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Description
"Cosmic Conjunctions"
☆ Yonah, Return To Yesteryear ☆
24x36"/(28x40 framed) on
stretched gallery canvas, acrylic and gels using traditional bristle brush techniques

Mount Yonah, viewed from the valley of the ancient Nacoochee Mound about 1000 years ago during a total solar eclipse, revealing a bright comet near the sun.

There is much symbolism in this painting which connects the Cosmos and Native American Indian cultures of Northeast Georgia. The native cultures spanned thousands of years with a rich history up to the eventual displacement and dispersion to the western lands of what is now the United States of America. Today a white man's structure, a gazebo built in the late 19th century, sits atop the ancient Mississippian Indian ceremonial and burial mound. There were once several other mounds nearby in the valley. Those mounds were torn down and the surrounding land where the village existed was plowed over the years disrupting the once intact archaeological site. Even the Nacoochee mound today is a reconstruction of the original mound since much of it was excavated in 1915.

I have envisioned the mound, surrounding area and Mount Yonah in a romanticized cosmic atmosphere during a total solar eclipse a thousand years ago. This was truly a mystical cosmic event to the cultures at the time and I wanted to capture the mystic feeling that such an event likely had on this early culture with no formal body of scientific knowledge. Additionally, I depicted a bright comet within the inner solar system, it's illuminated gas and dust filled tail, energized by the solar winds, streaming away into space. If one were to witness such an event first hand, a feeling of awe would assuredly prevail.

Cosmic events such as comets and eclipses captured the minds and fueled the imagination of all ancient as well as contemporary cultures. One can well imagine the myths and legends that were assuredly created by ancient native cultures as a result of these events.

Extended Descriptor :

"Ancient Conjunctions ☆ Yonah ~ Return To Yesteryear"

Copyright 2018 Michael C. Turner ~ Galactic Visions Space Art
Acrylic on stretched gallery canvas 24x36" using traditional brush and paint tecnhniques

*The Nacoochee Sautee Mound is an ancient Native American burial and ceremonial platform mound located in the Nacoochee Sautee Valley in White County, Georgia, near Helen, Georgia and about 9 miles from Cleveland, Georgia. The Chattahoochee River runs through the site which naturally encouraged early cultures to settle in the fertile valley. An Archaeological excavation was enacted upon the mound in 1915 by the the group that would become the Smithsonian. Many burials were found along with related artifacts. The mound was found to have had several distinct building periods over thousands of years.

The Nacoochee Sautee mound with Mount Yonah* in the background rises above the Chattahoochee River valley against a celestial backdrop created by a rare total solar eclipse. Another cosmic phenomenon, a bright comet, glowing near the solar eclipse, with it's gas and dust filled tail flows in the opposite direction of the sun disk, powered by the sun's solar winds.

This cosmic event took place thousands of years ago during a time when the mountain valley was occupied by the ancient ancestors of the later Woodland and Missippian cultures.

The Nacoochee Sautee valley has a long history which began before the birth of Christ. I have depicted the mound and surrounding area as it might have appeared a thousands years ago before the flooding and silting of the river valley years later that covered much of the original base of the mound, thus lowering it's apparent height in modern times.

Atop the mound is a ceremonial thatched hut. The sacred ceremonial eternal fire burns within as illuminated streams of sacred smoke, symbolizing the rising spirits of the ancestors, ascend from the opening in the the illuminated thatched roof into the starry heavens.

I have embedded a great deal of symbolic inagery in this painting which is relative to both the Native American cultures and the Judeo-Christian theologies. Astronomical phenomena have captivated all cultures since the beginning of humanity. These seemingly mystical manifestations were associated with both good and malevolent events.

I have visualized an extremely rare cosmic conjunction of a total solar eclipse along with a brilliant comet. One can imagine what mystical significance such an event might have held in the minds of the culture witnessing it. For this reason I depicted the elements that were so familiar to this ancient culture in a somewhat stylized mystical atmosphere shrouded in a foggy mist.

I too have roots to this ancient site. Both of my parents' families settled in this area during the early colonization period. My maternal great grandmother had Cherokee and Creek Indian heritage. The ancestors to the Creek were likely the original builders of the mound a thousand years ago or possibly longer.

Description
"Cosmic Conjunctions"
☆ Yonah, Return To Yesteryear ☆
24x36"/(28x40 framed) on
stretched gallery canvas, acrylic and gels using traditional bristle brush techniques

Mount Yonah, viewed from the valley of the ancient Nacoochee Mound about 1000 years ago during a total solar eclipse, revealing a bright comet near the sun.

There is much symbolism in this painting which connects the Cosmos and Native American Indian cultures of Northeast Georgia. The native cultures spanned thousands of years with a rich history up to the eventual displacement and dispersion to the western lands of what is now the United States of America. Today a white man's structure, a gazebo built in the late 19th century, sits atop the ancient Mississippian Indian ceremonial and burial mound. There were once several other mounds nearby in the valley. Those mounds were torn down and the surrounding land where the village existed was plowed over the years disrupting the once intact archaeological site. Even the Nacoochee mound today is a reconstruction of the original mound since much of it was excavated in 1915.

I have envisioned the mound, surrounding area and Mount Yonah in a romanticized cosmic atmosphere during a total solar eclipse a thousand years ago. This was truly a mystical cosmic event to the cultures at the time and I wanted to capture the mystic feeling that such an event likely had on this early culture with no formal body of scientific knowledge. Additionally, I depicted a bright comet within the inner solar system, it's illuminated gas and dust filled tail, energized by the solar winds, streaming away into space. If one were to witness such an event first hand, a feeling of awe would assuredly prevail.

Cosmic events such as comets and eclipses captured the minds and fueled the imagination of all ancient as well as contemporary cultures. One can well imagine the myths and legends that were assuredly created by ancient native cultures as a result of these events.

Extended Descriptor :

"Ancient Conjunctions ☆ Yonah ~ Return To Yesteryear"

Copyright 2018 Michael C. Turner ~ Galactic Visions Space Art
Acrylic on stretched gallery canvas 24x36" using traditional brush and paint tecnhniques

*The Nacoochee Sautee Mound is an ancient Native American burial and ceremonial platform mound located in the Nacoochee Sautee Valley in White County, Georgia, near Helen, Georgia and about 9 miles from Cleveland, Georgia. The Chattahoochee River runs through the site which naturally encouraged early cultures to settle in the fertile valley. An Archaeological excavation was enacted upon the mound in 1915 by the the group that would become the Smithsonian. Many burials were found along with related artifacts. The mound was found to have had several distinct building periods over thousands of years.

The Nacoochee Sautee mound with Mount Yonah* in the background rises above the Chattahoochee River valley against a celestial backdrop created by a rare total solar eclipse. Another cosmic phenomenon, a bright comet, glowing near the solar eclipse, with it's gas and dust filled tail flows in the opposite direction of the sun disk, powered by the sun's solar winds.

This cosmic event took place thousands of years ago during a time when the mountain valley was occupied by the ancient ancestors of the later Woodland and Missippian cultures.

The Nacoochee Sautee valley has a long history which began before the birth of Christ. I have depicted the mound and surrounding area as it might have appeared a thousands years ago before the flooding and silting of the river valley years later that covered much of the original base of the mound, thus lowering it's apparent height in modern times.

Atop the mound is a ceremonial thatched hut. The sacred ceremonial eternal fire burns within as illuminated streams of sacred smoke, symbolizing the rising spirits of the ancestors, ascend from the opening in the the illuminated thatched roof into the starry heavens.

I have embedded a great deal of symbolic inagery in this painting which is relative to both the Native American cultures and the Judeo-Christian theologies. Astronomical phenomena have captivated all cultures since the beginning of humanity. These seemingly mystical manifestations were associated with both good and malevolent events.

I have visualized an extremely rare cosmic conjunction of a total solar eclipse along with a brilliant comet. One can imagine what mystical significance such an event might have held in the minds of the culture witnessing it. For this reason I depicted the elements that were so familiar to this ancient culture in a somewhat stylized mystical atmosphere shrouded in a foggy mist.

I too have roots to this ancient site. Both of my parents' families settled in this area during the early colonization period. My maternal great grandmother had Cherokee and Creek Indian heritage. The ancestors to the Creek were likely the original builders of the mound a thousand years ago or possibly longer.