Cloud Eagle
NAMBE PUEBLO SILVERSMITH
February 29, 1960 – October 13, 2011

Ernest Mirabal (Bo) or "Cloud Eagle" was ull-blooded Tewa Indian from Nambe Pueblo, New Mexico. Mirabal received an Associate of Fine Art degree in two-dimensional and three- dimensional arts in 1984, having studied painting, sculpture, and jewelry-making at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. He won numerous awards including "Best of Show" at Eight Northern Pueblos show and many first place awards at the SWIA Indian Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"The stone was created within Mother Earth's womb. For a thousand mellennia it slept and remained there only to rise again to form the sacred mountains, peaks and hills. Long ago the Tewas used K'uu, or stone, for shelter, implements, ceremonial pieces, fetishes and other things. It has now returned to help us again. These allies from all around the world await in our sculpture garden, alive and calling waiting to see if we can hear their voices. Finally the time is right; the visions are perceived; and the energy flows within the stone and myself as new images emerge."

Much of Cloud Eagles work involved the idea of the circle, things repeating and returning, the oneness of nature. Alabaster horses, weasels, bears, opposite facing heads, connecting in waves, awesome kachina-like figures and buffalo dancers journeying on sacred cornmeal into space.

"Indian life is based on cycles of growth, water, life, and death. The circle is my trademark. When I was a teenager, my mother would take me on retreats to Canada where medicine would explain things. I believe you have to give in order to receive."