“Human Sacrifice”Bronze sculpture         Edition of 6           19″ X 15.5″ X 7”        $6,500

Jean writes: “Three or four years past from my trip to the Yucatan before I gave myself permission to sculpt my interpretation of the female Chac Mool I had witnessed in the inner temple within the Temple of the Warriors in Chichen Itza. I had spent some considerable time and effort researching everything about the inner temple and the female Chac Mool. I talked with numbers of people about my experience, and there was only one time I met someone who had also entered the temple and had seen her. Another time, I met someone who knew of Francesco, the Mayan who had led me to her. Otherwise, the only reference I have found was a writing by Frederick Catherwood, the early Yucatan explorer, who described being in the inner temple and being mesmerized by a mosaic tile image in the floor.

The Chac Mool is a mysterious figure. It’s origins and purpose seem to be unknown. Its reputation is that of a human sacrificial alter, but my experience at Chichen Itza begs to question this purpose as its original function. The name was given by an American archeologist, Augustus LePlongeon, who discovered the first one, but most “experts” say there is no relationship between the rain god “chaac” and the image of Chac Mool.

I have chosen to cast six bronze versions of my interpretation of this image, with the addition of a bronze sculpted human heart upon the plate. The heart is painted as the world. The title of “Human Sacrifice” can be interpreted in several ways. Is the world to

“Chacmool” Fired Clay        Edition of 1            21″ X 16.5″ X 9″    $2,500

be the sacrifice of human folly?  Or if the Chac Mool is truly a goddess of offerings of life and fertility, then the human heart and the earth are the dearest gifts She can offer.

As for the frog – the symbol of the rain god, chaac – the Goddess Chac Mool challenges the idea that chaac and Chac Mool are unrelated. They are merged closely, the frog adorned as a kind of crown, both proudly display themselves as the source of fertility, water and life.”