Summary: Marguerite Paquin (PhD) entered into explorations of Classical Mayan art, culture, and calendrics as a natural extension of her work as a multicultural arts educator. For over 30 years she has had a particular interest in the arts of indigenous peoples worldwide and, as a teacher educator, has helped thousands of people to become more aware of the significance of these art forms and the wondrous ways in which they add meaning to life. Her intensive research into Maya art and culture began in the early 1990's. However, it was her work with Mayan calendrics, in combination with her return to painting, that led to a particularly important discovery - that she had a long lost family in Mexico. Through this association she was able to personally connect with ancient sites and information sources in Mexico - sources that continuously augment the foundations for her on-going explorations. Marguerite has been specifically inspired by the concept of the "artist-scribe", who played such a significant role in Classical Mayan society. She has discovered that glyphic interpretations are not only imbedded in a deep cosmological context, but individual ideas can also take many different hieroglyphic forms. It is this base of reference that provides the foundation for her art work.. The "scribe" aspect is reflected in the Personal Identity charts that she creates, as she uses authentic sources to identify and describe cosmological foundations for specific dates and then illustrates these with hieroglyphic representations. She is also a published author and has written a remarkable book called Manual for the Soul: A guide to the Energies of Life. For more information on the Mayan calendar go to http://www.whitepuppress.ca/index.html For more information on her art work go to http://www.artspaquinmayaworks.bc.ca/about_us.htm
