or the first point of Aries, the location of the vernal equinox. I placed the ram here, galloping across the starry firmament, as one of many northern creatures with a heavenly counterpart.
The Great Bear, Ursa Major. A detail from the big border of stars and heavenly creatures. I wanted to match constellations with northern wildlife and started with the Great Bear.
The Northern Lights, the heavenly dancers. I remember my mother waking me up one night to walk under the blue-green lights flickering across the sky. In later years I slept under the Northern Lights on canoe trips. They had to have a place in the book.
There is no reference for them in the English verses by J. Edgar Middleton but there is this in Brebeuf's original verses in Huron:
The okie spirits who live in the sky are coming with a message,
They're coming to say, "Rejoice!
Mary has given birth. Rejoice!
Jesus he is born."
Here are the hunter braves, the first to hear the angels' song.
Earth and sky again, linked by smoke rising from hearths to heaven. The angel song is for the children by the stream and the hunters deeper in the forest, for all who have ears to hear,
"And as the hunter braves drew nigh
The angel song rang loud and high"
Not a stable but a longhouse, in this version of the nativity. And connecting earth and sky, mortals and immortals, is the rising smoke from the hearth, the heart of the family.
 |
Young Hunters, The Huron Carol
"Before their light the stars grew dim,
and wond'ring hunters heard the hymn." |
Coming home from play in blue-shadowed snows was a frequent scene of my Quebec childhood. The snow squeaked under our boots while the first stars came out in the blue and gold of twilight. When I visited Sainte Marie in the wintertime 9 years ago it was very like this picture - white snows, blue shadows, iron-cold flakes of snow landing on our faces, and the sound of the wind in the trees.
 |
| "...Mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead" |
When I do a presentation of the
Huron Carol to school groups I like to take them through the book like this: (
Advent picture 1) "Here we are above the forests; see the snowy tree tops and frozen waterways, with the birds flying away." Then I show the whole picture, (Advent picture 2 and full picture below) "
That Mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead", the earth and heavens and heavenly host.
 |
"Twas in the moon of wintertime"
from The Huron Carol by Father Jean de Brebeuf |
Advent begins, and with it a new Advent tree of artistic baubles to celebrate the season.
 |
"Twas in the moon of wintertime, When all the birds had fled..."
The Huron Carol |
I began Advent early, two nights ago at the beautiful
"First Light" events at Sainte Marie Among the Hurons in Midland, Ontario. It was here, in about 1642, that Father Jean de Brebeuf wrote the famous Huron Carol, which is remembered in musical performances at First Light. The annual celebration of our shared history in Canada is a moving experience and has inspired this year's Advent collection.
The gallery is looking lovely. The creatures and characters from Woodland Christmas and Woodland Nutcracker are beautifully displayed and despite dreary weather we had a busy weekend at the opening. It is a real pleasure to see these pieces together again, and in a setting reminiscent of the summer cottage that inspired the Woodland books.
Fairy art and books are on display too,
And between the fairies, keeping them company, is the last of our Gund Woodland Nutcracker bears that were produced for Eatons reopening in 2000.
It was a brief reopening for Eatons, a chapter of Canadian retail history in which our Woodland Nutcracker played a decorative role. While the Titans of retail wrestled for supremacy, our lovely bears and woodland friends were recreated as life-size figures for in-store Christmas displays. A phalanx of Woodland Nutcrackers was commissioned and the 9-foot bears were positioned at store entries, and more bears and Woodland friends twirled inside in animated displays.
10 Comments on In a Heartbeat, Advent, and Good Fairies, last added: 12/4/2009
By: Frances Tyrrell,
on 12/24/2015
The gallery is looking lovely. The creatures and characters from Woodland Christmas and Woodland Nutcracker are beautifully displayed and despite dreary weather we had a busy weekend at the opening. It is a real pleasure to see these pieces together again, and in a setting reminiscent of the summer cottage that inspired the Woodland books.
Fairy art and books are on display too,
It was a brief reopening for Eatons, a chapter of Canadian retail history in which our Woodland Nutcracker played a decorative role. While the Titans of retail wrestled for supremacy, our lovely bears and woodland friends were recreated as life-size figures for in-store Christmas displays. A phalanx of Woodland Nutcrackers was commissioned and the 9-foot bears were positioned at store entries, and more bears and Woodland friends twirled inside in animated displays.
How lovely your artworks look, in all aspects - and how thrilling to have one's work reproduced at such sizes!
My, what a beautiful post this is! I am learning that you've worked in many differing scales and media, and that each has that unique quality of yours.
I do wish that I could see that exhibit. It is wonderful to think how those large figures are still able to delight children and adults, too!
And...the candlelit walkway is magical!
It is really beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
I also completely agree with you about the generosity of Valerie and Gretel.
xo
Thank you for posting the photos Frances. We were disappointed we weren't able to make it to the showing. It would have been memorable.
Linda and I have been to St. Marie Among the Hurons but always in the summer. It looks so different and magical in its winter light.
Such an interesting and beautiful post! Thanks!
Now that I have one of your books I can more fully appreciate all the hours of work that went into their creation. How lovely for you to see your work showcased in a shop display. I actually visited Canada once in 1980,we went to Toronto and to a shopping Mall called Eatons, I am sure that was the name.
Oh yes, thanks for the mention!
I found myself wondering the strangest thing while reading this post, "I wonder what she sees in her dreams?" It's just that images you create are so wonderfully fanciful and gateways to other, imagined worlds. What a lovely gift, and thank you so much for sharing it with us here.
I hope you are able to dream images that do the same thing for you, or to appreciate the ones around you. There's nothing quite like the feeling of being transported elsewhere, to a magical world, and it is so fitting for the season. Thank you for doing that for me.
Frances,
I wish I could have gone to both the events you wrote about. We are going to try to at least get out to In a Heartbeat soon. Ste. Marie looks so gorgeous... stars too! I love your art. There is a great sense of "wonder" about it and also on the faces of the fairy folk. Just lovely!
Thank you PG! It was very exciting, very beautifully done. Imagine - I could have purchased (for no small sum) one of the giant Nutcracker Bears to bring home!
Thank you Frances, I always enjoy seeing New York through your eyes and hope you'll be showing us some of the Christmas scene there.
Dear Valerie, it is the same Eaton Centre! Now run by Sears Co., once the dust settled.
Speaking of hours of work, I can only imagine what goes into your detailed scenes. (Looking forward to something in my stocking, I think)
Dear PT & E,Thank you for dropping by! (Where do you find the lovely art that tops your posts - it is always something quite unexpected and beautiful).
Dear Linda & Barry, Drop by any time, virtually or in person!
Dear L-o-S, I have been meaning to leave a comment on your "Candide" post, so very evocative that I start to write too much back to you and have erased it! My parents lived through austere and very non-commercial war-time Christmases and appreciate the froth and fun of Christmas non-essentials. So (1) ornaments seem like a very sane, healthy approach to me! (2) Inventiveness - I still make the Christmas crafts my mother showed me, smoothing out the colourful patterned foils of Christmas chocolates (rationing stimulated the original "re-use/recycle" ethic!) to make more ornaments, making something out of nothing for the fun of it (about which more in a coming blog post), which is truly the life and mind of an illustrator. (3) My dreams are mostly too silly for words, but with my pencil I try to go somewhere beautiful, merry (if appropriate) and true.