ABSTRACT THINKING
GEOMETRIES OF PLAINS NATIVE WOMEN
Geometries of Plains Native women
While mainstream male artists were celebrated for their daring forays in abstract art in the early 20th century, they were following in paths well established by centuries of Native women artists from the Great Plains of Canada and the United States. Throughout history, women of Plains Indian tribes have adorned robes, dresses, tipi liners, parfleche bags and storage boxes with geometric and semiabstract designs. Parfleches — lightweight, water-resistant rawhide containers — have been widely researched. Gaylord Torrence, the American Indian art curator at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, says, “Parfleches from all regions of North America share a number of formal characteristics in their painted imagery, which unify them as a distinct body of works.” The designs are composed mainly of lines, triangles, diamonds and rectangles. When combined, these design elements create larger, more complex compositions. Parfleche painting is almost always symmetrical and superbly balanced. The flat planes of color do not convey an illusion of volume or weight. However, this does not mean they lack visual interest. Torrence notes, “In the strongest paintings, these elements are held in perfect suspension, so that the geometric symmetry and solidity of the compositional structure are unexpectedly countered by the powerful sense of movement, rhythm and inner tension arising from their interplay.” While different Plains cultures share design elements, variations exist among tribes. The use of color varies according to tribal style, paint type and time period, from bold color systems to subtle and delicately modulated hues. Red, yellow, blue and green are the most common colors, and these
dramatically contrast with the natural hide ground on which they are painted. Native women artists of many tribes outline their patterns in brown or black. Despite the limited palette and design characteristics, Plains women have achieved a remarkably diverse artistic vocabulary. Although geometric abstraction is often associated with painting, artists also create these forms in quillwork and beadwork. Women artists of the 21st century actively use historical designs in a variety of media, ranging from jewelry to ledger art, beadwork, clothing and cradleboards. Their work, while perpetuating their Indigenous cultures, is filled with innovations that are on full display at Santa Fe Indian Market. Beadwork and parfleche artist Albertine Crow Shoe (Blackfoot), from Alberta, says her mother inspired her artwork, and indeed, geometric abstraction is generational, being passed down through maternal lines. “My designs flow from images that are symbolic in Blackfoot culture that invoke memory, history and spiritual power,” the artist explains. Crow Shoe works in parfleche, but she also demonstrates her innovative artistic prowess by transferring the historical rawhide and geometric decoration into new artistic forms. Her silver piece Asootsimaan takes the form of a cylindrical parfleche bag, decorated with motifs inspired by historic Plains painting. Lauren Good Day (Arikara/Hidatsa/Blackfeet/Cree) echoes Crow Shoe’s family and cultural inspirations. Good Day, who lives in North Dakota, has a passion for promoting and revitalizing the arts of her people. Through her art, which includes quillwork, ledger drawings, parfleche and clothing, she tells the stories of Native life on the northern Plains.
Good Day’s round warbonnet case Dale shows her interest in the abstract geometric design patterns and bold colors used by her ancestors. The warbonnet case reflects the history of Plains warriors, whose actions were temporarily stifled by the reservation system. These changes also are seen in Good Day’s ledger art. She says, “Once we got put on the reservations, we no longer had access to the buffalo hides. What we ended up using was the paper from the general stores and other sources that were around us — reusing it as a new medium to tell our stories.” Her ledger drawing Honor the Old Ones, awiteerat awiraaníhtš sāpat na wiítA is an homage to her heritage. It incorporates both geometric patterns and stylized floral motifs, which frame the figures in this diptych, with designs repeated in the couple’s regalia. While artists like Crow Shoe and Good Day work in multiple artistic media, Charlene Holy Bear (Standing Rock Lakota) focuses exclusively on beadwork, creating intricately beaded dance regalia as well as highly accurate miniature clothing for her handcrafted dolls. Holy Bear acknowledges that glass beadwork is the adaptation of material from Europe and Asia, but the art form became a way of showcasing tribal identity. On the use of geometric patterns, Holy Bear says, “Some beadwork can be considered geometric in essence, but there is always a vision of design behind the process, whether an abstract expression of an idea, a literal interpretation or a choice of repetition, rhythm and the beadwork artist’s intuition.” She doesn’t exclusively use geometric designs: “I prefer to explore and go with what I love, whether it’s a repetition of something or even a floral design.” Like Holy Bear, Beverly Bear King Moran (Standing Rock Lakota) is a beadwork artist. Moran’s artistic journey began in 1996, when she and her daughter Andrea began to travel on the powwow circuit. Her young daughter’s desire to dance motivated Moran to learn how to bead. Moran makes Northern Traditional buckskin dance outfits, including fully beaded yokes, bags, moccasins and leggings with customary Lakota beadwork patterns and styling. Although well-known for her clothing, she also creates intricately beaded horse gear, such as Midnight Dream. A fully beaded horse collar, Midnight Dream is a tour de force incorporating vibrant red, orange and yellow triangles set against fields of blue lane-stitched seed beads. At the center of the composition, graduated triangular forms create a monolithic pyramid, and the use of positive and negative design space shifts the viewer’s perspective. Many Plains women artists rely on ongoing cultural practices for inspiration, and Sun Rose Iron Shell (Oglala/Sicangu Lakota) is no exception. However, she has moved geometric abstraction into the constructs of high fashion. Iron Shell’s ability to blend urban style with customary designs and techniques is one of her unique artistic skills. Based on the canon of parfleche painting, Iron Shell’s clothing, handbags and jewelry incorporate patterns, symmetry and positive and negative space in new ways, including a departure from the classical Plains color palette to monochromatic shades of blue and gray. Each of these artists and others represented at this year’s Indian Market carries on the legacy of customary Plains women’s design while moving the art forward into the 21st century. These women’s artistic practices are not confined by a colonialist framework. Their art builds upon the history of their respective tribes’ aesthetic heritage and projects it into the future. Their styles and materials reflect their personal choices as representatives of their cultures while demonstrating the ever-changing world of Indigenous art and cultures.