In Harmony with Nature

It is basic to the traditional world-view of Native Americans, regardless of tribal affiliation, that mankind should attempt to live in harmony with nature. Respect for the earth and for the Power that governs it undergirded every na-tive religion. Prayers were offered-and are now, wherever the faith and practices of the ancient ones are still observed-for needed rain, for vigor-ous crops, for success in the hunt. An offering was made in return for any-thing taken from the earth, whether clay for pottery, an animal for food, or plants for food or shelter. And there should be no waste; nothing was to be taken, no animal killed, unless it was required for the sustenance and protection of life and health. There was reverence for all nature, for life in any form. As life itself is a cycle, the products of the earth were recycled in gratitude for their use.

And there was awe-for the beauty and bounty of the earth, the majesty of the sky, the seasons: Across the mesas Over the saged bills Disappearing over the distant mountains The shadow of winter has passed. The bluebirds bring the new essence Of the young spring rain. Life, once again, is awakened by distant thunder. Screeches of the young eagles Tear the bushed breeze of winter In the rainbow of youth. Mother Earth sings her spring songs.

Those lines were written by Tomas Dougi, Jr., a contemporary Navajo sculptor. They suggest why motifs from nature-lightning, the shapes of clouds, the forms of birds and animals -decorated ancient pottery, were carved into fetishes and body ornaments, and were pecked into the patterns of petro-glyphs. Doubtless more sensitive and observant than his fel-lows, the primitive artist responded both to the esthetics and to the significance of natural forms. So did his more sophisti-cated descendant in the time of tradi-tional tribal art; and so does the Native American artist of today, using such motifs with perhaps more abandon and enthusiasm than ever before.

As the examples on these and following pages confirm, Indian artists of every discipline and medium borrow freely from the themes of nature. Painting and sculpture frequently reflect literal or symbolic representations. New-style kachina dolls, full of action, often still incorporate features of owls or eagles, deer or mountain sheep. Jewelry is embellished with such designs as lightning bolts and corn plants. Contemporary pottery designs include a wide variety of natural forms, from soaring birds to flower blossoms, painted on or carved in vessels. The strong, forceful pottery of Tom Polacca, with its symbols of storm clouds and sturdy cornstalks, contrasts with the light, airy designs of Grace Medicine Flower's butterflies and blossoms carved or painted on delicate vases and seed bowls. Jody Folwell's bold images of birds and animals cover her pottery, sometimes with one figure superimposed over another.

Corn was always an important part of the early Native American culture, not only as a primary food source but also for ceremonial purposes. It still has great significance. In some tribes, each new baby is presented with its Mother Ear of Corn; cornmeal is ground for special ceremonies; corn pollen is sprinkled as prayers are chanted. As both a handsome and a symbolic motif, corn appears often in contemporary Native American art-in paintings and sculpture, in kachinas, in ceramics, and in metalwork and jewelry. Some jewelers fashion delicate ears of corn with gold or silver husks, and intricately inlaid kernels of turquoise and coral that contrast with those of white shell, representing in precise miniature the multihued kernels of traditional Indian corn. Sculptor Charles Pratt's elegant ears of corn are of turquoise, accented with coral and lapis lazuli, enclosed in husks of polished brass.

Grace Medicine Flower, a prolific potter from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, draws heavily from nature for her motifs. Medicine Flower and her brother, Joseph Lonewolf, were among the innovators in the sgraffito technique, in which pots are slipped, carved, incised, and polished. Grace's pot at left stands two and one-half inches high; the one at right, four inches. A double exposure reveals the latter's top surface.

(BELOW) One-of-a-kind pottery plate, an example of the sgraffito technique, is by Joseph Lonewolf. Joseph's figures are often stronger and more masculine than those of his sister, Grace Medicine Flower; he uses deer, elk, and pheasants in his naturalistic designs. (RIGHT) Continuing the traditions of a family of potters, Lois Gutierrez de La Cruz of Santa Clara Pueblo has combined old and new designs in her polychrome pottery. Stylized nature motifs, nontraditional colors, and matte finish distinguish her work.

The Rivals, (LEFT) by Hopi carver Loren Phillips, took first prize at the Museum of Northern Arizona Hopi Show in 1985. Carved from the customary cottonwood root, the kachina piece represents the natural rivalry between the eagle and the red-tailed hawk. Phillips uses stains in combination with paint on his figures, allowing the wood grain to show through.

(RIGHT) Employing the lost-wax process, Navajo artist James Little cast this fourteen-karat gold ear of corn adorning a tufa cast silver bracelet. (BELOW) Hopi potter Al Qöyawayma, who learned the art of pottery making as a teenager by watching his aunt, Elizabeth White, experimented with various techniques and developed shapes and design elements derived from ancient Hopi pottery. Designs on the thin-walled pottery are carved in the clay.

Jody Folwell learned pottery making from her mother at Santa Clara Pueblo, mastering the traditional Santa Clara style. But when she found that potters sold their work for “nothing” if they didn't have a “name,” Jody decided she had to become more innovative in her designs. She began adapting reality to abstract forms. While her basic pottery is made in the traditional manner, Folwell develops design ideas from personal experiences, dreams, and feelings about her family and about politics. Some of the pots she intends for market are so personal they end up in her own collection. The large pot (RIGHT) has been carved and incised with some of her personal insights.

The unusual ceramic double-effigy container (ABOVE) is not traditional Indian pottery. It is the high-fired stoneware of Harold Littlebird, Santo Domingo - Laguna, and it has its roots in pre-Columbian effigy pieces. His slab pottery technique differs from the conventional handcoiled method, and is fired in a high temperature gas kiln. Details are appliqued, and the Mimbres designs are hand-drawn in underglaze pencil. Different oxides are mixed with the clay to achieve the various colorations of his stoneware. While Littlebird (BELOW) has been supporting himself since 1971 by making pottery, he is by no means a one-dimensional artist. He also writes poetry and music and conducts workshops on these subjects. The Rio Grande Institute in northern New Mexico, which promotes ties between North and South America, has given Littlebird an honorary fellowship grant to explore the mediums of poetry and song as a bridge between the Americas.

Born in Concho, Okla-homa, Charles Pratt (ABOVE) is best known today for his welded brass sculptures (see Corn Maiden, inside back cover, and Rainbow God, page 11). Working first as a traditionalist painter, he later shifted to metal sculpture in the early 1960s after admiring the work of Allan Houser. He felt he "wanted to do bronzes" and found he enjoyed metalworking. He is self-taught. Pratt's multiple talents extend to playing the Indian flute, carving in stone, and creating bronze castings.

(RIGHT) Eagle Flight, alabaster sculpture, twenty-seven inches high, by Victor Vigil. Born in San Francisco in 1957, Vigil, of Jémez Pueblo, New Mexico, began his sculpturing career in 1978. In August, 1985, he won three best-of-show awards at the annual Indian Market in Santa Fe.◆ Old necklace with handmade chain (BELOW, LEFT) is by Charles Supplee, twenty-six, Hopi. Shalako pendant of cast eighteen-karat gold is set with lapis lazuli, lavulite, red and white coral, and turquoise. Pendant is also seen in reflection, as is an ear of corn fashioned in fourteen-karat gold. A relative newcomer to the fine art scene, Supplee held his first show in January, 1986.

(BELOW, RIGHT) Charles Pratt's sculptured brass Rainbow God. The kernels of corn are individually shaped and inlaid pieces of turquoise accented with coral and lapis. Earrings are set with turquoise and coral. (BOTTOM) Bracelets by Lee Yazzie, Navajo: gold with turquoise, coral, lapis, and shell. Yazzie is known for his lapidary work and dimensional inlay technique.

Harvest of Plenty (LEFT), bronze casting from a stone sculpture, is by Tex Wounded Face, thirty, Mandan-Hidatsa. A prolific artist, he works in bronze, stone, and English porcelain. (RIGHT) Dorothy Torivio, Ácoma Pueblo, has won numerous prizes for her elaborately detailed pottery (OPPOSITE PAGE). She uses the stems of the yucca plant for brushes. (BELOW) Jams, Jellies, and Syrups, fortyeight by forty-eight inches, a painting by Virginia Stroud, Cherokee-Creek. Stroud records the happenings of an earlier time, reflecting the daily lives of Indian people.

Sculptured jewelry (RIGHT) is the work of Charles Supplee, Hopi. Bracelet with its corn motif is cast fourteen-karat gold. Corn pendant is carved coral inlaid with gold, turquoise, and lavulite. (BELOW) Pictorial rug, fifty-four by sixty-four inches, by Linda Nez, Navajo. A self-taught weaver, Nez incorporates rounded forms in her work rather than the traditional geometric patterns, giving figures a more realistic appearance. Both her mother and aunt are pictorial weavers. (OPPOSITE PAGE) Sculptured silver vase, eight and three-quarter inches high, by White Buffalo, Comanche. Intricate patterns derived from nature and Native American symbols were chiseled and engraved into the form and accented with silver overlay and inlay of turquoise and coral. A golden kernel of corn is cast into the interior bottom of the piece.