I spoke with my friend Tom Attle, who has a Bachelors degree in Art, and he told me that there is no term in Indian Culture for Art. This struck a curiosity in me because I am a student and lover of art and wondered why, with the beautiful Native art that surrounds me on a daily basis; there would be no such word. He said that art was a very spiritual thing for the Native Americans, this conversation that prompted me to write this paper today. In this paper, I will explain the origins of some Native American artwork and how it connects to their spirituality.

In the book, The Spirit of Native America: Beauty and Mysticism in American Indian Art, by Anna Lee Walters, she states, “Curiously though, no word exists in the hundreds of Native American languages that comes close to our definition of art. What does this mean? The answer is that the Indians did not set out to create art for its own sake. In traditional Indian thinking, there is no separation between art and life or between what is beautiful and what is functional. Art, beauty, and spirituality are so firmly intertwined in the routine of living that no words are needed, or allowed, to separate them.” (Page 17) It is a v

During my studies at LCO College, I have learned that Native American imagery often symbolizes complex philosophical ideas. It also reminds me of my classical philosophy class in Winona, when we studied Plato’s, and classical Greek views on art and spirituality. Their views run parallel to the Native way of perceiving art and spirituality as one. “Art cannot be expelled from human culture, any more than thought...Art cannot be dismissed as mere embellishment. It answers a human need. As Plato saw, the search for the beautiful is only another aspect of the search for the true and the good.” The Sacred Garden, Spiritual artwork 1997-2003, http://www.sacredgarden.org/art.html Native American Art is purely a projection of their spirituality and is reflected in all that they create, even in things most people would consider for practical purpose and would not have embellished the way Native people do. The anthropological items we view as Native American art contain expressions of spiritual concepts, but were not created for their own sake, beauty is just a part of form and function, and there is no separation of the two. Native American art form is a spiritual thread that runs through all things.

Some topics in this essay:
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