Resplendent, energetic, inspired, “mystic visionary,” simple words to describe an artist. Art, the first language of our people involved pictures. Pictures were painted on walls or tipis while special Heyoka symbols painted on shields provided supernatural strength and protection for the people. “Winter counts” on buffalo skins also recorded our peoples’ history.

Our art has always represented our culture, who and what we are as Native Americans. Our spiritual people have always known that there is more to art than just “pictures. Some of what is called “art” or “primitive” art by non-natives is sacred, as are the mystical symbols found within a holy man’s altar or in the designs etched in sand paintings.

Art involves a spiritual connection between an artist and the spirit world. A medicine man and an artist are much like since both have power from a “vision”. While a medicine man’s vision gives him power as an interpreter (iyeska) for the spirits, the artist’s vision empowers him to move and inspire others.

Since the beginning, artists have been rebels or “revolutionaries” who were ahead of their time. A true artist is much like a wild creature of the Great Mystery. He or she has a “freer” soul (nagi) independent in his or her natural state and capable of being a “catalyst” for social change. An artist is a rebel, highly intelligent, creative, introspective, analytical and a spiritual being, above all.

The spirit world permeates the thoughts of an artist. “Art” is a spiritual expression, part of the ancient practice of communicating with the spirit world. Painting itself is apart from other arts for a painter imparts a piece of his “soul” into his paintings. His paintings may have a deeper, secret unknown personal meaning which is known only to the artist. Some painters are better at disguising this inspiring aspect of their art. Even an “unfinished” painting or portrait may be unfinished for a good reason known only to the painter.

An artist’s brush may be as bold and powerful as a bolt of lightning. Nature is a part of art as art is part of nature. Look at an ear of maize corn. Is it not “art” as well as nature? Artists look at what occurs naturally. Many Native American artists in their art reveal that every day objects are also “art.”

Within our legends, there is a story about how the first flute was created. My son, Wiconi Was`te, the Heyoka, shared this ancient legend with me. Long ago, an elk (hekaka) running through the forest, knocked down a dead tree. Within this tree lived a bug (tajuska) that was sought by the industrious woodpecker who kept pecking on the wood. Nearby but out of sight was a Native American man who was praying and fasting for four days and nights.

During this time, the man heard these mysterious beautiful sounds but they stopped. The man prayed even harder to hear these sounds one more time. He prayed to the Great Mystery to reveal who and what was making the sounds. Then the wind started to blow through the wood, making the sounds once again. The wind and the woodpecker took credit for the music but the elk did not. The man said, “If this is true and you have all done this, let me take this (flute) and pray about it.”

In praying, the man had a dream. The elk went into the man’s dream and revealed that the elk was actually a man chasing a woman through the woods. The woodpecker explained that it was he who poked holes in the wood but the wind who cleaned the wood. The wind in turn credited the woodpecker for creating the holes and the wind said that he cleaned the wood.

All three, the elk, the woodpecker and the wind in the end, agreed to give the flute to the man. The six holes on the flute represent six days which is significant spiritually. While the woodpecker never got his bug, man gained a flute from creation. Our elders and spiritual people say that if an elk dreamer carves his flute according to his vision, he will have the power to attract any woman who hears it.

There is no person like a real artist. Those for whom art is a hobby are different from a real artist. There is no “half-way” mark for an artist. It’s all or nothing. An artist’s existence is spiritually inspired and exists on energy. No artist truly produces a work of art for money. It has to be inspired. It’s a conception within thoughts, inspired and beyond one’s control.

One cannot force an artist to create a real work of art. When art is not inspired, it is not “art.” Artists feel more, see more, experience more than the average person. They take things in. They tend to see details that others overlook, may be eccentric. Some artists are reclusive. If you have been fortunate enough to be around a great artist, you will know immediately that their soul and spirit is liberated. It is like being in the presence of royalty, a king or queen. An artist is not afraid to have unusual traits, mannerisms, appearance, or behavior.

“Art” which is produced by technology will never be a substitute for real art for it is “souless” and easily reproduced by many. A true work of art is totally personal, individual, inspired and can never be reproduced even by human hands. It is a cultural experience to be able to meet with the human face, the artist whom one can meet in person. This invaluable experience is lacking when art is produced by technology or the computer.

The white man has become so distant from his ancestors while some Native American tribes are still close in time to their ancestors and closer to a spiritual life. The white man may call Native Americans “primitive” but Native Americans are not that distant from the buffalo hides where their history was recorded in symbols. Consider how old the European Stonehenge is and the distant connection between modern Caucasians today and yesterday.

Sadly, today we Native Americans are losing our culture and spirituality much more rapidly. Our artists are the ultimate expression that the Creator has given in his form of communication in the ancient way. This includes non-academically trained artists. Many of our Native American artists have not been formally trained. Inspired art does not have to come from a formal education. Like a buffalo, a Native American artist exists and is who he or she is, a gift from the Creator.

One such artist is the beloved and well known Muscogee Creek artist, Dana Tiger, who follows in the footsteps of her famous artist father, Jerome Tiger. He was a poor Creek boy who was self taught but who succeeded in distinguishing himself in his early twenties as a world class artist. Jerome Tiger never got to teach his young daughter, Dana, how to paint. Yet it seems that the Great Mystery saw that his life would be short so he gave Dana as a gift to carry on and finish the work her father started. His legacy, Dana, her daughter and son are now completing the last chapters of the book her famous father started so many years ago.

Dana has made the most of what the Great Spirit gave her. She is the living “branch” of the tree of Jerome and Peggy Tiger. Among many Native American tribes, women have a proud history of serving as warriors who fought to save their homelands, people and culture.

The white man, like rust has tried to erode value and respect for women but Dana has told me “I refuse to accept that we Native American women can only be victims as we are being portrayed today in the media. In my paintings, I am proud to celebrate the courage, strength and heart of our women warriors.”

Art concerns the teachings of the spirit and an artist paints what she saw or felt. The appreciator of art is just as important as the artist. May all the warrior women aspire to yesterday’s greatness today!

Wambli Sina Win (Eagle Shawl Woman) is currently an Associate Professor and Director of the Bacone College Criminal Justice Studies Department in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Her grandfather was John Fire, Chief Lame Deer Tahca Uste, a well known Lakota Holy Man from the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. One of her sons is also a medicine man. She has served as a Tribal Judge for the Oglala Sioux Tribal Court, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, a Tribal Attorney and as a legal Instructor for the U.S. Indian Police Academy at Artesia, N.M. You may contact Wambli Sina Win, J.D. at wamblisinawin@yahoo.com She can be reached at wamblisinawin@yahoo.com.

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