Insights by Bonnie Halsey Dutton

10” x 14” Oil on Canvas

Man by nature is programmed to explore: to question: to try to overcome.  This textural painting juxtaposes modern color with Northern Plains Indian imagery. 

These images depict the action of stories told long ago of life events and conquests.  The metallic gold infused into this imagery was drawn from medieval recordings of similar events on a different continent.  As an artist, my intent is to give the imagery the reverence owed to an ancient culture, reflected upon for it’s cultural importance to the past as well as  for its contribution to the present.

Conflict and struggle to survive is a theme repeated by every generation of mankind.  It is recorded through out history, but never learned from. How frustrated God must be with us, his human experiment!

10” x 14” Oil on Canvas

Stick figure-like imagery is as seemingly readable today as it was in ages past:  mankind’s struggle to survive.  Surviving against nature and other man, it is an ageless tale. 

Early Native American petroglyphs inspired this painting.  These mysterious carvings and paintings are found on rock walls over a large area of North America, and tell a tale of struggle and striving to survive.  Many of the images seem obvious to modern man, but may well have had a different cultural meaning to those who left them.  The exact meaning for the countless petroglyphs found all across North America is sadly, lost to time. These records in stone were a narriative tale of which the teller has long ago been silenced.  What is left for modern man, is to reflect upon them and to try to “read” them with one’s heart.

24´x 30” Oil on Canvas

Another painting in the rendezvous series, which directed my attention to the Native American teepee and it’s significance to the general Americanculture.

A glimpse into the past as depicted in this painting, honors the Northern Plains culture and the mystical nature of their lore.  The stillness of the teepee in the foreground is contrasted with the movement of the sky in the background.   It is often thougth that the nomadic lifestyle of the Plains Indians did not allow for much sky interpretation.  This is not true: it was a big part of the culture and the story-telling.

Reminiscent of a time exposure on a camera, the mysteries of the cosmos are explored in this artowrk.   This painting leaves me with the realization that life on this earth is but a blink in time, and few things are as unchanged in mankinds experience on this earth than that of the night sky.

16” x 20” Oil on Canvas 

The texture and converging lines of a buffalo hide teepee was inspiration for this painting.  This imagery has served as an entire series of paintings for me, and is one I have not yet fully explored!

Besides the communal living a teepee required, I was captivated by the thought of how time was spent in this dwelling.  Long cold Dakota nights were endured in such a teepee, and during them were the telling of cherished stories passed down from one generation to another.  Symbolically, images from Plains Indians winter counts were juxtaposed into the heights of the teepee in this painting, to inspire the thought of the narrative manner in which culture was passed along before recorded history.

18” x 24” Oil on Masonite Panel

Looking up through an authentic buffalo hide teepee, I was moved by the design of the intersecting lines made by the lodge poles and by the textures of the wood, hide and sinew of which the teepee was constructed.  The circular spiral is compelling: drawing the viewer upward towards the sky.  This painting is about texture and design that made up this early dwelling.

To imagine a Dakota winter inside this earthy enclosure is to help one to understand the brave and strong culture that made the wide open prairie home all year around.  To imagine waking up in such a structure with the light glowing from the outside in, helps one to imagine the connection with the earth that this culture had.  (And still does!)  All is a circle, a valuable reminder and one that is reflected in every aspect of this world.

24” x 30” Oil on Canvas

This painting is an abstracted image which superimposes a teepee into a cold winter landscape.  The frigid and long winters spent dwelling in a teepee are imagined alongside a winding stream and under the endless stars.

The teepee has become very symbolic to me: it stands for tradition and hardy resolve. The teepees of the Plains Indians were made of bison hide.  Teepees of today are made of canvas.  This change in materials reflects societal change from nomadic culture to an industrialized one.  It shows the inevitable change that time has on everything. 

Living on the Plains was dangerous.  I have juxtaposed one of those dangers into this piece.  Look for the bear claw marks in the side of the teepee, and realize that even a quiet night under the stars could be fraught with danger.

Ceremonial Pose  30 x 11” Watercolor

The textures and muted tones of an original photo taken by a friend, Martine Roulet,  inspired this painting.  The proud pose evident in this image echoes the romantic view of Plains Indian Ceremonial attire.  Keeping ones culture alive is essential to understanding not only what came before, but also in placing oneself in the stream of history: in the current role we play in creating tomorrow’s history.

 22 x 30” Watercolor

In looking at Northern Plains Indian artifacts, I came across a pair of Northern Cheyenne moccasins that reminded me of the saying “Everything old is new again”.

The checkered pattern in the beaded decoration on the moccasin was reminiscent, to me , of a sneaker design.  This particular sneaker design has already come and gone into vogue twice in my lifetime, and no doubt will continue to, as it is considered “Classic”. 

I include that modern design in contrast to the older footwear which no doubt evolved over time as well. 

The suggestion of ancient petroglyphs in the top portion of the painting is intended to place the ancient with the modern, and realize that no matter that current mankind likes to feel superior to what came before, in many respects, humans keep reinventing the wheel as we strive to move forward.

11 x 30” Watercolor

Central to this painting are a pair of Sioux moccasins from South Dakota’s past, circa 1875 – 1900.  They show wear, and the impressions of a living, breathing human who wore them in the past. 

During their time in history, they were treasured, but a common utilitarian item.  The rarity of such items surviving the passage of time now places such items in museums and private collections.

Time puts its unique interpretation on history, and it is often rewritten over the evolution of new ideas and cultures. 

I incorporated a modern shoe tread into the imagery to show that we are but fleeting shadows in the overall history of this planet.  Our existence is a fleeting footprint in time. 

Tearing Up The Earth   

30×11”  Watercolor and Gouache

Utilizing bright colors, I analyzed a fish fossil and the ideas inspired by what is under our feet, both unseen as well as realized and exploited. 

Mankind has a feeling of entitlement which justifies his usage of the earth.  This wanton use of the planet’s resources is having a growing effect on Earth’s delicate balance.  The intent of this painting is to cause the viewer to reflect on the reality that our tearing up of the earth could well lead to our own extinction.