Turtle Island Song: Unfurling Like A Dream
I wanted Turtle Island Song to unfurl like a vision from a dream—surreal, luminous, and steeped in ancestral memory. At its heart is the visage of an Indigenous woman, radiant with an almost otherworldly glow. Her eyes, vast and soul-deep, seem to cradle entire worlds—echoes of ancient stories passed down through generations, held tenderly within their gaze. These eyes do not merely look—they witness, remember, and invite us to see beyond the surface.
Surrounding her is a symphony of color and shape, a living mosaic that pulses with the breath of the land. Swirling hues and fluid forms evoke rivers, forests, wind, and spirit—each brushstroke an invocation of the natural world and its intimate entanglement with human identity. Her hair flows like red clay, echoing the sacred cliffs of Aquinnah on Martha’s Vineyard—a place where earth meets sea in silent reverence. This earthen hue doesn’t just color her hair; it binds her to the land, suggesting that she is not merely of the earth, but is the earth—its living memory made flesh.
In this sacred scene, a deer stands poised atop a hill, a sentinel of serenity. It is not merely an animal, but a guardian spirit—an emblem of balance, gentleness, and intuitive wisdom. The presence of a turtle grounds the piece with even deeper resonance. Symbol of Turtle Island, the Indigenous name for North America, it serves as a living myth—reminding us of a time before borders and conquest, when the land was revered not as property, but as relative and teacher. The turtle becomes the heartbeat of the composition, slow and enduring, carrying the weight of stories that still whisper beneath the soil.
The color palette sings with intensity and intention—lush greens conjure forests alive with ceremony, deep ocean blues summon the mystery of ancient waters, while fiery oranges and warm sand tones trace the sacred geometry of sunrise and earth. This vibrant fusion doesn’t merely dazzle the eye; it beckons the spirit to listen, to remember, and to honor.
Each element of the painting breathes as one—ancestral memory, landscape, spirit, and story—woven together like strands in a ceremonial braid. The result is a visual prayer, a call to recognize the profound interconnectedness that defines Indigenous lifeways. In this tapestry of symbols and soul, the past is not lost—it is alive, resonant, and reaching toward us.
This is not just art—it is remembrance. It is resistance. It is a love letter to the land and to those who continue to walk in harmony with its rhythms.
Turtle Island Song
Her eyes hold dawn and memory,
where cedar smoke meets ocean’s hymn—
a gaze that gathers ancient winds
and scatters them across the skin,
inviting us to feel again.
Her clay-red hair, like bluffs that weep,
falls into moss and forest streams;
each strand a root, a sacred braid
of cliff and sky and island dreams,
where sea meets soil and hearts are made.
The turtle glides through painted time,
its shell a map of stars and songs—
a quiet strength that bears the world,
a keeper of what still belongs
to those who walk the earth with care.
The deer, on twilight’s breathless hill,
pauses between the dusk and dawn—
its silence speaks of listening,
of balance kept when all seems gone,
of grace that knows where we belong.
She is the song the land still sings—
in waters deep, in trees that bend.
She is the fire, the root, the rain,
the voice that time cannot suspend.
She is beginning. She won’t end.
Turtle Island Song is available for purchase. Collect it today!