Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1916-11-03
The Growing West
VII.-The Sand Painters.
BY Frederic J. Haskin

Gallup, New Mexico. Oct. 20
Here in the land of the Painted desert,
where the flaming colors of every sun
set are outdone by the bright barbar-
ic hues of rock hill and canyon, there
fourishes one Of the least known and
most beautiful of the arts Of primi-
tive people. In the Businesses OF the
Navajo reservation, hedged about by
miles of lava-stewn mesa, dwell the
sand painters, priests and artists of
barbarian tribe.
Their art is like music. in that it
has form and beauty and no perman-
ence. No one knows how well the
masters of the past worked in it; of
their works no trace remains. There
is nothing but word-of-mouth tradition.
handed down from father to son. to
keep green the memory OF those who
wrought patiently and well. Literally,
theirs were names written in the sand.
Like all the art Of savage peoples,
the work of these Indian craftsmen is
fraught with mystic religious signifi-
canoe. but in and for itself 1t has all
the claims to respect Of any of the
arts. The sand painter has for his
sand, ten or twelve feet in diameter.
This sand has been carefully selected
from a countryside of sand; it has
been cleaned and purified with endless
patience. The artist smooths its sur
face until it is plane as polished
table.
On that smooth surface he traces
queer and intricate designs-desiRns
formed of jagged lines, of broken tri
angles, Of the conventionalized whirl-
ing cross of fire, and the swastika.
Beside him are little heaps of col
ored sand-bright and primary reds
and blues, polished black, dull yellow.
These he pours with exquisite precis-
ion into the pattern he has traced, and
the design fairly leaps into being be.
fore you. The whole white surface is
transformed into an intricate mosaic.
The live colors blend and burn in the
sunlight. The whole tracery is as
sharply outlined as though trimmed
with keen knife. Nowhere does the
pattern merge slovenly into the back
ground. Pure white meets pure red
or blue as though the colors were
blocks of stone cunningly ground to
fit each other. Every line and angle
has it's hidden significance; but in
striving to tell tribal legend with
grains of desert sand, the wrinkled old
priest has caught the spirit of beauty
itself.
The art Of sand painting is not con.
nned to the Navajos, but this tribe
has brought 1t to the highest pitch of
perfection. The method in which each
painting is made has been conven.
tionalized by many centuries of usage.
The sand painting is probably the old.
est Of the Navajo arts, although it was
one of the last to come to the knowl.
edge of the white man, being kept Sc.
cret even after Arizona and New Mex.
leo came into United States possession
on account of the religious character
of the ceremony.
The largest and most elaborate de.
signs are drawn during the annual
nine days religious festival. The en-.
tire process is under the general Sill
pervision Of the shaman, or head medi.
cine man. The first step is, Of course,
the collection of the material. The
sand is gathered by band of special.
~ seicCIcu young INeu Hey DrInS
dry sand from the desert in their
blankets, gathering it with appropriate
ritual A large quantity is necessary
for the most elaborate paintings, some
Of which are twelve feet in diameter.
The sand is spread over the floor of
a medicine lodge to depth of two
or three inches.
The sand colors are chosen in the
I'VE sacred hues OF the Navajo belief
the white, blue, red, black and yellow.
The white red and yellow are pre-
pared by grinding sandstone of these
colors to fine powder. Red and vel
low sandstones of surprising brilliance
and purity Of hue abound in the Paint.
ed desert country. The black pigment
Is made Of powdered charcoal mixed
with little dark powdered sandstone
to give 1t weight and body. The blue
is prepared by mixing black and white
giving sort Of blush gray. All these
pigments are prepared and in waiting
before work on the picture is begun,
kept at hand on trays of bark.