Inyo is a Paiute word for “where dwells the Great Spirit.”

At a time of personal crisis, the context for my artwork was gifted to me by the higher spirits on a three-day fasting Vision Quest in the Inyo National Forest in the high desert of California.

Up there alone in the mountains, I was impressed by the vast clear starry night sky and also by the inner source of my own being and felt the sublime oneness in apparent duality. In a powerful flash of awareness (I can see why someone can say that God has spoken to them directly – it was like that), I was given the medicine name of Light into Being – a name that both exemplifies my art and provides foundational context to my life.

The closing act of a Vision Quest is where one comes back and lives out that vision for the benefit of the people. And I must confess that it took me many, many years to give myself over to the painting.

“A man who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until after he has performed the vision on earth for the people to see.” –Black Elk

So here I am now, doing that.

I sometimes think I’ll go back to that sacred mountain. I know I could find my special spot on the edge of a cliff overlooking Death Valley (symbolism much?). But I am not so sure I could still make the climb. Then again, I have a mountain right here in my backyard as well as the etherial one that I carry within – so there is no real need for the trip.

Many have visions – few make them real.  And this art is my visions made physical for my people.