action and performance
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Action and Performance. Native American Symbols Beyond Aesthetics. Symbols are pictorial and often take the place of words. http://wolfs_moon.tripod.com/NAsymbols1.jpeg. Native American Symbols. Native American symbols are more than art. Animals are also used. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Action and Performance
Native American SymbolsBeyond Aesthetics
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http://wolfs_moon.tripod.com/NAsymbols1.jpeg
Symbols are pictorial and often take the place of words.
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Native American Symbols
Native American symbols are more than art.
Animals are also used.
They encompass a cosmos and a context.
http://www.aiaphila.org/aie/new-stuff/gallery-section/native-american/harrlesson4.gif
http://www.runningdeerslonghouse.com/webdoc126.htm
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Symbols - An Overview
Point to something beyond themselves.
More descriptive than words.
Develop over time. Often only has meaning in a
context. Some symbols are used in a
number of different contexts and cultures. For example
At right Trey Oxendine of the Lumbee Tribe from Pembrook, NC at Cleveland Powwow, June 17-19, 2005
http://www.clevelandseniors.com/family/powwow.htm
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More On Symbols
The symbols have a history which includes the object itself, persons involved and the circumstances surrounding its development.
Symbolism in Native American is significant but only as it relates to a particular context which includes a number of factors.
At right a Cleveland Powwow June 17-19, 2005
http://www.clevelandseniors.com/family/powwow.htm
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Native American Symbols
Significance cannot be determined by isolating and decoding particular symbols.
They are inseparable from the performance of which they are a part.
http://www.msh-ta.org/images/turtle_1b.jpg
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Symbolism in Use
Sandpainting ritual is used as a cure ceremony.
They are constructed on the floor of a ceremonial hogan and depict mythic persons who have a connection with the cause of the illness being treated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Navajo_sandpainting2.jpg
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Context driven Sandpainting
One has to see how the sandpainting fits into a greater picture that is itself symbolic, created from the experience of hearing the stories, praying the payers, living the way of life, all of which constitute Navajo tradition. http://www.cowboyandlady.com/sandpaintings/images/8533.jpg
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Self-Directed Designs and Objects
Some Native American artifacts are self-directed in others words to be understood they have to be looked at from the point of view of the wearer.
http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/archeo/oracles/draper/drap3.jpg
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Here is an example of an effigy pipe in which the smoker, when using the pipe, is facing he animal.
The effigy pipes of the Algonquin are used to aid in concentration and thought. A person by smoking the pipe and concentrating on the effigy and one gains power from the guardian spirit.
http://www.ohioarch.org/ASOImages/PA8.jpg
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The Power of the Bear
The Sioux used the Bear as a symbol.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lewisandclark/images/ree0072s.jpg
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Esoteric Objects
Many esoteric objects such as the medicine bundles are very symbolic. Their power lies in what they invoke through history of the user and use, stories of their origin, the occasions and manners of their use.
http://strictlyrockymountain.com/store/product_images/indian1.jpg
http://www.nativeartstrading.co.uk/MiscBeadwork.htm
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Masks
Masking or masquerade?
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Seneca False Faces
Many masks are related to formal and public religious acts.
Masks are living things.
For example the society of men of the Seneca who perform the new year’s corn and green ceremonies to drive out evil.
http://www.usao.edu/~usao-indianart/course/pics/doctor_m.jpg
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Use of the Masks
These are carved out of living trees and removed (if possible) without killing the tree.
They are distinctly decorated with distortions and exaggeration.
Carved out by special people.
http://www.usao.edu/~usao-indianart/course/pics/scalp_m.jpg
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Care
The masks have distinctive features.
They are molded according to a dream revelation.
The masks are treated as living beings.
When not in use they are hung facing the wall or are wrapped and carefully placed in a box or drawer.
http://www.p4a.com/item_images/medium/14/97/96-01.jpg
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Treatment
They are fed periodically by putting something on their lips.
Their faces are sometimes treated to keep clean.
Each mask is named and has its own personality.
http://www.usao.edu/~usao-indianart/course/pics/corn_m.jpg
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Consider This
They are very powerful for they manifest the power of the Bad twin who, when overcome by the Good Twin at the close of creation, was destined to aid in keeping the health and wellbeing of human beings.
The masks are not a covering or disguise but are a living manifestation of the type of spiritual being.
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The Hopi
Looking Through the Mask
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Meaning of the Mask
In the case of Hopi the masks represents a way of looking at the world--a perspective.
At right is an artist’s rendition of a snake dancer mask.
http://www.taosblue.com/1southwestart/masks/hopi/thumbnails/ChuSangSnakeDancerTH.jpg
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For example masks are used to frightened children into behaving properly--this is where the family has to provide a considerable sum for the life of the child.
The mask provided wearer with a perspective of reality shown on the face of the child.
http://images.art.com/images/products/large/10327000/10327379.jpg
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Kwakiutl Masks and the Notion of Place
The Kwakiutl use the mask to designate hierarchical relationships.
For Kwakiutl reality is in grid relationships.
http://geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca/victoria/index_e.php
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In it there are a fixed number of positions, to each of which belongs a name, referred to as seat or standing place.
At right is a transformation mask.
http://www.butte.cc.ca.us/~dcooper/Lit_up_website/NatAmer/images/DSCN1397.jpg
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Conclusion
Masks are symbolic because of what they make present: they are spiritual reality. Masks cannot be translated or decoded because their meaning is inseparable from what they make present--which, apart from the masks, could not be observed or expressed.
http://www.lcsc.edu/ss150/images/unit3mask.jpghttp://www.imagesforcanada.com/EchoMask5.jpg
http://cas.umkc.edu/art/faculty/wahlman/quizzes/NWKwakiutlMask.b.jpg