Painting the Dream: The Shamanic Life and Art of David Chethlahe Paladin

A glimpse into the remarkable life and visionary artwork of spiritual artist and activist David Chethlahe Paladin.

* Looks at the spiritual traditions surrounding the images that Paladin features in his art.

* Discusses the importance of Paladin’s shamanic history in the creation of his artwork.

* Features commentaries by Matthew Fox and others on Paladin’s life and art.

David Chethlahe Paladin’s art was his life; through it, he fulfilled his desire to serve, to heal, to live compassionately, and to walk the Navajo way of beauty. This remarkable book explores the connection between Paladin’s public art and his private life, showing how he not only honored his spiritual ancestors but also his personal commitments through the art that he gave to humanity.

Nurtured by his childhood on a Navajo reservation, where visions were accepted as a natural part of reality, Paladin created brilliant and evocative paintings that resonate between the physical world and the world of dreams. A shaman as well as an artist, Paladin was one of the first Native American painters to move beyond traditional themes and styles of painting. Alive with Navajo, Pueblo, Huichol, and Egyptian deities; Aboriginal Dreamtime images; and mythological beings born of the imagination and lore of many ages and lands, Paladin’s art has been praised for its exuberance, eclecticism, spirituality, and original use of symbols. Together, his prose and paintings illuminate a philosophy in which we are all creators and transformers when we respond with openness to our environment and our fellow beings.