Shelly Covert
2017 Collection
Acrylic on Canvas  

It is said that when the Nisenan people were first on the earth they were not meant to die a permanent death. But, as was his way, Coyote meddled. Coyote argued that those who died should stay dead; for if they weren’t dead, how could the people have a burn or a cry? After much insisting on Coyote’s part it was such that those who died would stay dead. Sadly for Coyote, it was his own son who would be the first to lose his life in an unfortunate fall. In his grief, Coyote demanded that the Creator bring his son back to life. After all, the fall had been an accident! But dead was dead and Coyote could only mourn for the loss of his son.

Coyote’s character and moral compass are center point for many of the Nisenan stories that involve him. In a great number of these stories Coyote portrays who we don’t want to be; Coyote does what we shouldn’t do; and Coyote says the things that shouldn’t be said. In this painting, First Death, Coyote suffers the direct outcome of his meddling ways and loses his son in an unforeseen consequence of his own making.