Artist's Statement



I'm not really sure just how I do what I do as I create. As I write or sculpt or paint, play an instrument or sing, I disappear, becoming whatever it is that is being creatively born. It is only in a sort of shimmering aftermath that I realize I have been absent, and like a whale emerging from the depths suddenly 'I am' once more.
I am sitting in a room. There is a window beside me, softened at its edges by curtains, and a breeze pulls through. There is a floor beneath my feet. Where have I been?

Then I look and see that the paper beneath my hands is no longer blank, or the room resonates with the music that has flown forth from the guitar I am holding. Words have crowded onto the page of my notebook like a gathering of gleeful old friends. Something I cannot fully explain, whose origins are a complete mystery, exists, where before it did not.


While I do not know how I do what I do, I deeply know why. Much of the world is in pain, and those of us in it feel, in various ways, the dissonance, as the pain reverberates through. Something is wrong with the way we regard the Earth. Something is broken as we treat each other so poorly, as we stagnate in hate, and as we are absorbed by fear. Something needs to change, as we are so bad to ourselves, as we succumb to doubt, isolation and anger.

As I disappear, I think I must be seeking a solution to some of these challenges, issues, and difficulties. What I bring back with me, in words or images or music, responds to the friction, loneliness, misunderstanding and hurt in the world. It questions the way things are, and suggests kindness, symbiosis, awareness and playfulness. It acknowledges what we may lose if we cannot change from our present course, but never fully deviates from the joy and brightness that is still possible.


- Jorie Jenkins



Thursday, June 30, 2016

Yaffa of Amnamar : The Staff of Peace


Yaffa of Amnamar

The Amnamaran Tribe of the tropics are a high reclusive clan, and though they are, by ancestry, from a long line of Earthspeaking individuals, the interests of Amnamar have become increasingly insular in human times. With habitat fragmentation and deforestation affecting most of the tropic regions of their world, many of the Amnamaran clans have withdrawn into the deepest jungles and cloud forests. There, for the most part, they live in relative isolation, interacting minimally with sister tribes and neighbors. Some family clans sustain their interests in total autonomy, and fiercely defend territorial boundaries.

A matriarchal society with a 'predicted' (and proven) Queen, their societies involve a fairly rigorous spiritual structure and a complicated hierarchy. Their stick fighting and hand-to-hand combat techniques are among the most formidable in the Miriconian realm, and thus the Amnamarans have earned a reputation. Called 'The Stripers' and 'The Blood Birds' for the markings in their beautiful crimson plumage, they are feared by many who cross their path. 

Yaffa's Story

As members of a remote tribe under Queen Eyabrenna, best friends Yaffa and Bry'e are dissatisfied with the divisive thinking of their tribal leaders. Bry'e is daughter of the reigning Queen Eyabrenna, and has also been predicted as the next leader of her people. Yaffa is Bry'e's sparring partner and fight trainer, and witnesses  firsthand the struggle in Bry'e as she goes through the many preparations for leadership. Ultimately Yaffa and Bry'e break free of their tribal limitations, and go forth into the world as speakers for peace among Earthspeakers and Men. 

Her ceremonial staff, too delicate to be used in close combat, is an outward symbol of her inner commitment to pacifism. Traditionally used in various ways to signal and guide large groups of tribal members, such staffs remain integral in Amnamaran society. Yaffa has hand-carved this piece herself, and presents it as part of her appearance at the annual Earth Summit gathering. 
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