Label Text
Dyani White Hawk’s art combines images and techniques from Lakota cultural traditions with vocabularies of Euro-American geometric abstraction. The three prints in this series feature triangles that mirror one another, touching at the top apex, a motif the artist returns to repeatedly and is called kapemni in Lakota. It is a symbolic reference to interconnected dimensions, suggesting a place where the spiritual and physical meet one another and connect. The diamond shapes rendered in gold are a reference to a beading pattern White Hawk saw on a Native American cradleboard at the Coe Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, resembling the cut shapes found in quilts. The vertical spaces, gold lines, and small crosses are common imagery in the artist’s overall body of work, standing in for the narrow, tube-shaped quill beads found across Lakota textiles and other adornments. The artist began this series with the green print, choosing the color because it reminded her of memories with close friends. The shapes and patterns were then recreated in red and blue, each color suggesting its own mood. The symmetry and echoing of form and color are meditative, with the various textures and subtly changing colors adding depth and a sense of movement within the sharply defined edges of each form. This series is titled “Tranquility,” which the artist achieves through a balanced composition and masterful use of line and space, drawing the viewer into her visually sumptuous abstractions. Although the memories and historic connections that inspired the work are not literally rendered, the care and complexity she imbues in the multiple layers of ink is visible, rewarding those who take the time to look closely with a sense of order and peace.
DimensionsSheet: 25 1/2 x 25 in. (64.8 x 63.5 cm)
Image: 18 1/8 x 18 1/8 in. (46 x 46 cm)
Image: 18 1/8 x 18 1/8 in. (46 x 46 cm)
Accession Number 2026.21
Classificationsprint
SignedDyani White Hawk (l,r graphite)
Inscriptions29/30 (l,l graphite)
Wóablakela | Tranquility (Green) (l,c graphite)
TANDEM PRESS DWH25 1298 (l,r verso, graphite)
EditionEd. 29/30
MarksTandem Press blindstamp (l,r)
Paper/SupportLanaquarelle paper
ProvenanceArtist (Tandem Press, Madison, WI); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 2026]
