Penobscot Man is a portrait of Joe Solomon whose family originated from Norridgewock, Maine. According to an old Penobscot story, the husband of the “first mother,” dragged her dead body across the surface of the Penobscot homeland where her flesh became a corn plant and her bones the tobacco. The great mythological figure Gluskabe told the people to remember her when the smoke of her bones rose before them.
In this painting, Gerry has portrayed a flock of winged spirits carrying the essence of the “first mother” back to the spirit world from Joe Solomon’s traditional Penobscot pipe.