by Solly

Artwork Description

TWO TUFTS OF PHOENIX DOWN

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22Hx18Wx1D inches Smokey the Bear’s admonishment to prevent forest fires does not reflect what forest managers and scientists understand to be the natural role of periodic fires in maintaining forest health. I want to introduce Smokey 2.0, a demigod or jinn, to spread the message that many of the forests of the Western US require fire to perform such services as destroying stand-replacing insect outbreaks, reducing tree overcrowding, producing a mosaic of successional communities, increasing biodiversity, and recycling nutrients. The following story adds context to the composition. Duende, a forest jinn, having found the tree struck by lightening from the storm that raced across the mountainside, paused near the ensuing wild fire. He both hoped and feared that the fire would attract the Phoenix in its decent, for this would not be his first experience. He aimed to snatch two feathers; however, the searing heat of the encroaching fire already gave him pause, as did the desire to hold onto his past. If Duende were able to withstand the heat of the blaze, then he would posses the Phoenix’s regenerative power in the tufts when they burned to ash. Rubbing ash over his body would mend his heart and renew his body and spirit. Wherever he were now to venture, new life would regenerate from the ash that fell from body.

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