Day 10 - Discovery Park

A blessedly slow morning, then lunch with my daughter, and a trip to Discovery Park on Puget Sound.

These are the Olympic Mountains.

A Great Blue Heron!

And the lighthouse.

A tiny crab

and some interesting seaweed with air bladders, since the tide was out.

And through the woods. Karen lent me her toe-shoes for the hike. Here I am imitating the heron.

On our way out of Discovery Park, we stopped at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center.

I love these women dancing!

And this fabulous mural made of cedar. So smooth to touch, and so gigantic!

Underwater Panthers by George Morrison

Here is the information from the accompanying plaque. I'm sharing it all since I found it so intriguing.

"Although this image looks strikingly modern, it is adapted from a very old traditional birch bark design frequently sen in artwork of the Woodlands tribes.

The Woodlands people hold a deep spiritual understanding of the universe. Everything has a soul, animate or inanimate, and all things deserve respect. They show reverence by using symbols in their artwork that represent mythological spirits. The design here represents supernatural Panthers that live under the lakes.

In Woodlands legends, the earth was an island carried on the back of a giant turtle, floating in an infinite dark body of water. At one time, this island separated, dividing the universe into upper and lower halves. These realms divided again into four layers, each layer inhabited by spiritual beings. The deepest realm was the Underwater World.

Underwater Panthers were guardians of the copper deposits in the lakes, and some said the panthers were partly made of copper themselves. They could cause storms with their breath, or by lashing the waves with their long tails.

In the center of the piece, are abstract designs of the two Panthers standing breast to breast. Above them, along the top of the mural, is the traditional Chippewa motif for water. Along the sides, geometric patterns represent tables set for a meal, and on the Panthers' backs are the symbols for deer, showing the importance and power the Panthers brought to the hunt for food.

George Morrison is an abstract artist whose work is displayed in collections throughout the nation. When describing his art, Morrison said, 'in my search for my own reality I seek the power of the rock, the magic of the water, the religion of the tree, the color of the wind, and the enigma of the horizon.'"