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Pueblo Indian Watercolors: Watercolors and Artists

Awa Tsireh, Black Mountain Lion and Black Fox

The artist Awa Tsireh painted two local animals, a mountain lion on the left, and a fox on the right, under the arching form of a rainbow. This painting was not made to represent a specific event, instead it uses shapes and decorative elements to create an appealing image.

Both animals have designs painted on their sides. The design on the mountain lion represents a storm cloud with lightning bolts shooting out of each side. The design on the fox is called a "heartline" and represents the spirit of the animal by showing the animal's breath moving from its mouth to its heart. At the base of either end of the rainbow, the stepped patterns represent distant mesas or mountains. Along the top of the rainbow are two stepped shapes indicating clouds and dropping from the middle of the rainbow are fine lines of falling rain.

Above the rainbow is the Zia, or sun symbol, with rays pointing in the four directions sacred to Pueblo Indians. The sun symbol has an abstracted face made out of geometric shapes. This symbol indicates that the sun is a living force of the natural world. This sun symbol is now the official symbol of the state of New Mexico.

Questions for Students

Why do we use visual symbols? Wouldn't it be simpler to use words? What symbols are used frequently? In what situations are symbols helpful?

Pictured above: Awa Tsireh, Black Mountain Lion and Black Fox, about 1925–30, watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper, 28.5 x 36.2 cm. Corbin-Henderson Collection, Gift of Alice H. Rossin