Explorations in Ancient Arts
Our Mission
Willow Deer Education seeks to give modern peoples a chance to re-connect to their ancient roots via Ancestral Arts education programs. Using only the tools and materials that our ancient ancestors had available to them from the natural world, we will not only explore how they made these unique cultural items but most importantly, why?
Why A willow deer?
The split willow deer figure is the symbol of our teaching mission and is based on the original ancient figurines found in the Grand Canyon area. We find they are the perfect “anchor” for our curriculum, as they embody the bridge between a simple natural material and profound cosmic intent.
Facets of our Willow Deer teaching philosophy:
The Effigy as Bridge: Ritual Craft and Natural Abundance
Inspired by the 4,000-year-old willow deer effigies found in the cliffs of the Grand Canyon, our programs explore craft as a “social totem” and ritual necessity. We learn to split and fold the single willow wand not merely to create a figure, but to practice the ancient art of “imitative magic”—manifesting abundance by weaving our personal and community desires into the physical world. Students will rediscover a time when a simple twig figure was a powerful request by these ancient hunters for the natural world to provide.
Ancestral Technology: Connecting Intent to Environment
Why did our ancestors spend precious time and energy crafting items that did not directly feed or shelter them? These programs answer that question through the lens of ancestral arts education. By replicating the Grand Canyon-style split-twig figurines using only traditional tools and materials, we examine the mindset of Ancestral Culture. Students will move beyond “arts and crafts” to understand these objects as essential spiritual technologies used to negotiate survival and success within a shared landscape.
The Shared Thread: Reconnecting with Our Millennial Roots
For the vast majority of human history, our lives were inextricably bound to the rhythms of the natural world. Using the iconic “Willow Deer” as our guide, we will practice the mindfulness required of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. These programs serve as a modern journey into ancient roots, teaching students that the act of handcrafting is a primary way to re-establish our connection to the plants and animals that have sustained us for millennia.
Why did Our Ancestors…
…spend valuable time and resources making beads and ornaments, pigments and paintings when these activities would not feed, clothe or shelter them?
What were the cultural, social or traditional reasons driving them to create these unique items?
Willow Deer Education workshops, classes and programs seek to answer these questions and give our modern selves a chance to re-connect to a natural world in which we all once totally relied on.
Charles Kritzon, Ancestral Arts Educator
Charles Kritzon is proud to offer this list of ancestral arts and skills classes and workshops. These subjects can be presented as a lecture, a demonstration or as a hands-on class. All presentations are tailored to the age or need of each particular group.
His teaching is focused to highlight our human connection to the past and that natural world in which we sustainably acquired everything we needed not only to survive but to thrive and create complex art objects and cultural traditions.
Charles is a Certified Interpretive Guide through the National Association for Interpretation (NAI).
Subscribe for Upcoming classes and workshops!
Be the first to signup for these limited programs!