Native American Art News: Native Art Traditions for the Modern Mind

ADA, OK — The community is invited to celebrate National Arts and Humanities month with the Ada Arts Council in October. Special events on tap for the celebration include Arts Picnic in the Park and a concert by Native American guitarist Brad Richter.

Arts Picnic in the Park has become a regular event hosted by the Ada Arts Council each fall. It brings together local artists and musicians for a day of food, fun and entertainment. This year’s event will be Thursday, Oct. 12, from 5-7 p.m. in the Sculpture Garden on the northeast side of Wintersmith Park.

On Saturday, Oct. 26, internationally acclaimed guitarist Brad Richter will take the stage at Dorothy I. Summers Theatre on the campus of East Central University. There will be a $5 general admission charge for the 7:30 p.m. concert. Tickets will be mailed to the Ada Arts Council members, but those who need more than their level of membership provides may purchase more tickets at the door.

October 9-NATIVE AMERICANS' DAY (SOUTH DAKOTA). Observed in the state of South Dakota as a legal holiday, dedicated to the remembrance of the great Native American Indians who contributed so much to the history of South Dakota.

Jacksonville, TN-Thousands of Native Americans are expected to converge on Parkers Crossroads City Park on Oct. 27-29 for the Cherokee Wolf Clan's first Powwow in Parkers Crossroads.

PORTLAND, IN -- The artistic talents of Native Americans will be on display at Arts Place Nov. 4-Dec. 23.

The show is titled "Out of Tradition: The artwork of the tradition bearers for National Center for Great Lakes Native American Culture."

PHOENIXVILLE, PA - The First Annual Sacred Arts Festival, in conjunction with First Friday and Kiwanis Club's Community Day, will begin next Friday, October 6, through Saturday evening, October 7th.

Featuring 27 different groups of musicians, dancers, storytellers, fine artists coming in from Maryland, Connecticut, New York, Philadelphia as well as local Chester/Montgomery counties. Some are acquaintances of the organizers and others we went on the Internet to find.

Hurricane, UT-Third Annual Native American Arts Festival

The Festival will operate from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 6 and 7 with entertainment beginning each day at noon and continuing until closing. All donations, monetary and other, can be left at the Navajo Donation Drive booth at the Festival, which is where you can also sign up to sponsor a child or children.

Zan Stewart American Indian artAmerican Indian humor and beauty are on display at the Montclair Art Museum this month, first with "Jaune Quick-To-See Smith: Made in America," an exhibit of 34 paintings, prints and installations by the politically active artist. A 35-year career has seen her subject matter evolve through Indian myths, McDonald's symbolism, and the funny aspects of cultural stereotyping. This show, with "American Indian Artists of the 1930s," drawn from the museum's permanent collection, will highlight the museum's commitment to Native American art Saturday through Jan. 14, Newark, NJ.

Museum of New Mexico/Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
Current and Online Exhibitions

OCT. 5-6

Virginia Indian Symposium -- Williamsburg Hosted by Virginia's Indian tribes, the "400 Years of Survival" symposium will feature nationally known Native American speakers on topics such as sovereignty, federal recognition, health care, repatriation and education.

New Mexico Creates
New Online Art Site

Cherokee Creation Story – Cherokee

When the earth begun there was just water. All the animals lived above it and the sky was beginning to become crowded. They were all curious about what was beneath the water and one day Dayuni'si, the water beetle, volunteered to explore it.

He went everywhere across the surface but he couldn't find any solid ground. He then dived below the surface to the bottom and all he found was mud.

This began to enlarge in size and spread outwards until it became the earth as we know it. After all this had happened, one of the animals attached this new land to the sky with four strings.

Just after the earth was formed, it was flat and soft so the animals decided to send a bird down to see if it had dried. They eventually returned to the animals with a result.

The land was still to wet so they sent the great Buzzard from Galun'lati to prepare it for them.

The buzzard flew down and by the time that he reached the Cherokee land he was so tired that his wings began to hit the ground. Wherever they hit the ground a mountain or valley formed. The Cherokee land still remains the same today with all the land forms that the Buzzard formed.

The animals then decided that it was too dark, so they made the sun and put it on the path in which it still runs today.

The animals could then admire the newly created Earth around them.

As retold by Sarah Steel, published in "Creation Stories" by M. Stewart

"http://groups.msn.com/KeeperofStories/
Reprinted from this site by permission

Cherokee Culture – Cherokee

The Cherokee seldom punish children. He remembered Johnny G's comments about how the folk at the fort were always using a switch on their kids. Johnny's father, Sargent Burnett, had once given him twenty swats with a board, all the time shouting, "I am doing this for your own good!" Among the Cherokee there was always a mother or an aunt or a grandmother to care for the child. Every adult shared responsibility for each child. Every child was related to every adult. The children are the future of the tribe. They are cherished and gently guided by example. Some of the boys were laughed at, if their behavior was extreme. But they were never beaten as the fort children were. Uncle thought about all this.

After the maidenhood ceremony or the manhood ceremony, young adults were taught that there is always an apology for any misbehavior. Only endangering the life of another or the betrayal of the tribe meant that a person was declared dead, his name burned in the Sacred Fire, made a renegade, and sent out to find shelter in another village. It was the way, to turn one's back on the renegade and walk away. After that, no renegade would be seen or heard, even when standing next to you. It would be as if he or she were dead because the renegade is dead to the people.

In the Shadowland, there was a punishment. For there, one knew every awful thing that he or she had ever done. And worse than that, the ancestors all knew too. Imagine the embarrassment living among ancestors who were ashamed of you, forever! It is the dying hope of the Cherokee that they might cross over into the Shadowland and be greeted by their family, welcomed into their new but skinless existence, and slumber at peace forever.

With an inner sadness, as the shadows lengthened, the old man spoke, "You must offer your war shirt." And Young Brave rose and quietly went to obey. On his knees before the Warrior leaders with his eyes cast down, Young Brave apologized once more. He had betrayed his heart and brought dishonor on his band and upon his tribe. It was a long, quiet moment. For an instant, Young Brave wished for Johnny G's father to come and thrash him. He wanted it over. But Johnny's father did not come and the moment stretched on until the war leader stood and said that he accepted the apology and added that there would be a memorable consequence.

With a motion of the hand, he summoned five warriors to form a circle. He sent a young brave, not yet a warrior, to summon the camp. He sent another for Uncle. And then with great sadness he took up a club while the other warriors took brought their sticks. Then he motioned for Uncle to enter the circle. In the circle of six warriors, Uncle asked for the first blow, which was delivered softly and without much force, more a symbol than a pain-creating strike. And then Uncle was led to join the circle, making it a circle of seven. When Young Brave entered, Uncle would deliver the first blow followed by one from each of the other warriors. The hardest, most forceful would be from the war leader.

When it was over, Young Brave had received what he had asked for. He had withstood these seven strikes like a man. Every one who struck him hugged him. And he thanked each of them. Then the tribe received him with affection. Soon there would be a feast because honor had been restored And Young Brave would never forget this moment. He would slip back to the water where he had met Uncle, bathe, cleanse himself with sage, and thank the Creator for this punishment and for the restoration of his honor knowing that he could again be at peace within himself and with the People called Cherokee. The story of his punishment would be told and retold as a lesson to other young men. It was the Cherokee way.

And much later, A-gi-du-tsi thought about this way, the old way. He thought of Johnny G's father and mother. When they had finished beating their son, there was only shame and remorse. It was a private shame. When the Tsalagi finished a warrior punishment, the community would somehow been cleansed and honor re-established for all.

Uncle worried about what would happen if the People ever became too familiar with the practices of the soldiers or the traders or the merchants. It was like a tide that was rolling over the lands of the People that would never roll back until the Seventh Generation came.

Uncle crossed over a year later and watched the People from the Slumberland. He witnessed the celebration at Young Brave's marriage to Red Wing. He smiled when their children were brought from the East and given their skin suits. He saw a gold nugget sold to a trader by a Cherokee boy. He watched as many people flooded into the Tsalagi homeland and took from his people what the Creator had given them forever. When Young Brave was killed in battle with the white soldiers defending his Band and his home, Uncle greeted him and welcomed him to the Slumberland. Together they watched treaties made and broken. Many Tsalagi, including Red Wing and the children, were rounded up and led to the stockade at Ross' Landing. During the removal of the Cherokee from their homeland, Red Wing and her children died. Young Brave and Uncle was there to meet them. Through it all, there were many tears and saddened hearts in the Slumberland when most of the Cherokee people were imprisoned, exported, resettled. Only one bright ray of light illuminated the darkness of that ignoble campaign; the diary left behind by John G. Burnett, the boy-brother of Young Brave, who as a man had followed his father's footsteps in the army and chronicled the history of the Trail Where We Cried.

It is true, the government wanted us to forget who we were. We were supposed to become one with the ways of the White man. But we can never forget. We work in a white world, but our hearts are red still, our honor is intact, and the promise of the seventh Generation is almost upon us. Our ancestors watch over us. In our hearts we know that we are Tsalagi, the People called Cherokee forever.

Thomas E. Mails , Cherokee People: The Story of the Cherokees from Earliest Origins to Contemporary Times

"http://groups.msn.com/KeeperofStories/
Reprinted from this site by permission

Articles by Amerindian Arts

Note on Zuni substance

Concept of the Sublime

Dorothy Dunn On Primitive Art
(Excerpt)Quoting Alice Corbin Henderson, Dunn states that in an Indian society, art is "possessed in common" and "totally lacking in individualistic concept." Thus, objectivity is enjoined with intentionality as personal accomplishment without a reference to the individual. This would satisfy a pedagogic sense of rationality in that in an Indian society "the surest way to make a prayer effective is to symbolize the matter prayed for" (Bandelier). If the prayer (the art of rhetoric) was effective, then it was handed down from generation to generation and its success justified its rationality.

Essay on the Zuni World View

Bibliography of the Zuni Language

Indian Ledger Art-Resources and Information

Books of Interest

Classic Hopi And Zuni Kachina Figures

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK: THE FIRST 100 YEARS

Fine Indian Jewelry: The Millicent Rogers Museum Collection

AEQ Book Review of Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas .
Frawley, William, Kenneth C. Hill, and Pamela Munro, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. 450 pp. ISBN 0520229967, $34.95.
© 2004 American Anthropological Association Book Review of Making Dictionaries: Preserving Indigenous Languages of the Americas .
Reviewed for the Anthropology & Education Quarterly by Catherine S. Fowler
University of Nevada
csfowler@unr.nevada.edu
To Order this book

THE FOURTH WORLD
W. Tussinger has written his first novel which was released in December, 2004.
W. Tussinger is a member of the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma and has lived on several reservations including the Yuroks of Northern California and the Yakamas of Washington State where he attended college.
To Order this book

THE WOMEN/Edward S. Curtis
by Christopher Cardozo; foreword by Louise Erdrich (Bulfinch Press, $35) — Cardozo, who lives in Minneapolis, is the world's foremost expert on, and collector of, photos of American Indians taken by turn-of-the-century photographer Edward S. Curtis. Cardozo went through 1,000 photos to find the 100 sepia-toned images in this book, which show the daily lives of American Indian women at a time when most were already on reservations. Minneapolis novelist and poet Erdrich discusses women's work in her foreword: " … although Edward Curtis believed that he was documenting a vanishing culture, it is in these humble arts that the strength of Native culture lives on."
To Order this book

Literature on Native America

An Overview of Pacific Northwest Native Indian Art
Free downloadable e-book

American Indian Women's Activism in the 1960s and 1970s
by Donna Hightower Langston
Complete article

Linguists Find the Words, and Pocahontas Speaks Again
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand, The Book
Early tribal artifacts put in spotlight at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

"Communing with Bears"
By Sara Wright
Communing with Bears is the story of a joyful encounter between one woman and a black bear.

Literacy in Indigenous Communities by L. David van Broekhuizen, Ph.D. (2000)
HTML Format (70K)
PDF Format(117K)
Literacy in first languages in indigenous communities is a complex topic that generates lively discussion. This research synthesis explores the notions of national, mother-tongue, multiple, and biliteracies. It presents important information pertaining to threatened languages, language shift, and language loss. Examples of culturally relevant uses of literacy in indigenous communities and issues related to first-language literacy instruction are also provided.

Web Sites:

Native American Links Page
Indigenous Peoples Literature
Native Voice
Wisdom of the Old People
By David Whitney

National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation
Inuit film to tell story of last great shaman
My Two Beads Worth: Indigenous News Online
Northern California Indian Development Council
Native Village
Smudge Ceremony

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