The Spirit Collection
An homage to the echos of my ancestral past
My paternal grandfather was the child of an Abenaki woman and an Iroquois man.
His parents spent their lives traveling back and forth between the region of Saint Francis, Canada, and tiny Whitefield, New Hampshire, where they are buried under headstones indicating the surname Roy.
Of course, that was the name conferred upon them by the conquering Europeans who consigned them to a school for Indian children that stripped them of their names, their language, and their culture, on the presumption that they could “kill the Indian and save the child.”
Like Samson, they cut the hair of the boys, intending to sap the spiritual power that resided therein, and they dressed both boys and girls in attire more fitting of European children.
Despite all the conquering powers took from them, their spirit, it turns out, was indomitable. It took form in many different ways. Among the Iroquois it was to proudly cling to their culture, bolstered by the fact that they were a confederacy of nations that could make claim to a democracy even older than our own. For the Abenaki, deeply weakened by more than 100 years of efforts to extirpate them (in the words of Lord Jeffrey Amherst) it was the doctrine of hiding in plain sight. That is why my own father withheld the story of our heritage from my sisters and I until shortly before his own death. He had promised his father to protect his family by hiding in plain sight. My second cousin, who grew up with my father, described my grandfather as a “secretive fellow”.
So, Raised in the orphanage, associated with the school, they fell in love, despite the fact that they were from Indian nations that had been enemies over the centuries.
During the course of their lives they had 24 children, 19 of them surviving to adulthood. As each child attained adulthood and spread their own wings, they chose whether to declare their surname to be Roy or King, both adaptations of Roi, the colonial name given to my Great Grandfather.
Since the day that my father tearfully unburdened himself to me, I have tried to honor him and the ancestors who preceded him by celebrating this heritage and spiritual traditions.
This “Spirit Collection” is one step along that self-actualizing journey.
The Emerging Pod Signed Originals. Unsigned Open Edition Prints
The Spirit of Brother Pelican Signed Originals Unsigned Open Edition Prints
Gentle Soul, Painted Spirit
Signed Originals Open edition print
Spirit Pony in the Lupine
Original signed 16x24 20x30. Unsigned Open Edition Prints
Spirit Pony in a Franconia Dusk
Signed Originals Unsigned Open Edition Prints
Spirit Pony in the Aspen Signed Originals Unsigned Open Edition
Spirit Pony in a Painted Dreamscape Signed Originals Open edition prints
Spirit Buffalo in a Painted Sky Originals Open Edition Prints
Spirit Bull in Painted Forest Signed Originals Open Edition Prints
The Spirit of the Drafthorse
Signed Originals Open edition print
Pink Blaze on a Spirit Pony Signed Originals Open edition prints
The Spirit of the Old Man
Signed Originals Open edition prints
Blonde Spirit