Rob Jacobs Art: Artist

Wiyohipeyata

In 2004, as had happened with my angel series (www.angelsofprotection.com) I was intuitively inspired to make a piece of art of one of the Lakota spirits called “Wiyohipeyata” – “the place where the sun retires, the Spirit of the West which presides over the evening and the coming of darkness and is present at the death of man and animals.” This quote, from the book, Meditations with Native Americans – Lakota Spirituality, by Father Paul Steinmetz, S.J. is the vehicle that inspired this piece and a new art series: my interpretations of twenty-one of the Lakota Spirits.

Dr. Aka Hultkrantz, University of Stockholm, said the following about Father Steinmetz: “The author of this book of meditations is a remarkable man, out of the ordinary, and occupies a unique position in American Indian religious studies. For a couple of decades Father Paul Steinmetz, S.J., served as a dedicated missionary among the Oglala Lakota in South Dakota. He knows their situation today, their difficult adjustment to two worlds, Indian and white, and their zest for the religious mystery.”

In June 2007, after a rather extensive Internet search, Rob found Father Paul, a Jesuit priest, living in the Jesuit community of Marquette University in Wisconsin. He has talked to him a number of times, and, to quote Rob, “cannot express my gratitude enough for the opportunity and honor of meeting this wonderful person whose book has had such an impact on my life.” In January 2009, for a three month period, the first show of all twenty-one of his images, The Lakota Spirits, was held at the Karpeles Museum in Santa Barbara, California.

Rob's purpose in bringing the Lakota Spirits into the world, in a visual form, is to "help Technological Man get in touch with his own primal roots" (from forward of book). With global warming, the number of wars going on at any one time and the lack of respect for the land being major issues in our lives, he believes the Lakota, with their relationship and respect for the earth - their spiritualit - help awaken our consciousness and hopefully make us more aware that life must come from a place of love and respect towards nature, not to dominate but to be part of nature. This series has to do with life itself.

In keeping with the Lakota's respect for Mother Earth, and Rob's own thinking about the environment, global warming, and other related issues, much of this series has been emerging from re-cycled materials, and it is happening in a very natural and harmonious way. As the Lakota show the way on their lands, their inspiration is helping him to be an example in his own life.

Each piece will be unique to the spirit described. Most of Rob's work is two-dimensional and mixed media, but he has been expanding it out into the realm of sculpture. Two of the pieces are three- dimensional. Many images are on big pieces of mounted photographic paper so that he can use photographic dyes that sink into the emulsion of the print. Some pieces are on canvas, canvas board or wood. Other materials utilized are acrylic paints (brushed and airbrushed), oils, gouache, glitter, sand; some pieces are on wood so that he is able to collage his palettes onto them, and some are utilized from a digital format. The sizes range from approximately two to six feet. The idea is to reveal each spirit out into the world in its own unique way. Some examples: as animals abstracted out, never quite seen before: Wiyohipeyata, in a white background and Hehaka - male elk, in an environment; some as recognizable animals: Mato - bear in fire and Hnaska, - frog; as animal and human face(s) in the same image: Capa - beaver and Cetan - hawk in night sky; some as human heads, without animals: Waziya - mythical giant of the North, Mahpiya - the heavens, the clouds, the sky, and Okaga - the Spirit of the South.

If one reads the book and uses it as a meditation, Rob believes the same can be done with visual representations of that material. Meditation can lead to greater awareness, love and respect for all life - themes he is repeating over and over - hopefully to help himself and inspire others to form a closer personal relationship with the Universal Source.

In the Black Hills of South Dakota, just seventeen miles southwest of Mount Rushmore, a memorial to Crazy Horse has been in progress since 1948. This is the world's largest sculpture. Carved out of a mountain, it was begun by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, Boston born, of Polish descent, at the bequest of Native Americans. The subject, Crazy Horse, on horseback, is pointing with his left hand, in answer to the derisive question asked by a white man, "Where are your lands now?" He replied, "My lands are where my dead lie buried."

Korczak passed away on October 20, 1982. His commitment, devotion and dedication to the Crazy Horse Memorial, were without bounds. His final words to his wife, Ruth, were, “You must work on the mountain – but go slowly so you do it right.” Ruth, her sons and daughters and the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation board of directors, are carrying on this project began by her husband. Two goals, besides the mountain carving, are the Indian Museum of North America, and the Indian University (and Medical Training Center) of North America. During the thirty-four years Korczak worked on the project he refused to take any salary.

Rob's gratitude also knows no bounds for the inspiration put out into the world by this great visionary artist and human being, and he said the following words to the two men who made the Lakota Series possible: "Korczak and Father Paul, through the examples of your consciousness, I make this commitment - As long as I am alive, I will finish The Lakota Spirits Series, and hope they find many homes throughout the world, as Crazy Horse found his home in the Black Hills of South Dakota."

As of September 2008, the series is finished.