A Book Cover.
A professor friend asked me to come up with an illustration for her new book. After a little discussion and research, we settled on the trickster figure Kokopelli. I’m not an expert when it comes to Native American lore. I approached this simply as a illustration project, although I did try to find a border motif whose origins are arguably consistent with the central figure.
Projects like this are often an excuse explore different possibilities within a finite universe. Just for fun, I’ve included a few variants as well as the final selection. Alas, the book cover itself wasn’t capable of reproducing the detail of the original.
I never got around to reading the book myself. It’s target audience is found among the more learned academic population. I did, however, read some reviews written by Dr. Bellas’ peers, which carried considerable praise for her accomplishment.
A Dialogic Approach to Reading and Teaching Ethnic American Texts
By Gale Joyce Bellas
Published 2006 by The Edwin Mellen Press
ISBN 9780773457287
Reviews, abstract