Ruella Yates Ventures into the Plains Indian Past with the Waterhole Rituals
Posted in Clinicians on Jul 4th, 2012
The sound of Indian drums and chanting came on soft summer breezes in long-twilight evenings of my childhood on an Oklahoma farm. My grandfather spoke of the ceremonial powwows in tones of respect, as he did when he dipped water from our shallow well, dug long before by the People of the Plains. He walked with me to the smooth rock outcropping on the hill, showing me indentations where Indians had ground grain in the times before settlements broke up and fenced the land. Those memories were strong within me as I rode the prairie on my horse, pretending I was living in those times, with great respect for the land and native people that are my heritage on the Plains.
When I showed my horse paintings at a one-woman show in Oklahoma City, a Native American artist dropped by and said in quiet tones, “These are Spirit Horses, aren’t they?” They were, indeed, as they came to me unbidden into the paint, looking for the little horse-girl who loved them. The artist, Thompson Williams, gave me a name in his language, De-tomaha Nah-te, horse-woman. Rhonda Williams, a painter of horse blankets and hummingbirds in her White Stallion Studio, and … Read more
