CHIEF TAWONKA

Daniel — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:16:24 +0000

A few years back, my wife Loretta and I were visiting our good friends the Troy’s at their Oakland Hills home. They have a big Mediterranean-Style house that has a breathtaking view of the entire San Francisco Bay Area. But what really makes this house fun, is that George is a collector and Susi is a master gardener. On the side of house, George has set up chess set with huge white and black tiles with near life-size chess players. In the front of the house he is building a replica of some ruins in Rome. Giant wooden-carved gates and pillars from Thailand lead into the garden. It seems that everywhere you look you find some treasure.

But what grabbed my imagination was a large statue of an Indian he had perched on the upstairs porch. It was over six feet tall and had a very authentic Northeast Woodlands Indian look. It was sprayed with dark gray paint which gave it the appearance of stone (it’s made of fiberglass). I asked where it came from and he told me that there was a southern franchise called “Cheaper Cigarettes” and at one point each of the eighty-two stores had one of the statues which they would roll out to the sidewalk like they did with the old cigar store Indians. He said he bought it at an auction. I told George if it was mine, I’d turn it into an authentic-looking piece of art.

To my surprise I found the statue on my porch a few weeks later with a sign on it that simply read, “Happy Thanksgiving and can’t wait to see what you do to it. Your friend George.” I did the artwork for a book called, “Sootface, An Ojibway Cinderella Story.” I still had a file of all my research for the book and decided that I would turn this statue, titled “Chief Tawonka,” into an Ojibway (Chippewa, Great Lakes) warrior. I spent a lot of time with steel wool, sandpaper and paint, but when it was completed it became, without doubt, my favorite possession. It now sits as the centerpiece in our living room.

THOSE AMAZING GERMAN SHEPHERD DOGS

Daniel — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:04:13 +0000

A younger me with my trusty hiking companion Blue

One of my first memories as a child was standing on my porch at my North Berkeley home, watching a teenager jogging alongside a magnificent German Shepherd dog. This incident started a life long love of this dog breed. I have had six shepherds, and every one of these dogs has been a fine example of the breed description: ”Often used as working dogs, German Shepherds are courageous, keen, alert and fearless. Cheerful, obedient and eager to learn. Tranquil, confident, serious and clever. GSDs are extremely faithful, and brave. They will not think twice about giving their lives for their human pack. They have a high learning ability. German Shepherds love to be close to their families.”

Last year when I was visiting Wisconsin, I spent a few days traveling around the state, photographing some of the rural areas. I was particularly taken by the farms, with the stone silos, and all the picturesque out buildings and colorful fields. I could easily live in one these farm communities in a heartbeat. When I came upon one farm I wanted to photograph, I stepped out of my car to figure out where i would shoot my photographs. Across the field, in-front of the farm, strolled two German Shepherds. The sight took my back to the first time I had ever laid my eyes on this breed. By the time I had retrieved the camera out of the car, they were well past the farm. I went ahead and photographed the farm. On the plane flight home I decided that I would do a painting of the farm and use my own dogs “Molly” and “Scout” as models. The more I thought about it, I decided that that I would set it in the winter snow, and call the painting “Working Dogs.”

Daniel San Souci

CHIEF TAWONKA

THOSE AMAZING GERMAN SHEPHERD DOGS