One Man Seeking Sacred Art Illuminates His Journey in Documentary
On Sunday April 10th, Montanans are joining a privileged few in viewing the PBS film premier of “Sundancing with the Muse”. This internationally recognized documentary has screened in theaters in six western states is now being shown for the first time on television at 3:00 PM.
Filmmaker Jason Gutzmer is a true mixed media artist, from painting to performance and integrating all of this into his film making experience. Gutzmer has worked on films in Nicaragua, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, and the United States to name a few, working with artists, indigenous people, and people working for positive change in the world. He currently teaches Documentary Film making at the University of Montana in the College of Visual and Performing Arts in Missoula MT and works as an independent film maker and artist. Gutzmer was a co-founder of the mobile arts and service project La Caravana Arcoiris por La Paz and worked extensively throughout Latin America for many years. Gutzmer is also a cofounder of Sundog Ecovillage Education Center near Missoula where he lives with his wife Penelope Baquero and daughter Aluna when they are not traveling or making films.
In Jasons words, “In Sundancing with the Muse, we discover the importance of the sacred in art, the sacred in the earth and a ceremonial life that makes them one. Montana Artist and Shaman Heyoka Merrifield, exposes his personal and creative journey that reveals the source of creativity and the roots of imagination. In looking at the medicine wheel of his story as a sundancer for more than thirty years and his near death shamanic experience that gave him a unique grasp of the interplay between our world and the worlds of spirits, a path is illuminated.”
(Premier Trailer) www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2hH_RVs02Q
Heyoka Merrifield is a jeweler, sculptor and author living in the Bitterroot Valley. Searching for why ancient sacred art pieces radiated inner life and power, led him on a life long quest of learning from the same source that illuminated these artistic ancestors. On his journey toward understanding sacred art, he embraced the Native American shamanic traditions and was able to experience the universality of ceremonial art. His fulfillment in touching the sacred within his art has brought international acclaim to his work. heyoka-art.com
“Not a gem nor precious metal passes through Heyoka’s hands that is not instilled with a spirit of its own in the process of being transformed into a work of art and beauty.” George Harrison
“Heyoka Merrifield is a medicine man, a priest, a guardian of doorways and a powerful conduit to the understanding of the complex intricacies between our world and the world of the spirits and ancestors. This position at the threshold between worlds underscores the exquisiteness of the art coming out of his hands. Every piece he makes is a ritual puzzle that encodes a healing message from the other world. We cannot afford to ignore his message.” Malidoma Some, PhD: Of the Dagara tribe in West Africa, author of Ritual and also Of Water and the Spirit.