Earth and bones sacred material for artist

Page R12

Creativity comes from deep within the soul of an artist. And for one transplanted Mexican, art comes from deep within the earth.

Domingo Cisneros, originally from Northern Mexico, now makes his home in La Macaza, Quebec, a quiet community snuggled in the northern Laurentian Mountains.

He goes into the woods to seek his visions and stop to let the earth seep through his fingers and the flesh and bone that he unearthed be a part of him. Many have lived and yearned to feel this closeness to the earth, to find that mysterious warm pulse that beats in the twilight of the sun and in the quiet places of the trees by the river. Only a few have the patience and the inner resolve to become a part of nature, to sleep in the tall grass. To pause to listen to the sounds and calls of the animals.

"Material was very important for a visual artist. I was very aware about bones, bones were used for materials before the copper and iron period...the very first thing we used were bones, after twenty years of research," said Cisneros. "I discovered that after the death of a human being or animal that the bones were still alive. As much as hair or nails that keep growing. This is because of the mineral formation of the bones that is not tissue, nor fat or muscle.

"People say when they see my work that they are very moved by something. I wonder myself if this has anything to do with the fact that they are still alive. How much time elapses while they are alive, I do not have the answer, of course, in time they become dust as everything else," he said.

Cisneros recently visited Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where he was invited by the Mendel Art Gallery to work with Indian and Metis students from Joe Duquette High school Cisneros introduced the students to his work, creating with natural objects such as bones, hair, rocks and other gifts from Mother Earth. He also showed them their connection to the earth and its sacred rituals and the transformation of this knowledge to an art form.

"My approach with animals when I find them dead or if I must kill them the first thing I do is ask forgiveness. If I find in the forest for instance a dead wolf, I ask for for-giveness, not in my name, but in the name of whoever killed it. I become like that person or animal as a medium to tell the wolf that they are sorry. If I choose to transform that animal into some of my work, I make a personal ritual where I again ask forgiveness and

I also promise the animal a new life through art. A new form of being, a new form of energy or force afterlife," Cisneros explained.

Cisneros is a Taphuane Indian, a son of the earth, a respectful yet relentless son who is constantly digging for answers in the soft and yielding surface beneath his feet. The Indians here in this country know instinctively that he is a relative.

"I feel at home here with my northern cousins, my extended family. Actually, now even scientists are tracing back all the Indians from this continent from four women, DNA migration, they are coming to track all the different nations from the southern tip of the continent to here (Canada) from four women. So this is a huge family. "When I came here to Quebec the Natives took me as being from here because of my physical features and I was very touched by this. I immediately recognized that we have the same sense of humor, storytelling. So many similarities, even food, a lot of things in common...so I felt at home right away."

Cisneros' home is a huge converted wooden building which he and his partner, Wanda Blyth Campbell, renovated extensively. When he first walked into the home, Cisneros fell through the rotting floor to the basement.

Their space is an incredible collection of art and theatre posters, bones, fur, music, wood, books and spirits. In the back of the house is the workshop. It is cool and fresh by design considering the nature of his work. Bones and fresh by design considering the nature of his work. Bones and flesh of animals can dcay. Their power is still strong. He works to the sound of Indian voices and the drum, the chants, whistles, bell and rattles. Images are conjured here, pure and natural creations interlocked with the configurations of the bones and feathers and teeth.

"They are trying to look for something to identify my work. Trying to identify something that is lacking, for example, the sense of wilderness and of nature. They are confronted by this, whether they are from Europe or the USA, they are so domesticated. When they see my work they wonder where I comes from, but they recognize many things because my work is technical, political, psychological, many different faces. There is a common ground, a theme. They feel and see some kind of force. I don't know what. It is difficult to grasp my symbolic meanings because they are so far away from, for example, a mummified bear. They feel so alienated from that reality that they are most scared."

These are the audiences that come to the exhibitions to see Cisneros' work. They see bones suspended from chains, bones gathered and formed to create a new incredible creature, a fox skeleton writhing in torment, from in time, crying at an imaginary moon, leather strips hanging, antique metal constricting, shapes in a burial mode.

People react, some detached as the offerings, others recoil, others communicate. "Sky Bones" Cisneros' recent offering at the Mendel, compelled its viewers to look and listen to the installation, to reach under the surface and to touch their own bones and spirits.

Cisneros has created work in Cuba, Italy, Mexico and in North America. He converses in five languages fluently: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian and is learning the language of the Indians in the region. He has learned much and is searching for more of this knowledge. He travels across the land to find the vestiges of his art buried in the earth, and he is grateful.