The making of art in Indigenous societies provided a pathway to wholeness for both the artist and those who utilized the artist's creations. Indigenous art provided a vehicle for approaching wholeness in that it required the artist to honor four orienting roles in the creation of a traditional art form, especially those created for ceremonial or spiritually empowering purposes. Applying the Indigenous metaphor of sacred directions, and the expression of dual yet complementary natures, these basic roles can be characterized metaphorically as follows. (See Diagram.)
In the East, which represents for many Tribal people of North America the place of new beginnings (heralded by the First light of dawn), there is the orientation of the Artist/Poet.These archetypes creatively represent the unfolding of events, beginning in the visionary/spiritual orientation of the East, through the metaphoric use of images, words, forms, music, songs, and dance. In the roles as creative presenters of the Sun's illuminating light, Artist and Poet represent the images, forms, thoughts, sounds or actions that document and illuminate the path toward wholeness.
In the North is the orientation of the Hunter/Warrior that represent the tracking, finding, and holding of the manifestations and symbols of both spirit and vision. This orientation concerns the application of one's innate intuition in finding those things needed to create art that properly addresses the essential elements of the vision to be created. Through this orientation the creator develops the courage and self-confidence to follow what has been seen. In this orientation there is also the process of centering, developing the heart and strategy to carry through the creative act.
In the twilight orientation of the West are the Shaman/Priest. The pairing of shaman and priest in the East is metaphorically appropriate in that both archetypes preside over the visionary and spiritually transforming foundation which provides the basic impetus for the making of Indigenous art) and the centering process (which prepares and guides the artist in the creative process). This is the seeing of what needs to be done.
In the South is the orientation of the Philosopher/Teacher. These archetypes represent the quest for understanding and organizing the metaphorically coded messages inherent in the art that has been made. The creative play between understanding, which is the domain of the philosopher, and communicating, the domain of the teacher, form the infrastructure for the formal and informal transmission of knowledge and meaning of what has been created. This is the knowing of what has been made.
In some Indigenous orientations, the South is the Source of the fertile, creative winds and the monsoon rams, which warm and nourish the lands of the Southwest. The philosophical and educational orientations associated with the South provide a poetic and natural frame of reference to reflect on the creative process of learning through art.
These orientations run parallel to contemporary understandings of the creative process. In essence, each of the orientations mentioned mirrors the generally accepted stages of the creative process. Viewed from this perspective, First Insight, the first stage of creation, might be associated with the Artist/Poet. In this stage creative thought begins with dreams, intuitions, exploration of archetypes, forms and images within the individual or group unconscious. The process then evolves to a perceptive play with Visual/Verbal/Spatial/Tactile or Auditory symbols and forms. Next comes a period of searching, introspection, and intellectualization, which develops the artist/poet's level of sensitivity and empathy for the creative work. Finally, the creator enters into the realm of macro vision, which is characterized by metaphoric thinking and transformative vision upon the metaphysics and spirituality of that which is to be created.
The second stage of Preparation/Immersion is closely akin to the orientation of the Philosopher/Teacher. This stage begins with a process of making meaning, addressing contingencies, and exploring key relationships relative to an approach to an artistic work. There is a learning of tools, research, and application of strategy and logic to find the best way to make what needs to be made. The process then moves to more reasoning, symbolization, responding, and searching, combined with establishing the proper emotional and intellectual context for the making of the artistic work. At the macro level, this stage is marked by Inquiry scholarship, accumulation of knowledge, and further reflection on the metaphysics of the work to be done. Through this stage, and the preceding one of First Insight, the form of the creative work gradually begins to take a tangible prototypical form.
The third stage of Incubation closely resembles the orientation of the Shaman/Priest and is similar to the beginning stage of First Insight. The difference between the two lies in the relative depth each stage submerges into the unconscious. While First Insight is more perceptual, Incubation is more primal and alchemically transformative. The learning that is characteristic of First Insight and Preparation moves to the deeper unconscious realms of dreams, drives, archetypes, intuitions, and preconcepts based on life/death symbols. Incubation, at its deepest levels of expression, gives rise to metamorphic processes and mythological thinking revolving around transformation and rebirth. These processes and thoughts are in turn expressed through forms of initiation, ritual, and ceremony. At the macro level, Incubation engenders hologizing, healing, and expressions of spirituality including those characteristic of various religious rites and practices. This stage cooks or fires the forms being created in the deep kilns of the unconscious.
The fourth and final stage of Evaluation is similar to the orientation of the Hunter/Warrior in that evaluation is like finding your prey, producing the work, and taking a stand in defense of what you have made. Evaluation primarily involves developing a strategy for presenting a work and addressing one's critics and one's shortcomings with courage. As a whole, this stage engenders self-confidence through boldly taking risks and defending the principles and integrity of the creative process that has led to the art. At the macro level, the realization of this stage results in a state of completion. A relative state of spiritual centeredness and holistic perspective, which is expressive of the good heart engendered by the completion of a creative work, characterizes this last stage of creativity.
Indigenous arts provided and continue to provide a foundational way to express and nourish the soul of the instinctual human need to learn and create Art is an essential part of human learning and plays a pivotal role in the development of the inherent potentials of every person, regardless of social, cultural, or political status.
The place of the arts in Indigenous educational philosophy is without question. What is questionable is the reliance upon Western European concepts of art and the ego-centered, capitalistic, schooling for art that underpins tacit infrastructure of the education of Indians in the arts. There is a Way of Indian art that is distinctly non-Western, non-European in its orientation, philosophy, aesthetic criteria, and alms. To understand this difference, it is important to understand the ceremony of art as it is practiced by Tribal people in the creation of ceremonial artifacts. For historically, Indian artists created for Life's Sake.
from Look to the Mountain (1st ed.), p.158-162.
Two other excerpts:
A Contemporary Pathway For Ecological Vision
Indigenous Education and Its Role in Individual Transformation