Singing Images of Creation

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Singing Images of Creation Paintings and symbols based on the Kiowa Apache creation myth Project proposal for the visual transformation of the Kiowa Apache creation myth

1 Singing Images of Creation Paintings and symbols based on the Kiowa Apache creation myth Project proposal for the visual transformation of the Kiowa Apache creation myth into a series of multi-media paintings and animations. Submitted to Dr. Noreen C. Barnes Fall 2010 MATX : Text & Textuality dl roman New Form 1: Singing Joy to Sky

2 I am thinking, thinking, thinking what I shall create next (Welker) This verse is sung four times by Kuterastan just before he creates earth. A Creation Myth In the Kiowa Apache creation myth found at the Indigenous Peoples Literature website, Kuterastan, whose name means One Who Lives Above, is the creator god (Welker). He enters the darkness, before there is sky and earth, sitting inside a small thin yellow disc that is white on the reverse side. This opening event, Kuterastan s entry into the darkness, I have not yet determined how to depict. Perhaps I will fill a dark canvas with ghosted outlines of yellow and white or circular yellow and white lines of text retelling the story yet to unfold, or project color lights on to a canvas surface. So powerful is Kuterastan that his mere looking into the darkness brings light overhead, light upon a sea below, yellow streaks towards the east, and multi-colored clouds in the far west. Although there is light above, the story clearly informs us that there is no sky. Kuterastan is floating in an atmosphere of color and light in which dawn, dusk, and sea equally share time and space with an ever present light from above. Characteristic of ex nihilo types of creation stories, as categorized by the historian Mircea Eliade, a High Being creates the world by thought, by word, or by heating himself in a steam-hut, and so forth, both atmosphere, and later earth, are the result of the creator god s looking action and his body sweat (Eliade 83). Kuterastan looks into the darkness and light appears above. Following this first phase of creation, Kuterastan will wipe his sweating forehead and thrust the sweat downward. From this will arises a small cloud on which sits a tiny female known as Stenathliha, which means Girl-without-Parents. In a similar fashion, he will create, or invite to the creation party, Chuganaai, the Sun-God, and Hadintin Skhin, also known as Small-Boy or Pollen Boy. As with four types of light, we now have a four-god Pantheon to assist in the act of creation. In a similar version of this myth, offered in L. Irwin s Coming Down From Above: Prophect, Resistance, and Renewal in Native American Religions, Kuterastan is also known as Bik ehgo ihi dan, the Ruler Over Life or Life Giver (Irwin 319). Stenathliha is given the formal name of Is dzan naadlee he and said to have the responsibility of co-creator. In the Irwin version of the story, it is Is dzan naadlee he that will sing the blessing song: The world is now made and it sits still, repeated four times. In the text from the Indigenous Peoples Literature website, Kuterastan will sing the song. A New Text: A Visual Song In consideration of a topic for a new body of work, the two themes I find most interesting at this time are beginnings and endings, which I distinguish as creation and death. Focusing on the topic of creation, I have selected to work with a creation myth, as creation myths are the most common forms of myths found throughout human culture. Found in all cultures, they are considered primary myths (Lemming). I began with an investigation of accounts of African, Greek, Native American, and Norse, I repeatedly returned to the Kiowa Apache story. I was drawn to the visual imagery, color, and dimensions woven throughout. Deriving from oral tradition, I imagine an audience spellbound as the storyteller recalls the Singing Images of Creation by dl roman Visual application of Kiowa Apache Creation Myth Page 2

3 events. Perhaps it is told in the evening, around a crackling fire with everyone sitting breathlessly close to each other, or in mid-afternoon on a partially sunny day with the audience lying back looking up as the white cotton-balls float by taking on various shapes of mentioned characters. I want to see these images myself. I want to experience the visuals as they are introduced. The disparity between the two versions mentioned above is just one example of the variety of the story I have found. Collectively, I have four varied versions of this specific myth, although I have chosen to blend together the two versions mentioned above from the Indigenous Peoples Literature website and L. Irwin s publication. Throughout the story, four is utilized in various ways, designated as the magic number in the Kiowa Apache culture. Using this division of four, I will organize the narrative into distinctive themes within which the story will unfold. Within each of these topics, I intend to select various related events from the myth to work with while introducing some of the characters. The initial portion of the project will be the construction of eight paintings. As I have chosen to divide the text into four topics, these eight pieces will allow for the development of each theme twice, once horizontally and once vertically. Each piece will be 22 x 30. New Form 2: Dancing Earth Singing Images of Creation by dl roman Visual application of Kiowa Apache Creation Myth Page 3

4 The four topics I have selected to work with are taken directly from the story. Brown Earth: creation of the brown plains Sky Song: a song of the sky Flood Typography: mountains, valleys, and rivers appear Heat and Fire: both the use of and the gift to man The medium for these pieces is a combination of water color, acrylic, calligraphy, various typographic applications, and potential computer-generated imagery. The computer imagery will be from photographs I have taken, altered and in other ways modified to visually represent the ideas/concepts I wish to illustrate from the story. I will begin with the painting of an initial layer of inspired color and texture. Because each topic will have two different orientations, this will enable me to explore a variety of spatial arrangement of color and form unique to each. Process and Materials Upon the base painted layer of each piece, both imagery and text will be added through use of pen and ink and other calligraphic methods. Creation of line art imagery will depict and repeat the various elements and themes from the stories. For example, over the undulating ripples of color that represent the brown plains in Dancing Earth a wash of growing bean-shaped balls may appear echoing the story s description of how earth came to be: Creator sang, "Let us make earth. I am thinking of the earth, earth, earth; I am thinking of the earth," he sang four times. All four gods shook hands. In doing so, their sweat mixed together and Creator rubbed his palms, from which fell a small round, brown ball, not much larger than a bean. Creator kicked it, and it expanded. Girl-Without-Parents kicked the ball, and it enlarged more. Sun-God and Small-Boy took turns giving it hard kicks, and each time the ball expanded. Creator told Wind to go inside the ball and to blow it up (Welker) Dancing Earth will be further developed as I add a layer of thin lines to represent what will eventually become the mountains and vegetation of the area native to both this story and the Kiowa Apache territory. These lines will float under additional layers of text and symbols. This line drawing, as well as others to be developed, will be extracted from the photographs that I have taken. For example, in this photo I may use the shapes of the mountains at the top to hint to the mountains that will eventually be formed after the impending flood. Photo of mountains in New Mexico/ property of studiodlr Singing Images of Creation by dl roman Visual application of Kiowa Apache Creation Myth Page 4

On another layer will be a variety of symbols I create specific to this account. At this stage I am considering representing each symbol as line art or with brush and ink, as well as in drawings.

5 On another layer will be a variety of symbols I create specific to this account. At this stage I am considering representing each symbol as line art or with brush and ink, as well as in drawings. Again, as throughout the story s text, I will incorporate the concept of four as a magical number through the repetition of forms, color, and symbols. Symbol Development Initially, I am planning on creating the following four symbols: Earth bean Song of sky Rain/water coming down Fire and heat All four of these initial symbols will be based upon movements that I am able to make with my own hand. They will be developed as both line art and hand-orientated drawings. Initially, the static line art form of each symbol will appear in the painting that references that specific symbol s role in the myth. The appearance will be both central to the image and repetitive. Further placement of all the symbols across the body of work has not yet been determined. The first symbol that I am developing is that of Song of sky. As the story states: Then he began a song about the sky. None existed, but he thought there should be one (Welker). This set of four symbols will later be developed into individual animations using the software program Flash. Although I have not fully developed the storyboards, this sketch illustrates my vision of the symbol Song of Sky opening and closing while singing the words of the Kiowa Apache creation story. Although only four frames are depicted here, I anticipate this animation to be approximately 2 5 minutes in duration, allowing for most if Symbol for Song of Sky not all of the complete story text to be displayed. The actual story text indicates that Kuterastan created a song for the sky because there was none, which I may follow-up by creating my own sky song. The other three symbols I have not yet considered what I will have them do. Sketch for Song of Sky animation Singing Images of Creation by dl roman Visual application of Kiowa Apache Creation Myth Page 5

6 Works Cited Eliade, Mircea. From Primitive to Zen A Thematic Sourcebook of the History of Religions. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Irwin, Lee. Coming Down From Above: Prophecy, Resistance, and Renewal in Native American Religions. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, Lemming, David. "Creation" The Oxford Companion to World mythology October 2010 < Welker, Glenn. indigenouspeople.net/creation.htm. 09 June September 2010 < Singing Images of Creation by dl roman Visual application of Kiowa Apache Creation Myth Page 6

Native American wisdom

21 Noviembre 2017 Native American wisdom.media The goal of life for us is not to worship an external god Text: Sylvain Gillier Imbs Image: Pixabay CC0 O you, almighty creator, May now be restored universal