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SATURDAY December 6, 2003 - Subscribe - Contact Us Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels December 4, 2003 Preserving the beauty of historic legacy By Amanda Bolsinger For the Tidings Local artist Kim Mamaradlo's family and heritage is her art. Her history is her motivation and her theme. Mamaradlo is a Yurok, a Native American tribe with a deep history that inspires her. She uses family photographs, native art and designs to retell their stories. "I want to create this art so that the history isn't forgotten. The history of people lives on in art," says Mamaradlo. For an example she refers to a painting on her studio wall that is centered on a picture of an old woman. "The woman in the picture is my great-great-great-grandmother," Mamaradlo explains. "Her story is next to her picture and the designs on the fabric are the quail on the mountain pattern and a picture of a basket that she wove. This piece is her lifescape." Mamaradlo's art is a labor of love. Each picture that she uses must be scanned into a computer along with the accompanying story. She then finds patterns, leaves, pictures, anything to help tell the story. Everything gets scanned into the computer and made into a transparency. The transparency is then taken into her black room to be created into a photo silk-screen to make a template to paint onto the fabric. A single piece might take as long as a week to finish. "It takes a lot of prep work like getting all the images that I want prior to beginning," says Mamaradlo. Another stunning piece has pictures of six generation of Yurok women ending with a portrait of Mamaradlo herself. "That piece is my validation of my Indianness," says Mamaradlo. "I go to shows and always am told that I don't look like an Indian. Then they see this and can see my family. Indian people can always tell that I'm Indian though." Mamaradlo travels around the country to sell her work at Indian museums and shows. In the past year alone she traveled to 12 different shows taking her as far as Indianapolis. Now she is taking some time off from traveling to the shows to create more work and rebuild her stock. "The best advice I have heard was 'ready, fire, aim,'" Mamaradlo says." "It didn't make sense at the time, but now I see it as you do what you can, you go out and see how it does. Then you go back and make necessary changes. Now I have the feedback to build up my supplies of more art for what people want." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Road Cams