Puhpowee

'Puhpowee' is a 5x7 inch hand-carve linoleum block print in black ink with copper ink detail on green handmade Lokta paper.   'Puhpowee' features a selection of mushrooms emerging from the ground. The print was inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer's book "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants". In her book, she talks about the animacy of plants and animals. I was taken aback, specifically, when she was discussing the animacy of mushrooms, fungi, and mycelia and their massive underground network. Indigenous Americans have so much respect for the plants and believe in treating them with animacy. Here comes the word 'PUHPOWEE' which is a Putowatami word that describes the force which causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight. The word beautifully speaks to the unseen energies that animate everything. I fell in love with this book and that word and was inspired to make a print that I felt illustrates the word to the best of my abiliti