From the Artist - Garrett Etsitty:
I painted this room with good intentions thinking about my elders how they use to say, "life is beautiful, do your best to stay lifted and grounded." When I was 16, I caught a hummingbird and my grandpa said, "make an offering and wish to be swift like the hummingbird." I grabbed corn pollen sprinkled it on the hummingbird and caught the remains under my hand. It flew out of my hands and I watched it fly with good thoughts about my future. With the remains of the pollen, I rubbed it on my arm and made a wish that I would be an unique artist with speed and beauty of the hummingbird. In Dine' Culture the hummingbird represents the Essence of Life. The hummingbird came from the second world and made a connection with pollen which the Dine' people utilized to make offerings in Beauty Way ceremonies. When the hummingbird flies it is shaped like the moon crescent and rainbow representing the cycles of our life, the seasons, our emotions, our accomplishments, choices, balance, discipline and sense of self-respect and self-dignity. The hummingbird is also a representation of beauty all around us, beneath us, and above us when we walk on this corn pollen road called life. The room has an earth toned background representing mother earth with a cosmic background representing a universal state of mind. The white lines are thoughts motioning into the stars while making offerings. I also added circuit board design representing the world today with a touch of blocks separating from the birds with a swift motion representing energy and motivation.
About Garrett Etsitty:
Garrett Etsitty was born in Chinle, Arizona in 1985, coming from a rural rusty environment. He spent most of his years watching his uncles paint abstraction and realism. At the age of four he picked up a paint brush and began working with color, and by the time he emerged he began to have a growing interest in the creative arts inspired by Dine' Philosophy. He has worked collaboratively and individually on a variety of socially engaged interdisciplinary projects for over a decade. He has exhibited at University of Oklahoma at the Sam Noble Museum, Fort Lewis College Art gallery, Phoenix Heard Museum, and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art. He has a widespread collection of art in all kinds of disciplines that he was acutely sensitive to. His multi-optic senses were trained to perceive compositions in the round or flat that his large insect brain could process formal and informal aesthetic with a good deal of any medium. His favorite medium is paint and he had opened the floodgates with respected mediums that makes his Southwest style much more unique.