|
EDWIN GEORGE
Artist StatementI am a full blooded Eastern Band Cherokee, tracing my family lineage back to “Big George” in the early 1800’s; all family having lived in the Great Smokey Mountains, the original homeland of the Cherokee Nation. I have lived in Ohio for the past twenty five years. My folk art artistic
expressions came late in life with no formal training. My primary purpose
for painting (acrylic on canvas) is to help people understand my Cherokee
Culture. I use symbolic images that tell the stories and myths about the
plants, animals, medicine, and early life of my ancestors. These stories
were passed on down to me through the oral tradition by relatives in my native
language. The Cherokee Syllabary (alphabet) can be seen in my paintings to
insure that our language will live on. My paintings originate from within
and radiate my inner being. My goal is to create harmony and balance in line
and color while honoring the spirit in all things. |
To listen to Edwin praying in Cherokee next to the river, click here. |
|
BiographyEdwin George is a full blooded Eastern Band Cherokee, who has traced his lineage back five generations to BIG GEORGE. All his relations have lived in the
Great Smokey Mountains, the original homeland of the Cherokee Nation. He was born in Bird Town Cherokee, North Carolina in 1934 to Jackson and Annie George.
Each of the paintings incorporate plants, medicines, animals
and natural settings indigenous to the Cherokee people. Edwin George’s innate
ability to create harmony and balance in line and color make his creations
distinctive in true flat Folk Art tradition. His use of abstract figures and
use of the Cherokee Syllabary (the first native alphabet created by Sequoia
in 1821), enhance his art and insure that his language will live on through
his paintings. Edwin also creates walking sticks from his native Sourwood branches,
with rich wood burned animal and Syllabary designs adorning the circular surface,
for which he intuitively is guided to burn with his steady hand and keen sense
of the round. |
|
 |
|
|
|
Dona GreeneDona is a retired educator who taught at Kent State University for seventeen years in the Education College in Early Childhood Education. She holds a masters degree in Children’s Literature and World Cultural Education, from Kent State. Her educational travels have taken her to countries around the world with visits to China, Japan, Sweden, Russia, Uzbeckistan, Georgia, England, Germany and Peru. During her time teaching she melded her interest in Native American Cultures and Outdoor Education into many workshops for teachers. Dona Greene also contributed to the publication ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AT THE EARLY CHILDHOOD LEVEL, Ruth Wilson, editor, published by North American Association for Environmental Education 1994. The article entitled “Keepers of The Earth: Environmental Awareness for Early Childhood Educators”, pp.66-75, was written for teachers who use the outdoors as a classroom.
Dona Greene presented a workshop “Outdoor Education Through the Eyes of Native Americans”, at the National Association of the Education for Young Children conference in New Orleans, in 1992. Since retirement Dona Greene has been teaching home schooled children Native American Cultural Studies, including her extensive work with Lakota at the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, the Cayuga and Onondaga Nations in central New York and the Eastern Band Cherokee in Cherokee, North Carolina. She has been studying these cultures to be more authentic in her story telling about native myths and legends for school presentations and community gatherings. Currently she is partnering with Edwin George, celebrated Cherokee artist who paints stories of his Eastern Band culture.
University presentations from 2004 to the present, with Edwin George, include in Ohio, Miami University, Kent State University, University of Akron, Mount Union, and Wright State University. Middle School and primary presentations in Summit and Portage Counties include the Field Local, Highland Middle, Miller South, Crestwood Local, David Hill, Leggett Elementary, and Norton Elementary Schools.
|
