¡Colores!; 703; Trickster Tales: The Artist's Journey

... ... ... ... Tonight, artist and children's author Gerald McDermott takes us on a journey into the worlds of myth and folklore. Next, on Colores. ...

The great myths and the gods and creatures who live in them spring from the deepest part of the human unconscious. To give form to the gods, the artist must draw upon his own visual imagination, and so the creatures that live in my books first take form in my dreams. Once they come alive in the pages of my books, they can become the catalyst for the dreams of others. Mythology carries with it a million voices of the past. Through those myths we connect with everyone that's come before us, and taking our place in that long line of storytelling, that long line of examination of human emotions is a crucial part of our existence. It's very often lost in our society, and something that an artist can contribute is to give a new form to the myths, a new form to the folk tales, so that they speak to a new generation.

All my life I've been drawn to the images of myth and folklore. I believe that whether we are adults or children, these stories have universal appeal, because they reveal something important about our inner life. Raven came. All the world was in darkness. The sky above was in darkness. The waters below were in darkness. Men and women lived in the dark and cold. Raven was sad for them. He said, I will search for light. Raven flew across valleys and across mountains. He flew long rivers and over lakes. There was darkness all around. Then he saw a bit of light far away. He flew and flew and came closer to the light.

The light was at the edge of the water. The light came from the house of the sky chief, and it was shining. Raven perched high in a pine tree on the shore. Raven watched. He saw a beautiful young girl emerge from the shining house and go to the edge of the water. She was the sky chief's daughter. She knelt and drank some water from a woven basket. Raven changed himself into a pine needle. He fell down from the tree and floated on the water. When the girl drank again, she swallowed the pine needle. After a time, the girl gave birth to a child. The child was small and dark, with shiny black hair and tiny black eyes. What do you think the child was? It was Raven. Raven had been reborn as a boy child. The sky chief was delighted with his daughter's child. He called him grandchild.

He played with the boy and carved toys for him. He invited the elders to come and see the curious wonderful child. The elders gathered in the shining house with the sky chief and his daughter. They watched Raven's child crawl around the floor of the lodge. He pretended to be playing. All the time, he was trying to find where the light was hidden. He saw a box on the corner of the lodge. The box was large. It was carved and penned with many colors. The box was bright. It glowed. Raven's child said, Gaga, what do you want? Asked his mother. Raven's child said, Gaga, he began to cry. What does the child want? Asked the elders. Raven's child said,

Gaga, he cried and cried. My grandchild wants the box, said sky chief. The young woman placed the box in front of Raven's child, but he continued to cry. She took the lid off the box. Inside was a smaller box. His mother took the lid off that box and light poured out of it. Light flooded the room. Inside the box was a shining ball, blazing with light. What do you think the ball was? It was the sun. Give him the ball, said the sky chief. His mother gave Raven's child the ball. Raven's child stopped crying. He began to play with it. He rolled it around the floor of the lodge. Gaga, then he changed into a bird. He became Raven once again. Skye chief, his daughter and the elders looked on in amazement.

Raven's child plucked up the ball of light in his beak, flew through the small call of the lodge and disappeared into the dark sky. Raven flew over the valleys in the mountains. He flew along the rivers and across the lakes. Raven threw the sun high in the sky and it stayed there. This is how Raven stole the sun and gave it to all the people. And why do the people always feed Raven to thank him for bringing them light? Well, you know, most people think of myths and folktales as entertaining old stories that really don't have a lot of meaning. But in fact, in their original form, these myths and these tales spraying from the deepest part of the human unconscious, and they carried with them an idea about living life. And they were told as metaphors for guiding a person through life.

I think the story of Raven holds particular resonance for me because he is a creative force. He brings light to the world through a creative act. That, to me, is the artist's journey. Every myth and folktale that I've ever illustrated has represented some aspect of my own life. I started to work on my trickster books at a time when I wanted light and humor in my life. The tricksters provided that for me, much in the same way that they provided humor in ancient times. From the time I was a small child, I was fascinated by myths and folktales and the legends of other cultures. I used to spend hours and hours drawing characters from my favorite stories. When my parents saw that I loved to draw and paint, they enrolled me in art school at the age of four.

From that day to this, I've experimented with color and form, forging a style inspired by contemporary art and folk design. In high school and college, I began to combine my interest in myth with my love of illustration by making animated films. Tosaku was a stone cutter. He asked for nothing more than to work each day. And this pleased the spirit who lived in the mountains. Very early on, beginning in high school and college, I was interested in combining my graphic design with filmmaking. I started to do animated films and it seemed logical for me to base them on mythology and folklore because the imagery was so magical, transformational. When my first film was released, the distributor introduced me to one of his friends and that man was Joseph Campbell. Joe became the consultant then on the films that I made subsequently.

And then, as I made the transition into illustrated books, I conferred with him often over a period of about ten years or so and his thinking about myth and the sense that it contains within the seeds that explain our human condition had a profound effect on the way that I looked at my own work. The stone cutter was my first effort to tell a story from beginning to end in graphics. It was a short film, but 30 years later, it's still in distribution. The stone cutter was an important step for me because first, it established a path, an artistic path for me because I began to make other films based on folk tales and mythology. Anancy, he is spider to the Ashanti people. In Ashanti land, people love this story of Kwaku Anancy.

Probably my most popular film was Anancy The Spider. It was based on a West African folk tale about a traditional trickster hero, Anancy, who is the hero of hundreds of tales from Ashanti land in Northern Ghana. The film was very well received, won a lot of awards, and also caught the attention of a publisher in New York who suggested that I adapted into picture book form. And so Anancy The Spider actually became my first book. When I was working with Joseph Campbell on my films, he suggested that I take a look at the Navajo sand paintings and read some of the tales of the Southwest that I might find inspiration there. Arrow to the Sun grew out of that exploration. At the time, I had never visited in New Mexico. Just a few years ago, when I finally came to New Mexico, I was delighted to discover that my book had been used in many of the Pueblos, was in daily use in schools and libraries on the Pueblos. I had been, indeed, translated into Taiwan and Keras, and used by people on the Pueblos as a way of connecting to their own traditions.

The way I typically start my books is by looking at voluminous amounts of material from the area of the world in which I'm interested. When I come across a story or myth that excites me, chooses me, you might say, I begin to speak my version of the story out loud until it takes on a rhythm of its own, until it becomes a kind of poetry. Many myths deal with conflict and drama on a cosmic scale, and the trickster mythology, and in the folktales, the deal with the trickster, though. We can relate to the characters on a more personal level. The reason we get such a kick out of laughing at coyote, for example, or zombo the rabbit, is because they remind us of us. And we can laugh at our own failings and our own weaknesses through the images of a character who is a bit of a buffoon, and it takes the sting out of our own self-examination.

But really, what we see in these characters is a reflection of ourselves, of our own foolishness, our own vanity, our own overreaching pride. And so in that lie is a great deal of comic relief. Zombo, zombo the rabbit, he is not big, he is not strong, but he is very clever. Time was, Zombo wanted more than cleverness, he wanted wisdom, he went to sky god and asked for it. Zombo, it is not so simple, said sky god. To get wisdom, you must earn it. How asked Zombo? You must do three impossible things, answered sky god. First, bring me the scales of big fish in the sea. Second, bring me the milk of wild cow. Third, bring me the tooth of leopard.

I will try, said Zombo. Zombo went to the edge of the sea. He began to play his drum. He played so loud, his drum beats went down to the bottom of the sea, deep below. Big fish heard the music of the drum. Big fish came up out of the water. He danced on the sand. Faster and faster, Zombo beat his drum. Faster and faster, big fish danced. Big fish danced so fast, his scales fell off. Big fish was naked. Splash. He jumped back into the sea. Quickly, Zombo scooped up the fish scales in his hat and hopped into the forest. In the forest, Zombo climbed a palm tree. He looked all around. Then he saw wild cow. Left Zombo. You are not so big. You are not so strong. Who was that laughing at me? Asked wild cow. It is me, called Zombo. I say you are not even strong enough to knock down this little tree. Wild cow got angry. She ran at the tree to knock it down.

Boom! She hit that tree. But the palm tree was soft. Her horns got stuck. Quickly, Zombo slid down the tree. He turned his drum upside down and filled it with milk. But the time wild cow got unstuck. Zombo was far away. Zombo took the path to the top of a high hill. It was the hill where leopard walked every day. Zombo tipped his hat and sprinkled a few fish scales on the path. Zombo tipped his drum and spilled a few drops of milk on the path. Then Zombo went to the bottom of the hill. He hid behind a rock. Soon leopard came walking over the hill. He slipped on the slippery scales of the milk. He rolled down the hill. Boom! Leopard hit the rock. His tooth popped out. Up jumped Zombo. He caught that tooth. Quickly, he hopped away. Zombo took the scales of the big fish, the milk of wild cow, and the tooth of leopard to sky god.

Sky god smiled upon Zombo. You are clever enough to do the impossible, he said. Now I will give you wisdom. Sky god spoke. Zombo listened. Three things in this world are worth having. Courage, good sense, and caution said Sky god. Little rabbit, you have lots of courage. A bit of sense, but no caution. So next time you see big fish, or wild cow, or leopard, better run fast. Zombo is not big. Zombo is not strong, but now Zombo has wisdom, and he is very, very fast. Mythology connects us with an ancient past, and most of the people in our society, especially young people, don't feel connected to a past. They feel cut a drift.

And so by re-envisioning these myths, we can reconnect a generation with an enormous wisdom and energy and emotion. The trick is to find a form that speaks to that new generation, that makes the myths come alive again, live again. Because they're potent with meaning, and they're filled with drama. And so to make them part of our lives then enables especially a child to create their own myth, and their own way of envisioning the world. That's good. That's coyote, isn't it? When I first began telling stories, whether it was an animated film or an illustration, it never occurred to me that I was doing work specifically for children.

I was trying to tell a story in a forceful, dramatic way, in a way that would speak to many different people. As it turns out though, children, at least in our society, are very often the only ones who are still open to the message of myth. They have a kind of magical intuition that hasn't been erased yet. And so they are able to make the leap of imagination into a world that's filled with supernatural creatures. And also can understand, on a certain level, the dramas that occur within these myths without having to take them literally. And that's the way I think about my own work. It's the way I see the world. And so I found a kind of a natural constituency among children. These books are a way of keeping the passageway to the imagination open. When I was working on the trickster tale, coyote, the images simply weren't coming. I couldn't visualize the story in a kind of desperation, I'd said it.

Then, one morning, in that space between sleeping and waking, I had a vision of a pair of hands rising out of a dark pool. The hands were holding a book. As the pages of the book turned, I could see coyote. Coyote, blue coyote, he was going along following his nose. He had a nose for trouble. Coyote stuck his nose into Badger's hole, but got bitten. Coyote wanted to have a flaming red head like woodpecker, but his fur caught fire. Coyote went looking for snake, but only found trouble. Coyote was always in trouble.

Coyote came to a place where earth meets sky. He heard laughter and singing. He went up to take a look. Coyote saw flock of crows. They were chanting. They were dancing. Then the birds spread their wings. They flew through the air and circled the canyon. Oh, if only I could fly, said Coyote. I would be the greatest coyote in all the world. Coyote called to the crows. Let me join you, he said. Old Man Crow turned one eye toward Coyote. You may dance with us, he said. Thank you, thank you, said Coyote. But I want to fly too.

Maybe you can, said Old Man Crow. Old Man Crow plucked a feather from his left wing. He told his flock to do the same. They stuck the feathers in Coyote. Coyote winced, his nose twitched. The crows chuckled. You are ready to fly, said Old Man Crow. The birds began their slow steady chat. They hopped from one foot to the other. Coyote joined in the dance. Even though he got out of step and sang out of tune, he was very proud of himself. The crows spread their wings and soared into the sky. Coyote followed. His flight was jerky. He tilted to one side. Since his feathers were only from the left wing of each bird, he was off balance. He fell to the ground. Wait, he cried out. Don't leave me behind. The birds returned and gathered round Coyote. We must balance him, said Old Man Crow.

Old Man Crow plucked a feather from his right wing. Each of his flock did the same. Coyote cringed as they stuck the feathers in his fur. The crows cackled. Now I'm perfect, said Coyote. I can fly as well as the rest of you. Coyote had become rude and boastful. He danced out of step. He sang off key. The crows were no longer having fun. The birds again began their slow steady chat. Coyote hopped along, flapping his feathered legs and singing sour notes. The dancers spread their wings and leapt into the air. Soon the crows were flying high over the canyon. Coyote struggled to keep up. Carry me, he demanded. The crows circled Coyote but didn't carry him. Instead they took back their feathers one by one.

Coyote sank through the air. He fell straight down. He howled. Coyote fell so fast his tail caught fire. He fell into a pool on the mesa. Coyote crawled out of the water. He heard laughter and saw the crows flying away. Coyote ran after them. He tripped and fell tumbling in the dirt. Coyote went home soaked and covered with dust. To this day he is the color of dust. To this day his tail has a burnt black tip. To this day Coyote still follows his nose. He has a nose for trouble. He always finds it. Much of the excitement and the deep satisfaction that comes to me from doing this work is the notion that I'm part of a continuum. For a brief moment I stand carrying ancient ideas and passing them on so that the forms and the colors that I pour onto the page become a vehicle to carry an ancient idea.

For a moment I hold that idea and then I pass it on to another who will in turn carry it into the future. For a brief moment I hold that idea and then I pass it on to another who will in turn carry it into the future. For a brief moment I hold that idea and then I pass it on to another who will in turn carry it into the future. For a brief moment I hold that idea and then I pass it on to another who will in turn carry it into the future. For a brief moment I hold that idea and then I pass it on to another who will in turn carry it into the future. For a brief moment I hold that idea and then I pass it on to another who will in turn carry it into the future.

For a brief moment I hold that idea and then I pass it on to another who will in turn carry it into the future. This colores program is available on home video cassette for 1995 plus shipping and handling to order call 1-800-328-5663. For a brief moment I hold that idea and then I pass it on to another who will in turn carry it into the future. For a brief moment I hold that idea and then I pass it on to another who will in turn carry it into the future.