Summary Of The Storytellers

The Language of the Storytellers: A look at the Symbolic and Form Language of North American Indigenous Representational Art

Introduction In 1987, James Keyser proposes that “some ledger drawings done after 1870 … obtain the original artists’ interpretations … The result is a series of drawings that serve as a ‘Rosetta Stone’, (Keyser 1987, 43).” He follows this description with the possibilities of the usages, and its impact of the inclusion of ethnographic sources as the visual/ verbal record. Though these resources, researchers and archaeologist have as valid sources to further the understanding of historic, protohistoric, some prehistoric Native American art, historic occurrences, and daily/personal events. Over the past thirty years, …show more content…
“Real artists speak to us in their own voices more than a century after their death—was one way that archaeologists could even help her learn from her own ancestors, (Keyser 2000, x).” In the case of the North American Indigenous cultures, this, traditionally, can be imparted in many forms; traditions, including oral, and ceremonial, beliefs and spiritual accounts, and many forms of artistic expression. To study these accounts and to use them to direct or as part of the historical and archeological record can add further understanding to the movement and actions of previous populations, just as studying modern traditional cultural …show more content…
Art historians typically refer to the spiritual, “supernatural”, art as “conceptual or symbolic painting, (Szabo 1984, 5).” Where archaeologist James Keyser refers to the works as abstract in his works. Geometric, stylistic, anamorphic designs and figures often dominate the works within this subdivision. Often these designs are not decipherable due to their personal nature. These works tell stories within spiritual and shamanistic realms. These forms of work can be seen in quill work, tipi and shield heraldry, and shield warriors in rock art to name a