Bentwood Somersaults Original Oil Painting by Nena Howell Tlingit Artist
This artwork is currently “ON HOLD” for exhibition. Available for purchase at Best of Northwest fall show, November 8-10, Hanger 30, Magnuson Park, Seattle.
This joyous child's soles fly in this somersault in front of a formidable bentwood box, which is wrapped in a grid protection from ancestral Alaska native rope. Faint Tlingit formline ovoid figures carved into the wood watch the child’s cedar woven hat’s rim crush into the floor. The somersault’s dynamism lifts the father's Kaagwaantaan spirit in the realm of child’s play. Although hidden to the viewer, the bentwood box is full of toys. Alaska Native Indian clan leaders bentwood boxes always hold the most important objects in the world, and what is more special than toys in a child’s universe? A signature collection oil-on-canvas titled "Bentwood Somersaults" by Nena Howell, a Certified Alaska Native Artist, Tlingit artist, Nena Howell, 2024.