Would such a deck be possible?

[sable]

Okieinalaska sent this to me on newcomer intro site....

"If there isn't there needs to be. I have even thought about some of the cards. It would have lots of animal totems: ravens, eagles, bears...the northwest native artwork is just astounding with the reds and blacks, the turquoise and yellow. Look here:

http://www.schworak.com/haida/

scroll down to the moon. Just beautiful.

I don't know if this would historically fit with the theme but the chariot could be a dog sled team. : )"

 

[Cerulean]

The work is beautiful--just a deck of designs would work for me

Thanks for sharing!

I notice the collector on the page said some were as family crests.

I know that the Japanese collections of family crests are collected in books, such as Dover editions....I saw that Lo Scarabeo did a kind of oracle deck that referenced some similar designs as 'talismans' and that seemed interesting. Hmmm...have to think about that...

I don't know if any of the artists would want to do a tarot structure...if they just wanted to do a designed deck of cards with descriptive text (perhaps a folktale reference), that would be beautiful enough for me. But the author of the page also said that the meanings--charming as they were--seemed not to originate from Haidas themselves...

Maybe just the pictures alone!

Best,

Cerulean

 

[okieinalaska]

The link I sent was just an example of the art. There is also tlingit and others.

Interesting thought though! : 0 )

Amy

 

[L'Etoile]

Anything's possible.

Beautiful artwork.

 

[Cerulean]

BTW, I like these designs better and compared it to the Ironwing

..The Ironwing sounded very interesting to me when described. The Ironwing has a very limited color palette. The designer is very good and did intricate work. I just don't have attraction to use that deck.

But the way the designers in your link use animals that I recognize, they very good. They are appealing.

I'm thinking of Japanese crest graphic symbols now, but done in reverse imaging--light against dark instead of dark against light. I was going to do a small thing for my sister, who likes a certain crest pattern. Thank you very much for artistic inspiration!

Regards,

Cerulean

 

[FearfulSymmetry]

Ha! What a synchronicity!!! I have been working on the Knight of Disks for a few days now and plan on including a Haida or Tlingit bear design! How cool to see it being discussed here.
There is one artist in particular that does this kind of artwork which is just mindblowing, but I can't remember her name right now...if I can find her I will post some stuff here.

I think the Gaian Tarot might hint at some of the native art from the Northwest too with Joanna living up there.

I haven't seen a full deck of it, it would be beautiful though.

Marie

 

[NightWing]

Northwest Native Deck

A Northwest Native Art deck could be really wonderful! I'm not sure how to meld the art & culture with the essentially European concept of Tarot, but perhaps there are ways. The Majors could be a set of totems and animal archetypes that illustrate or exemplify reasonably closely the major concepts/values like fertility, strength, justice, and so on, as drawn from folklore. "Trickster" and "Fool" I would think are virtually synonymous, for example. Each "suit" could tell a tale, so that the minors would reflect 4 foundational legends from the coastal peoples. Thus, you might end up with "suits" of Eagle, Salmon, Bear, and (perhaps) Man. Such a deck would need a really good accompanying book to place the whole thing in a proper context. It would need to be more original than just a RWS clone, dressed up in native art forms.

I would suggest that native artists would be mandatory, as would consultation with the Elders of these people(s). Then perhaps such a project could be considered culturally and artistically "legitimate". Otherwise, the probability of offense is great.

A collaborative project by 78 artists could be very exciting!