Showing posts with label Timm Whissen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Timm Whissen. Show all posts

Friday, March 13, 2015

Legends in the Land: The Importance and Preservation of Tribal Storytelling

Timm Whissen

 Dr. John Low lecturing on The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians- Survival and Revival Through Storytelling, February 25, 2015. Image Courtesy of Timothy E. Black, DMIN Photography.
Dr. John Low lecturing on The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians- Survival and Revival Through Storytelling, February 25, 2015. Image Courtesy of Timothy E. Black, DMIN Photography.
Dr. John Low, Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies at the Ohio State University Newark Campus and member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi gave the closing lecture on Wednesday, February 25th for the Newark Earthworks Center sponsored lecture series entitled: “Returning to the Earthworks”.

He discussed the importance of storytelling for both his tribe and for people everywhere. They are a way of conveying customs and language, history and identity to descendants and to those who are invited to listen.

Dr. Low emphasized that as listeners they do not tell others that their stories are wrong, “stories feed us, they nurture us and they keep us alive. So we share those stories”.

In one brief account, Dr. Low mentions the sweat lodge and the Longhouse he knew of growing up. Within the fire of the lodge were four circles, representative of; The Mammoth people or Paleo-Indians, the Adena culture, the Hopewell culture, and the Potawatomi. The circles are a celebration of the connection between these groups and the land.

This connection is one example of why storytelling, in all of its forms, is important to American Indians. Earthworks are one of many ways in which stories are told, like songs, scrolls, or ledger art, they symbolize important cultural details and must be preserved in order to be passed on.

As a member of the closest federally recognized tribe to the ancient Earthworks here in central Ohio, Dr. Low feels that maintaining a connection to the ancestors who had built the Earthworks, and the mounds themselves, is important for their identity and also for preserving the Earthworks both in meaning and in form.

Tribal support in recent years has helped the Newark Earthworks Center in seeking World Heritage Status for many of Ohio’s ancient structures, including the Great Circle and Octagon Mound here in Newark.

The importance of being listed as an UNESCO World Heritage site is great.

It would garnish international support in the preservation of these sites and provide additional economic advantages, such as a boost in tourism which would benefit the mounds and the local community greatly.

He concluded by discussing the importance of community support in finding a way to preserve the earthworks in a fashion more representative of what we think the mounds were originally intended for; as a public space where people can come together.

“Stories are created from experiences”. Many are lost and may not be able to be reclaimed, but there should be no reason why we cannot create stories here in the present.

Even collaboration with the current and divisive land lease holders of the Octagon Mound, the Mound builders Country Club, would help in preserving the Earthworks until they could be respectively returned to the community as a place to share and inspire.

Ultimately, preservation of the Earthworks is dependent on help from many groups. Working together will help in ensuring that the mounds, and their stories, remain intact for future generations.

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Monday, March 2, 2015

Tribal Support is Necessary in Upholding the Importance of the Ohio Earthworks

Timm Whissen
Marti Chaatsmith, Associate Director of the Newark Earthworks Center, lecturing on Tribal Participation and the Preservation of Ohio Earthworks. Image Courtesy of Timothy E. Black, DMIN Photography.
Marti Chaatsmith lecturing on Tribal Participation and the Preservation of Ohio Earthworks. Image Courtesy of Timothy E. Black, DMIN Photography.
Marti L. Chaatsmith, Associate Director of the Newark Earthworks Center, gave the second of three NEC sponsored lectures titled, “Tribal Participation in the Preservation of Ohio Earthworks” on Wednesday, February 11th at the Ohio State University at Newark.

She opened her lecture up by stating that all these lands in Ohio had been loved and revered by Ancient Indians. Every step we take throughout our day is placed on lands that had been understood by people long before the settlement of the area by whites during the 18th century.

In fact, early American settlement in the Ohio region had functioned by pushing Indians off the lands and plowing flat ancient mounds in order to claim private property. Anything considered Indian was targeted, including; towns, fields, graves, and earthworks.

By the mid-1800s, the last remaining Ohio Indian tribes were forced to cede lands in the name of American advancement. The lasting result of expansion into Ohio, she stated, “There are no federally recognized Indian tribes in Ohio today.”

Without the help of federally recognized tribal support, private property owners are given free reign over any ancient Indian structures or artifacts that were created long before lands had been seized.

In Newark, all but the Great Circle and the Octagon earthworks had been destroyed in this way.

The understanding and reverence for the earthworks that Indians exhibited for two-thousand years had also been lost when forced removal occurred; within a century white settlers had destroyed a large majority of the ancient structures across Ohio.

Within the past few years the Newark Earthworks Center has reached out to tribal communities, like the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi in Michigan, and has gained support in achieving World Heritage Status for the Ohio Earthworks; which would help protect the structures from any future damage.

With the support of Indian tribes across the country comes a renewed appreciation and respect for the Ohio Earthworks and in the efforts made to preserve them in their natural state.

The Ohio Earthworks stood as a representation of a highly complex society who had gained the respect of many generations of people after them, which is why the mounds had lasted for thousands of years. Continued support from American Indian tribes will help raise an understanding and awareness for preserving the Earthworks while also serving as a way for individuals to connect with the past.
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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Survival and Change: The Significance of Contemporary American Indian Art

Timm Whissen
Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris lecturing on Contemporary American Indian Arts: Including Earthworks. Image Courtesy of Timothy E. Black, DMIN Photography.
Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris lecturing on Contemporary American Indian Arts: Including Earthworks. Image Courtesy of Timothy E. Black, DMIN Photography.
Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris, Professor of Arts Administration, Education and Policy, and Coordinator of the American Indian Studies Program at the Ohio State University gave the first of three Newark Earthworks Center sponsored guest lectures titled, “Contemporary American Indian Arts: Including Earthworks.”

She proceeded to establish how contemporary American Indian art is a complex creation with specific symbols and meanings, the importance of American Indian Aesthetics, and how commonalities are still seen in the forms of identity, spirituality and power. 

While looking back on the history of American Indian art, Dr. Ballengee-Morris stated that, “Indigenous arts, historically, have either been relegated to anthropology or marginalized by European-derived systems of aesthetics.” 

By the 1880’s, American Indians were having rights and lands stripped from them, their identities reformed, and their image to the rest of the world simplified as being mere savages. Events like Wild Bill’s Wild West shows and artists like George Catlin or Charles M. Russell furthered these ideas for many years. Legislations of the time allowed for the blossoming of American Indian schools that sought to integrate Indian children into White society through reforms that wiped clean their Indian history and culture. 

Contemporary American Indian artists focus upon aspects of Identity, Spirituality, and Politics are important as they help create connections to the past, present, and future. Through these connections, artists like Brian Jungen or Louis Gong are able to ensure that American Indian traditions survive and change. By adapting to new circumstances, materials, and concepts; artists are able to look into the past and bring it forward for future inspiration. 

Dr. Ballengee-Morris discussed the roles of many contemporary American Indian artists today including: Teri Greeves, James Luna, Erica Lord, Will Wilson, Virgil Ortiz, Daniel Bigay, Terri Asbury and America Meredith. These artists have created a wide variety of art forms; each one unique and with its own meaning. Commonalities may exist within the narrative of these pieces, but each artist offers distinct messages to make people think of the past and to realize that the 19th century ideas of a vanishing peoples is far from the truth. 

Like the earthworks themselves, Contemporary American Indian art strives to convey messages of identity and cultural awareness, politics and spirituality to future generations. By reconnecting to the past and creating a better representation in the present, these artists are able to rewrite history in a way that better defines their culture and its significance in the shaping of these lands. 

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