Nup'-bah-diku' (Black Night)
Type of art: Diverse Art Forms
Ceremonial mace inspired by ancient Spiro chipped mace- fig.21, p.119 of "The Spiro Mound: A Photo Essay". My vision was to create a ground & polished look while also adding a hand engraving that was inspired from an ancient Spiro shell engraving "Head with blind eyes" in Book 3, Plate 61 of "Pre-Columbian Shell Engravings from Spiro". Rough stone was hand cut, shaped, sanded & polished with hand saws, rasps, files & sandpapers. Hand engraving done with non-electrical steel-tipped rod.
Materials: Black Soapstone
Technique: Hand cut, shaped, sanded, polished & engraved (no electric tools)
Size: 16 1/4" L x 5" W x 1 1/8" D
Price: $2,000

A Wayne "Tay Sha"
Earles
Caddo
TaySha.Art@gmail.com
My given Caddo name, Tay Sha, means "Wolf" & "Friend", for he guides you to the other side when you pass on. The Caddo called their friends/allies this, but the Spanish hear "Tejas" which evolved into the state name, Texas. As an Oklahoman & OU grad, I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I do want to be a friend to all Caddo, making them aware of our ancestor's artistic excellence and the need to continue this wonderful heritage. I began in 2015 with stonework art: cultural stonework & contemporary stone jewelry with engraving inspired by ancient Caddo/Spiro designs. My cultural art honors the ancient Caddo stone artifacts mostly from Spiro Mounds, as monolithic axes, ceremonial maces, effigies, chunkey & bannerstones. Using hand saws, rasps & files, I'm amazed at what our ancestors achieved with only stone tools on harder stone than my soapstone, pipestone & alabaster. My jewelry is stone pendant necklaces engraved with intricate pottery, shell & stone artifact designs.