Raven Icon

Raven Icon ©1998 by Bill Hudson
12" x 16" Acrylic and gold leaf on panel

The icon painting above was created by Bill Hudson for the Alaska Folk Festival's 20th annual festival.  He writes that had originally proposed "for the 20th anniversary, a Russian Orthodox style icon of the Mother Mary playing a Russian balalaika," but festival board members felt that might be too offensive to some viewers.  So he came back with this Raven icon.  He writes, "Although Raven is well known among Alaskan Natives as the Creator of the World — which in my mind certainly ranks him up there with the Mother Mary — no one complained that the new design was religiously offensive."

So the image isn't intended to be a religious icon, but rather to represent the Russian orthodox and Native American communities of Alaska collectively.  But it got me to thinking, what would it look like to combine the icon format with Northwest Coast art style to produce biblical depictions of Christ, saints, stories, etc.?  Hmmmmm...

The Jesus Question: Depictions of Jesus in Northwest Coast Art, Part 1

A Tlingit community house and totem poles are preserved in
Totem Bight State Historical Park in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Be sure to check out the first part of a new series of posts at The Jesus Question, called Depictions of Jesus in Northwest Coast Art.  The series looks to be an interesting and exciting "celebration of the divine image-bearing First Nations peoples of coastal British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, and Oregon, and their art."  Part 1 is a general introduction to the peoples who create Northwest Coast Art, and a description of totem poles, their history and purposes (and common misconceptions about them).  The post even contains three videos on the art form, as well as a few photos.  Though I'm very under-informed about Northwest Coast Art, I absolutely love the look of it and I can't wait for Part 2 (which is coming later this weekend)!