The Maya: An Artistic Homage

The Maya are my spiritual ancestors.
Their culture resonates deep within me.
This project is my gift to those who came before.
What remains of the Maya is their gift to all who come after.

In 1986 during my first visit to Chichen Itza, the seed for this project was planted in me. It lay dormant until 2000 when I experienced three related and transcendent events: I took my second journey to Mexico to study the Mayan ruins, learned to create Gumoil prints, and returned to working with clay.

My artwork happens this way. My life needs to unfold, time needs to pass, other interests need to come first, and then somehow everything falls into place and I know exactly what to do, where to go and how to make it happen.

For thirteen years, with a few gaps in between, I’ve been working on this project. Daily I feel my connection to the fire of the Maya Spirit—Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth. I listen carefully for direction and watch for signs. I’m thankful that I can do the work that I’m guided to do. I’ve learned to trust the process, to let creation flow into and out of me freely, and to let go of the end result. My reward is more than I ever imagined.

Patterns

In 2000, outside the city of Oaxaca, I discovered the recurring themes that gave my project its direction. Mitla and Monte Albán were the second and third ruins I photographed, 14 years after I photographed my first, Chichen Itzá. Their architecture is distinctive and bold; the lines and patterns simple yet intricate. The layouts of the plazas, temples and ball courts emulate the Maya’s accomplishments in science, astronomy and engineering. I was naive at that time about the depth and complexity of Maya culture, but these ruins inspired me and were the catalyst to a new way of seeing and making my art.

From then on at each ruin I visited, I studied the placement and repetition in the construction of pyramids, mounds, steps, columns, arches, doors and windows; and I looked for similarities in patterns, shapes, symbols and figures that were etched, carved and sculpted into stone.

Upon returning from Oaxaca, I taught myself to make gumoil prints to portray my subject’s antiquity and genius in a contemporary, brave and colorful manner. The results I achieved in Milta—Columns surprised and encouraged me to refine gumoil printing. I also returned to clay sculpting after a 20 year hiatus. In 2007, I created clay barrel-fired stands and vases that represented the repetitive image of columns.

Hieroglyphics

Many times when creating artwork, I’m working with the Maya’s symbols and hieroglyphics—their language. As I form and carve symbols upon clay and when I gumoil print glyphs and pictographs, I feel like a child learning to write the alphabet. My hand awkwardly strives to make my lines true to what was written in stone. Sometimes my movements flow and I see words.

There are hundreds of Maya stelae in Mesoamerica, created from 400 to 900 BC to announce important dates, events and people. They were usually made for the current king, accompanied by an altar and displayed in the plazas for all to see, even though most people didn’t know how to read. The first two I viewed were flat limestone slabs with subtle weather-worn glyphs in Monte Albán and El Tajín. Later, I saw similar ones in better condition at Xunantunich, Caracol and Tikal. I was intrigued by these displays of communication, but not completely captivated until I experienced the abundance of three-dimensional stelae at Copan.

Over time I’ve learned that nothing made in the Maya culture was random decoration. Even the carvings that appear to be only fancy borders around courtyards are really symbols declaring and celebrating life. I realize that it would take me another lifetime to even begin to grasp an understanding of this language; still, I love the movement, measure and mystery, and will always long to learn more.

Pretty Ladies

No one knows the significance of these small, mostly nude, statues with short flipper-like arms and enlarged hips and legs. Some of the figures have two heads or two faces; still they are called Pretty Ladies, a name assigned them by an archeologist in his excavation papers and carried over into popular usage. In the 1930s, the Pretty Ladies were excavated from gravesites and dumps in Tlatilco, near Mexico City. Many of them survive intact and reside in museums and personal collections around the world. It’s estimated that they were created from 1300 to 500 BC.

The Pretty Ladies enchanted me from the first time I came upon them in Maya art and history books, and more so when I later viewed them in museums. My first attempts to bring them to life were the Dancing Ladies stand and the Sisters: Fire and Water. These pieces embodied femininity and some of the characteristics of the Ladies but weren’t a true likeness. However, it was while recuperating from a motorcycle racing accident in 2009 that I finally understood how to give them form. My goal was to make 15; I ended up making 51. It took me a year to complete them, about the same time I needed to let go of the trauma from the accident.

Ball Courts

Ball games in Maya culture were not only played for recreation, but also used as ritual between rival communities to resolve conflicts that sometimes ended in violence. It’s theorized that perhaps it was better to settle disputes through a ball game than to start a war. Through my studies, I’ve become aware of how important the ball game was to Maya culture. Every ruin I’ve seen has at least one ball court, and some, like Tikal, have seven. There are over 500 in Guatemala. I’ve learned that games were played by women and children, and between teams of different communities. I was amazed to discover that the Maya were the first to conceive of playing games using balls, dating at least from 2500 BC, and that they made the balls from a mixture of rubber and Guamol tree sap.

I’m in awe of the artists who created the stone markers that adorn the ball courts, and their mastery of carving into the stone walls detailed glyphs that depict past games and victories. Over time, I made some of my images of ball courts into unique gumoil prints, but it wasn’t until visits to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras that I was inspired to make clay ball court markers.

During 2008-2010, my travel and art-making experiences seemed to meld, and as I began to work the clay between my hands in an attempt to re-create what the Maya had done in stone, I knew that the ball games had become an essential part of my project.

The Calendars

It’s said that the ancient Maya had 20 astronomical calendars that helped humans realize that they are one with nature, Mother Earth, and at the same time one with infinity, the Cosmos. They were master mathematicians and the calendars are based on numbers and geometry. Even the pyramids conform to these standards. It’s complicated and takes time and study to understand how each calendar works alone and in synchronicity with others. Some are still a mystery.

Around 2008, my friend Faust, an artist and sage, introduced me to The Book of Destiny, written by Carlos Barrios, that explains how the Chol q’ij or Tzolk’in calendar works. This is the destiny calendar—the controversial calendar that ends December 21, 2012—and the one that has inspired me artistically and spiritually.

The Chol q’ij calendar is based on 260 days representing the linking of numbers 1 through 13 with 20 days. This joins with the Haab, a 365 day calendar. When both cycles are combined, it takes 52 years to return to the starting date. Each of the 20 days is associated with a Maya sign and prophecy. The Mayas used this information to guide them toward their true destiny in this world. You can calculate your own birthday and learn your destiny by using the formula in the book or by going to one of several websites that will do the math for you.

It has become my morning ritual to read from The Book of Destiny, the energy of the day, and meditate on how I can apply that wisdom into my life. This practice inspired me to recreate the 20 destiny glyphs in clay, glaze them with their specific colors, and place them into their proper position on a calendar round.

I was born on March 12, 1955. I am 12 Ajmaq. The number 12 is strong energy because it’s a spiritual catalyst. My direction is west. My element is Earth. My colors are gray/black/white. My nawal are owl, bee, insects. My energy places are caves, caverns, streams, oceans. My key is to search for expression and transmission. My growth is forgiveness and personal service.

The Chol q’ij calendar ended December 2012; the world didn't. I do believe as the Maya believe that humans are in a unique transitional period and that we are capable of creating an enlightened evolution through honesty, forgiveness and compassion for all life.