Nuance of Sky 1, 2, 3, and 4, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 42 inches/91.4 x 106.7 cm

Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds
Cheyenne and Arapaho, b. 1954

These four Nuance of Sky paintings are part of the ongoing Neuf series of spiritually based abstract works Heap of Birds, who lives and works in Oklahoma City, began in the early 1980s. The first was painted outdoors on family property and its abstract forms captured the jagged edges of a Juniper tree to suggest the vitality of nature. Over time, the abstract color-forms became stylized shapes with dynamic edges like those of Nuance of Sky and evoke (depending on color palette)—clouds, leaves, trees, or fish, or symbolize nature’s forces or the ceremonial movements of dancers’ bodies. The artist considers the works as nurturing, life-affirming, and healing. He remarks, “These paintings…seek to project the understanding that the world…is a lively and replenishing place.”

The Neuf series is spiritual. Neuf is the Cheyenne word for four and it is deeply associated with the Earth Renewal Ceremony celebrated during the summer solstice. The ceremony recalls the four sacred colors, seasons, directions, and ceremonial movements unfolding in iterations of four, as well as the participants’ commitment to repeat the Earth Renewal ritual for four consecutive years. Although the Neuf paintings are not literally composed of four sacred colors or forms, they evoke the movements of Earth Renewal dancers, the rhythms of nature and the cosmos. The works are foundational to the artist’s identity and come from and through land and ceremony. As Diné (Navajo) scholar Shanna Ketchum-Heap of Birds writes, “the Neuf series acts as a map or reminder of spiritual truths that are open to interpretation to people…willing to know them.”