Andrew Kosorok, Department of Art
The research project consisted of the design of five windows, each representing a religious tradition of a Native American group, in a style reminiscent of that group. Each religious tradition was picked because of its correspondence or similarity to a Christian tradition. The five groups were the Columbia Plateau Indians, the Hopi, the Aztecs, the Quiche Maya, and the Indians of the Northwest Coast.
The Columbia Plateau Is a region around the site of what used to be Lake Bonneville, a giant lake that in ancient times covered most of eastern Washington and Oregon, southern Idaho, and northern Utah. Large outcroppings of basalt were primarily used as background for thousands of petrographs, either carved directly Into the stone or painted on with pigments that have lasted In some cases over a thousand years. Some work has been done to decipher a number of repeated symbols, but only a few are currently understood. The window I designed Is assembled with fused glass, textured and painted to be reminiscent of a stone background. A holy man symbol with a halo and rays is done In clear glass, inscribed in a circle representing unity of nature, with a snake symbol representing strength, and haze lines to show heat or a bright light. One of the unifying beliefs of North American Indians is the belief of the sacredness and spirituality of all nature, so the unifying circle superimposed on an image of a holy or god-like being shares symbolism with the Christian idea of God and the Spirit of Christ, or the creative energy that binds all nature. The snake as a symbol of righteous power seems to correspond with the power of the symbol of the Brazen Serpent, raised in the wilderness for the benefit of the Israelites.
The Hopi are a people who feel that conflicts should only be resolved by peaceful means. Many, many years ago, the Hopi had a system of laws given to them by God, written on two stone tablets. Their Older White Brother went away into the North countries with one of these tablets, and in the final days before the ending of this present world, Older White Brother will return with his people and his tablet of the Jaws of God. This window is done In a more traditional lead and cut glass assembly technique, using the late traditional style of kachina representation. I have used images of the Owl, the Sun, and the Star kachinas, suggestive of wisdom, growth, and direction. Particular emphasis is placed in white and yellow, colors indicative of the North. The kachina representing Older White Brother holds his half of the Jaws of God, and a restoration of both tablets Is represented. The similarity to the Christian belief In a restoration and return of the lost tribes of Israelis apparent, and this connection Is supported by the iteration that, unlike Montezuma’s belief, the arrival of Europeans does not represent a fulfillment of the prophecy regarding Older White Brother’s return.
The Aztecs believed in Quetzalcoatl as a creator god who needed the willIng sacrifice of human hearts. He is responsible for the life-giving sun, and is represented by the wind. In Christian tradition, Christ asks for the willing sacrifice of human hearts, but this refers to heartfelt devotion; the Aztecs meant It quite literally. Christ Is the eternal life-giving sun, and His presence is revealed by the Spirit, from Latin ‘spiritus’, or divine wind. For this window I etched lines on the front of a single piece of glass, and I etched areas to be filled in with color on the back. The lines were painted with black and the colored areas were painted with blue, green, red, yellow, tan, and brown acrylic, with the final result suggestive of an Aztec codex. The bearded Quetzalcoatl was taken from the Codex Magliabecchiano 61; he is surrounded by images of the sun, the thirteen heavens, and a tree representing the Aztec cross of life.
The Quiche Maya, the people most often associated with the Popol @,believed in a “scab god”, the humblest and poorest of all the gods, who is responsible for the sun. Before we had the sun, all the gods had gathered and determined that one of their number had to sacrifice himself in order for the sun to come into being. Almost no one wanted to do it; he least of the gods, the unattractive scab God, was the only one willing to give his life for all the others. The least became the greatest of all. Isaiah describes Christ, in Isaiah 53:2-4, as being without comeliness or beauty, and as being despised and rejected. After the sacrifice of Christ, the resurrected Savior became the greatest of all. To achieve a look reminiscent of a Mayan codex, I etched the back of a piece of glass and painted it with watercolors, sealing it in with a coat of clear acrylic.
Northwest Coastal art is the most advanced art of the Native American groups I studied. Multiple perspectives and pure abstract ornamentation were used hundreds of years before Picasso was born. Forms are made of shapes of pure color, using negative shape and framing as a vital part of the object. Because of the more abstracted art style, I was drawn toward religious traditions that dealt with more abstracted images; showing an example of an applied principle, rather than a straight Messiah symbol. The story I chose was “Raven Steals the Light”, or “How the Loon Lost her Voice”, Evil spirits steal the sun and hide it In a box, behind a wall of ice. Osprey, Deer, and Bear all try to rescue the sun, but are unsuccessful. Loon, whose voice is more beautiful than that of anyone else, climbs under the wall with the aid of humble Mole, and opens the box. However, the evil spirits strangle her and destroy her beautiful voice. In the confusion, Raven finishes freeing the sun. Because of her selfless sacrifice, for which Loon is marred forever, the sun is returned to its rightful place. The window design is a mosaic, using red, yellow, orange, and blue, with black serving to unify the image. All shapes are based on traditional ways of representing the different animals depicted, and the colors used are traditional pigment shades.
The correspondence of Native American traditions to Christian doctrine and tradition is not at all coincidental. We know that the Native Americans are remnants of Semitic migrations, each carrying with them verbal and written records of their spiritual heritage. Over two thousand years, many distortions, deletions, and additions have occurred, but the roots of basic truth can still be recognized without the forced distortion of surviving Native American religious traditions. An understanding of Native American religious traditions can help increase respect for this group of displaced Israelites, and supplement our appreciation for the Book of Mormon.