adobe buffalo

Yes, this is a very large - much, much larger than life size - adobe buffalo under construction.  This was something of a surprise (it's nearly finished, and is outside La Tienda, in Eldorado ...).  There's much more about it on this FB page, and I quote the whole of the "about" section below.  I find its presence very endearing - as is the fact that the project manager (and adobe buffalo whisperer) Karen Windchild has started to think of him as Buff the Magic Bison ...

The Adobe Buffalo Project is an art installation, a community building project, an educational vehicle, and a shamanic act of healing and transformation. It is prayer for the Earth and all beings.

Physically, the image is herds of buffalo, larger than life, made of adobe, on the deserts and mountains of New Mexico and eventually throughout western North America. The construction method is adobe mud over a metal framework, with mesh support. They will appear as ghost-like relics, spirits of the earth they stand on.

Symbolically, why buffalo? To honor the spirits of all buffaloes past, of all the creatures once here and now gone or nearly gone, since industrialization. The buffalo symbolizes the North on the Native American sacred medicine wheel: honoring the ancestors, spiritual wisdom and physical strength, and providing for the community. So this project will feed the communities today, visually, energetically and mythically.

Education is a vital part of the project. Information on the history of bison on this continent (an estimated 60 million once roamed here) will be displayed at all sites, and included in presentations. Current efforts to restore buffalo in their wild state, and treating the Earth as sacred, will be emphasized.

Local communities are invited to be involved as much as possible, as the project expands onto public, private and tribal lands. Project creator Karen Windchild will direct all aspects of design and construction, to hold the vision intact. All work will be done in a ceremonial way. It will be beautiful, powerful, and sacred.

As much as it is a cry for the past, it is an act of hope for the future: that we may protect and respect all life forms, our relatives here on Pachamama.

The Adobe Buffalo Project is a nonprofit corporation; all donations of time, materials, and sponsorship are tax deductible. Thank you for your interest and participation, as an act of radical senseless beauty, as a gift to the Earth, as a gift to the community as a whole. 

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin

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