Jessica Crabtree

Red Jacket (1750-1830), or Sagoyewatha, was a chief of the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy who is famous for his role as diplomat between his people and British and American authorities during the period of the Revolutionary War.

The majority of the Iroquois had allied with the British during the war in order to avert the increasing expansion of the American colonies. After the American victory, however, the Iroquois faced a double threat, both as defeated opponents in the previous war and as targets of the quickly expanding new country already eager to absorb their land. In the years following the establishment of the new republic, whites continued to use alternative methods of warfare in order to to minimize Native culture. Societies already under pressure from the aftermath of warfare struggled to remain intact with these renewed assaults of colonialism. The close-knit social structure of the Iroquois splintered as traditional ways of life were challenged, conventional livelihoods were no longer possible, and disease and alcoholism devastated families. Under these conditions, white missionaries proselytized relentlessly where distraught populations were most vulnerable to assimilation.

It was to a missionary delegation at an Iroquois council in 1805 that Chief Red Jacket delivered this brilliant apologetic speech. Oratory was a much-cultivated skill throughout Native America, but nowhere more than among the nations of the Iroquois, where clear and considerate communication is a fundamental building-block of their traditional culture. While Red Jacket related to the problems endemic in his society on a very personal level, his compelling speech, delivered according to traditional Iroquois model, expresses his firm belief in the sovereignty and relevance of the Native American spiritual perspective with an eloquence that still resonates today.

Click continue to read the speech > (continue reading…)

Courtesy of National Geographic.

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” (Leonardo da Vinci)

This is a fascinating site about the physical properties of light and the causes of color. Some of it’s quite technical – but the webpage is beautifully done and worth seeing at least on that account!

Click the screenshot below to enter.

The oasis of Havasupai near the Grand Canyon is (in my opinion) one the the world’s most beautiful spots. It takes its name from the Havasu ‘Baaja nation (“people of the blue-green waters”) who make their home there. The minerals in the water cause its stunning color, which stands out even more against the glowing reds and oranges of the surrounding desert. The area is extremely remote and still relies on mule-pack for mail delivery!

Unfortunately its isolation has not been able to preserve its pristine condition entirely; the waters are polluted with radioactive runoff from local uranium mining – in fact tourists are advised not to swim in the lakes or drink from the water. Fortunately the united effort of many Indian nations of northern Arizona and New Mexico have be able to to put a temporary ban on uranium mining in the area in order to halt the further contamination of surface and ground water.

In 2008 the small town of Supai was briefly evacuated after a minor deluge caused by a combination of heavy rains and artificial diversions of flow water to the north. The event altered the courses of much of the source water for the falls, stopping the flow of some and creating others.

Below: Navajo Falls, one of the most-visited of Havasu’s water features, no longer flows after the 2008 flooding.

Click on the photo for a 1200 x1600 version (makes a great desktop background!)

Read more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havasupai

http://www.havasupaitribe.com/

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” (Aristotle)

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/63264152.html

Remembering Columbus: An Essay by Julianne Jennings

Departing from the port of Palos Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus sailed his maiden voyage of the Niña, Pinta and the Santa Maria. On Oct. 12, Columbus reached the “New World” and the Bahamas archipelago was spotted. However, the “New World” concept only applies to Europeans as Native Americans had been living on this Great Turtle Island (what we now call the United States of America) for at least 12,000 years. (continue reading…)

This October 12 – just like every other since 1934 – is Columbus Day. Most people could not care less as it comes and goes each year. Granted, there are some pretty ridiculous commemorations on our calendars; but aside from the fact that 17 states and numerous school districts don’t even recognize it, why is there even such a holiday as Columbus Day?

Columbus Day was first celebrated in 1792 in New York City to commemorate the 300th “anniversary of discovery.” A century later President Harrison issued a commemoration proclamation. In 1934 it became a federal holiday. “…Teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used Columbus Day rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These patriotic rituals were framed around themes such as support for war, citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social progress.”

So what exactly does this have to do with Christopher Columbus? I can’t help the impulse to set a few things straight for anyone who cares to know.

1: COLUMBUS DID NOT DISCOVER AMERICA.
Even barring the obvious fact that American Indians inhabited the Americas for millennia – he was not even the first European to reach the Americas. It is well known that Norse explorers had established settlements on the northeast coast of North America 500 years earlier. For several generations they lived with their women and children in farming communities – and yes, interacted with Native Americans. Columbus not only never set foot in North America – he was no more than the first in a line of Conquistadores who arrived in Central/South America in order to exploit natural & human resources.

2: Columbus did not discover that the world was round.
This is a myth conjured up by Washington Irving in his biography of Columbus, and perpetuated by history books (along with the anecdote of Columbus and the egg).

3: The issue of whether Columbus felt he had found a water route to Asia may still be open to debate among scholars – but look in any history book and you will find that Bartolomeu Dias under commission by European monarchs in 1488 discovered that you can reach India and Southeast Asia by sailing around Africa. (Vasco de Gama actually completed the voyage 10 years later, opening the region to trade and colonization by Portugal.) Since Spain, Portugal, and the other kingdoms already had a water route to their prized destinations, THEY DIDN’T NEED COLUMBUS TO FIND ONE. (You will remember, of course, that Columbus never did reach Asia.) And if he really believed he reached the empire of Japan or India, why was his first act to kneel and plant the Spanish imperial flag, and claim the land for Spain? Maybe when Columbus came upon the realization of a New World, he felt he had to break it to his sponsors gently. (continue reading…)

Continued from Columbus Day, Part 1:

In view of all these well-acknowledged facts it’s hard to believe why the mythology of Columbus has endured so long. To today’s Native Americans – who have to put up with the obnoxious persistence of such blatantly ignorant celebrations year after year – it was these initial encounters with the indigenous peoples of the Americas that set the pattern for the European exploitation that the Columbus Day tradition parades around under the labels of progress, discovery, and civilization. Perhaps it’s the Indians themselves who are best qualified to express this:

“Columbus is symbolic of the ongoing cultural encounter within the Americas, and of European settling that proved immediately deadly and oppressive to Native peoples. His writings are scrutinized, and his motives and actions are increasingly condemned, by many who study them. Columbus introduced the pattern of colonization, Christianization and slavery that characterized the conquest: first by Spanish and later by Portuguese, Dutch, French and English powers.

Admittedly, Columbus was a man of his times and of his culture and training. He was as well a mystic of the Catholic prophetic tradition, a man driven by the ambition of a brilliant intuition to find the mysterious and coveted western route to the Orient; he was an adventurer who sought to gain immense riches, guaranteed by wars of conquest, to make himself a man of great wealth. For this, as was the custom of his time, his mindset accepted and welcomed the possibility of mass killing to reduce whole peoples to servitude, to serve and die as slaves.

Denial of nationhood and even of humanity followed quickly on the heels of contact, with wars of conquest always coming close behind. Columbus led the way into the holocaust of the Caribbean but his deed repeated itself and reproduced itself, first south and then north, over and over, regardless of initial greetings (mostly friendly) by Native peoples. Five hundred years have gone by; and to the Native peoples, the relative gains in scientific advancement do not make up for the horrendous loss of life, liberty and, particularly, the denial of the happy pursuit of self-determined cultures and societies.”

from Editor’s Report, Indian Country Today

So, most of us don’t celebrate Columbus Day anyway. And many of us may not care what effect it has on the American Indian communities of this continent.

But we are responsible for taking our history seriously and making ourselves aware of the facts. We can’t change our past, but the effort we put into knowing the truth is a reflection of who we are today – and indifference is just not a great reflection on all the good things that America is supposed to stand for – not the hype and whitewash – but things like justice, liberty, and truth.

Maybe this October 12 will be an opportunity – what will we pass on to the next generation about Columbus Day?

Examining the Reputation of Columbus: An Essay by Jack Weatherford

Christopher Columbus’ reputation has not survived the scrutiny of history, and today we know that he was no more the discoverer of America than Pocahontas was the discoverer of Great Britain. Native Americans had built great civilizations with many millions of people long before Columbus wandered lost into the Caribbean.

Columbus’ voyage has even less meaning for North Americans than for South Americans because Columbus never set foot on our continent, nor did he open it to European trade. Scandinavian Vikings already had settlements here in the eleventh century, and British fisherman probably fished the shores of Canada for decades before Columbus. The first European explorer to thoroughly document his visit to North America was the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto, who sailed for England’s King Henry VII and became known by his anglicized name, John Cabot. Caboto arrived in 1497 and claimed North America for the English sovereign while Columbus was still searching for India in the Caribbean. After three voyages to America and more than a decade of study, Columbus still believed that Cuba was a part of Asia, South America was only an island, and the coast of Central America was near the Ganges River.

Unable to celebrate Columbus’ exploration as a great discovery, some apologists now want to commemorate it as a great “cultural encounter.” (continue reading…)

Birren’s color model is a useful extension of the color wheel, because it deals with color in terms we relate to pigments such as paint or chalk. More importantly, it includes a vocabulary for expressing different shades of meaning (no pun intended!) concerning the technical side of color. Most of these terms are used interchangeably on an everyday basis; but when used for their actual intended purpose they can be a valuable communication tool for the artist.

For instance:

• A hue is a particular wavelength of light on the spectrum (or color wheel); otherwise “color” – but more precise.
• A tint is a hue blended with white; if red is the hue in question, hot pink might be a resulting tint.
• A shade is a hue combined with black: i.e., crimson is a darker shade of red.
• A tone is a hue that has been desaturated, or diluted with both black and white (that is, gray), making the original color seem “muddied.”

Birren Color Triangle

It’s interesting to note that specific art eras, or even individual artists, can be classified by their signature range within the color triangle. Paintings in which tints predominate tend to be bright, airy, and imaginative. Tones are good at portraying gloomy, mysterious, or atmospheric subjects, while a tendency towards shades provides intensity and drama.

(Thanks to wetcanvas.com for the graphic.)