IROQUOIS ARTS
By Christina Hanks and John P. Ferguson



PAINTING
Historical records abound with evidence that Iroquois formerly used visual representations for many purposes. Early European observers reported clan symbols carved or painted on gables of longhouses. Images on trees, grave posts, and war posts also recorded exploits in visual symbols. Tattoos and body painting were another common expression of the visual dimension. Still later, clan symbols were used to sign treaties and land deeds. The evidence for Iroquois use of bark, hide, powder horns, and other surfaces for painting is less convincing, and easel painting or sketching does not develop as a new art until the 19th century.

The earliest known Iroquois easel painter is Dennis Cusick. LittIe is known about him but he may be the son of Nicholas Cusick, a Tuscarora chief and the brother of David Cusick, an historian and also a painter. Few paintings exist by Dennis Cusick. Watercolors done in 1821 show scenes from the Seneca Mission School under the direction of James Youn at the Buffalo Creek Seneca reservation. Two other paintings exist by Dennis Cusick, one showing a Tuscarora village scene and the other the Christening of a native child. These and drawings by David Cusick are all that exist of early Iroquois paintings untiI 1852. "Indian Maidens" by Thomas Jacobs, dated March 27, 1852 is the only pubIicIy displayed painting by this possible Tuscarora artist. The few other paintings ascribed to Thomas Jacobs are similar to "The Indian Maidens, for all show dignified, proper, but traditionally dressed Iroquois.

By the turn of the century a few other Iroquois painters are recognized. Perhaps the best known is Jesse Cornplanter. Beginning in 1901 Jesse Cornplanter worked off and on for eight years making sketches for Arthur Parker the Seneca Director of The Rochester Museum. While Cornplanter was then only in his early teens, he already had a fine command of his subject matter, and his drawings were immediately recognized as important because they depicted present-day Iroquois life. Frederick Starr commissioned him to make a set of sketches for what became "Iroquois Indian Games and Dances", a pamphlet containing fifteen drawings that were published in 1903 to raise money to establish the Cornplanter Medal (Fenton 1980). Parker used Cornplanter's work in a number of publications which brought considerable attention to the "boy Seneca artist". His work is very valuable today because in scenes of a social nature, Jesse often drew accurate portraits of the way people dressed at the time, and in terms of detail, such as how the longhouse looked or how a particular person appeared, he was faithful to what he saw. In 1938 he published "Legends of the Longhouse," containing new drawings he had done. During the 1930s he became involved in the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (TERA) arts and crafts project administered by Arthur Parker on the Tonawanda and Cattaraugus Reservations. He contributed mainly his knowledge of Iroquois traditions and his carving, but the influence of his sketching was to have a permanent influence upon all Iroquois painters to follow, mainly because Jesse Cornplanter selected and defined the critical moments in legend or ritual that modern painters have developed and further defined. His influence carries beyond painting, as many other artists, such as stone carvers, have been inspired by his memories and his vision, and they continue to create new interpretations of his original works.

Just as Parker had asked Jesse Cornplanter to draw sketches of Iroquois life in the early 1900s, he commissioned a number of Iroquois at Tonawanda and Cattaraugus to produce paintings and sketches on subjects Parker himself chose, often at first in consultation with William N. Fenton, who was a community worker at Tonawanda in 1935.

Sanford Plummer, in his twenties at the start of the TERA project, was a professionally trained artist at Cattaraugus who had attended Beaux Arts of New York and the New York Academy of Fine Arts. His paintings featured traditional Iroquois life. He particularly liked to portray religious concepts. legends, ceremonial dances, and important historical scenes such as "Law, The Reading of the Wampum", usually using watercolors in basically a realistic style, but always being very economical in content so that characters and objects were few but very meaningful. His work can be found at the Rochester Museum, the Newark Museum, and the Buffalo Museum of Science. Plummer's work is of exceptional quality, but has not received the attention it deserves.

More familiar to the general public are the paintings of Ernest Smith of Tonawanda, who became the mainstay at the painting program in the TERA project. Inspired by the earlier work and memories of Jesse Cornplanter and the landscape paintings of Roy Mason, and constantly learning from his own research on Iroquois traditions, Smith created hundreds of paintings with watercolors, oils, and pen and ink. There is no question about the fact that Smith painted to preserve the memory of customs he felt younger people were not retaining. Encouraged by both Arthur Parker and William Fenton, Smith portrayed in visual ways what had been primarily oral and written traditions, and he tried to be as accurate as possible in details of material culture such as clothing and craft items. Before he died in 1975, Ernest Smith painted hundreds of paintings, usually using watercolor, and occasionally oils. At times he would attend the New York State Fair’s, Indian Village to draw portraits of visitors. He also painted many paintings for American Indian Treasures, a shop in Guilderland, NY, and for a book he hoped to publish explaining and analyzing the various subject matters of his work. The legacy of his lifetime’s effort is an invaluable portrait of Iroquois traditional ways, done in a clear, clean style that makes the past very much alive today. His paintings have had a considerable influence upon today’s painters both in terms of style and subject matter.
The 1970s saw the full flowering of Iroquois painting with a group of younger artists coming to the public’s attention.

SCULPTURE
At the same time, other creative Iroquois turned to sculpting in stone, antler, and clay. These artists exert a strong influence upon public expressions of Iroquois identity. Their works are often featured at culture centers, distributed as posters, or printed in magazines and native newspapers. As spokespersons for their people, the artists seem to be expected to cross language and culture barriers in communicating, perhaps simplifying and almost codifying a complex culture for non-natives to understand. Few museums purchase their work, and patrons are scarce. They often supplement their artistic efforts by working as cultural leaders, contributing in other ways as well to the challenge of increasing public understanding of matters Iroquois. Painting and sculpting are two most public and dynamic art forms, deeply involved in expressing a people’s evolving and enduring sense of identity.

Iroquois artists are communicators and they confront the viewer with issues that are important to them today. Alcohol and/or drugs can often be associated with the creative person. Other artists look at issues of identity.

For many Iroquois, carving in stone or sculpting in clay is their canvas. Carving is a traditional skill practiced by Iroquois for centuries. Iroquois are perhaps best known for carving wood flasks used in medicine rituals, but Iroquois also carved antler decorative combs and fashioned stone into gorgets. Rarely did they create sculptures; rather their skills and aesthetic inspirations led them to decorate utilitarian objects with carved images such as a bird on a spoon or face on a war club. Influence from another culture and recognition of a market place that valued art objects prompted some Iroquois to create free-standing sculptures rather than decorative objects,
The TERA project in the 1930s encouraged a few men to sculpt human figures depicting traditional Iroquois activities. Interestingly, most of the figures are engaged in activities of the pre-contact era. Some, however, show individuals dressed in cloth clothing. Kidd Smith, the brother of Ernest Smith, was a prolific carver at the time, creating dynamic images of Iroquois working, playing, and involved in ritual. Much of the work created as part of the project was done to preserve craft skills and techniques or to record traditional life ways. The focus was not on art and developing the artist’s skills. When the project ended, most of the wood carvers did not pursue their new talent. Nor did other Iroquois become involved in sculpting wood; rather a new medium, soapstone, appeared to inspire a new tradition.

In 1969, a Tuscarora artist named Duffy Wilson began carving in soapstone and met with great success. Inspired by the appreciation that people gave to Duffy's work and the dynamic and bold expression of Iroquois values and symbols in his pieces, many other Iroquois sought out chunks of soapstone and began to carve. The result was a remarkable burst of Iroquois creativity in a new form.

With only a few exceptions, most of the carvers are men, and many of them have worked in heavy construction. This new medium is an ideal way to express religious symbols, clan animals, or figures from ancient legends, Typical subjects of the forceful soapstone art are False Faces, Husk Faces, Turtle rattles, Wampum designs. Tadodaho with snakes in his hair, Horned Serpents, Flying Heads, the Tree of Peace, the Guardian Eagle as well as a few realistic portrayals of animals or people. The carvers went to their elders and listened to their accounts, they researched museum collections (for example, the wood carvings of Kidd Smith at Rochester), or they pored through books on Iroquois legends and culture.

Sculptors, like painters, also succinctly present concepts in Iroquois culture.The carvers feel very strongly about their work. Some allow the stone to speak for itself. When the carver senses what the stone wants to say, the piece flows along naturally. If the creative inspiration fades, the unfinished work is put aside until the carver feels he is able to be true again to what the stone wants to tell him The result is a final work that can contain very deep spiritual feelings. Soapstone carving is really a new art form, and it is creating its own traditions as it evolves from some of the deepest roots of Iroquois culture.Another rediscovered art began in the 1970s with the bone and antler carvings of Stanley Hill. A Mohawk highsteel worker from Six Nations, Stanley Hill started sculpting originally in steel, but quickly moved to creating eagles and turtles out of moose and deer antler. Other animals and Iroquois symbols soon followed, and Stanley became known as the foremost antler scuIptor. His eagles showed the pride and stubbornness of the Iroquois Confederacy they symbolize, and his Corn Spirits stoically stand watchful of the modern world’s fight against the environment.


WOODWORKING
Trees most people take for granted. A few learn how to identify the different species; some even can tell one type of oak from another; others, using wood as a fuel, may learn that one kind of tree gives off more heat than another. The yearly color display of the fall and the miracle of spring growth signal that trees are most certainly alive, but only the true woodworker understands the deeper meanings of what most humans casually observe. For the traditional Iroquois the tree is not only alive, but has a spirit which must be thanked and reckoned with as part of the Creator’s world.

Anyone who cuts down a tree for wood to carve soon discovers that the tree does not give up its life for such purposes unless the would-be woodworker has mastered and intricate body of learning passed down from generation to generation. First, the exact nature of each kind of wood, such as the softness of basswood or the strength under stress of hickory must be known in terms of what the final product is to be. Second, the proper tree has to be located in the woods, and after so many years of lumbering, finding the right tree can be most difficult. Third, the time of cutting is crucial, for the life blood of the tree runs early in the spring, and if the wood is to be properly seasoned, the less sap the better; therefore, much cutting is done in mid or late winter when the snow is deep. On the other hand, if bark or elm or hickory is what is needed, then it is best acquired after the sap has begun its spring flow. Some Iroquois woodworkers even note the moon’s phases, and they cut only at full moon time. Fourth, seasoning the wood is an art. Some leave the logs outside in the woods; others store the logs in dry attics or barns. As the wood’s life dries out, it tends to check or split if not seasoned carefully and properly. A patient, planned life is thus fundamental for a woodworker. A storage place filled with needed seasoned woods is every woodcarver’s dream. To make such a dream a reality demands steady planning, dedication, and effort, months and years before a draw knife or chisel is ever used.

The woodworker’s tools are often passed down through the generations. The deceptively simple jackknife cuts beautifully if its honed edge is in the hands of a master, but it seems clumsy when used by the uninitiated. Old tools seem to help the user follow the traditional ways, to remember how the grain flows and moves around knots, and to let the spirit of the wood escape into the form it seeks. Even after the tools have liberated the form, there is still the final decision of how to finish the piece with sandpaper, or perhaps to rub it with bone or stone in the older fashion. Still further ahead can be choices to leave the piece as is, smooth it with beeswax, or turn to modern polyurethane. The way it has always been done is somehow never completely forgotten.

Easier ways do not always work. Iroquois woodcarvers have produced containers, utensils, tools, sports equipment, religious objects and furniture for generations. Those objects essential to religious practices such as false face masks, waterdrums, and rattles continue to be made and used. Other objects such as cradleboards, ladles for stirring corn soup, condolence canes or snowsnakes are made for home use or might be sold to collectors or museums. Ever since the 1600s, objects such as bowls, spoons, or war clubs were being replaced by their modern equivalents, but today some woodcarvers produce these objects for museums and collectors. For many years, Iroquois woodcarvers made, for sale to Iroquois and non-Iroquois, ax and hammer handles, oars, paddles, boats, drover canes, and chairs. A few still produce these items. Lacrosse sticks are a must because Iroquois still play this national sport, but they too are being replaced by plastic and aluminum. A few use wood to create sculptures.

Woodworkers also work with bark. Elm, hickory, oak, and birch can all be used, but for the Iroquois elm bark is most commonly used. Basswood and elm provide the inner bark strips needed for lacing the bark together. All types of vessels including trays, bowls, ladles, quivers, and a host of storage containers can be made from bark insuring a durable container. Well into the 1800s, bark was used for containers in cornbread making or maple syrup collecting. Rattles used for ceremonies and social dances are also of bark. By the 20^th century, however, few worked with bark, making objects mainly for museums or collectors.

When sap rises in the tree the bark can be easily cut and slipped off the trunk or limb of the tree. At that moment it is still very pliable and can be fashioned into a form. Usually, the outer part of the bark is first smoothed by scraping it with a knife. It is then folded into a container and a splint of wood encircles the rim of the container to help it keep its shape. This wood splint is laced to the bark with strips made from the inner bark of the elm tree.

While Iroquois continue too work in wood, many non-ritual items such as lacrosse sticks, sleds, and snowshoes are in strong competition with modern products. Good, seasoned hard wood is not a by-product of the modern life-style anywhere. Whittling and draw knife skills require a patience also not too common any longer. The elders have these habits and talents, and the future of expert woodworking depends upon how willing the younger people are to learn from those who have carried the traditions this far.

CORNHUSK WORK
Most of the cornhusk work done today is made for sale rather than for personal use by the craftsperson. Cornhusk items created for a market have a fairly long history. The US Census (1892:50) notes the sale of cornhusk items was well established at Niagara Falls and Saratoga as early as 1890. Cornhusk work found today includes dolls, bottles, mats, moccasins, baskets (trays), glass-lined containers, masks, and special items such as flowers or wreaths.

Parker (1968) has fully documented the importance of corn for the Iroquois in terms of the traditional culture. Corn itself was not only the staple crop but also a spiritual force, one of the basic life supporters said to have been given by the Mother Earth or the Creator himself. Just as deer were deeply meaningful to the males, corn was and is basically female in nature and is thought of as one of "Our Three Sisters", the other two being beans and squash. Women planted, cultivated, and prepared the corn, making it into bread, soup, or medicine. Women today predictably predominate in cornhusk work and, by and large, they have learned the craft from thheir mothers and grandmothers.

Theoretically any kind of cornhusk could be used, but over the years Iroquois women have preferred the husks of white corn. Such corn has long cobs and husks which are more pliable and have a texture and white coloring pleasing to the eye. The husks of regular garden or sweet corn do not have the suppleness or length that experienced craftswomen desire. Husk are always first soaked in water and then used when they are still damp. Today most of the cornhusk items made are formed from braided husks (three or four strands), the braids sewn together either the old way with thread made from the inner bark of basswood trees or with modern white cotton thread. Perfectionists sew the braids together so that the threads cannot be seen from the outside. The twining technique noted decades ago is rarely practiced today, although masks so constructed are still said to be in use. Occasionally, a cornhusk worker who experiments with cornhusks as a fine art form will create woven masks for sale.

Clearly the most popular cornhusk craft today is making dolls. Such dolls can be simple playthings made in a few minutes in a field, or museum pieces authentic in every last detail as models of Iroquois dress styles from a certain period of time. The types of dolls made can be grouped into a few rather natural categories. Most easily recognized are the "traditional" cornhusk dolls, with a body made of cornhusk, but dressed in cloth or leather clothing. Also quite common are "stand-up" dolls, often dressed in cloth, which have enough concentric circles of husk at their base to be able to stand alone in contrast to the traditional dolls which cannot. Of fairly recent vintage (1970s), but quite popular are "action" dolls which often have a wire core that can be bent so that the doll can be portrayed, for example, as dancing or playing lacrosse.

Also found are apple-faced dolls with a cornhusk body, whose heads are apples dried and shrunken after the features have been incised.

While dolls today are apparently only made for the commercial market rather than for religious purposes, in earlier days dolls had a greater spiritual meaning. Still important today, however, is the feeling among many cornhusk workers that dolls should not have facial features. The usual explanation is that only the Creator can cause a personality to be born and that the Creator and the child that has the doll will together decide the doll’s individuality. Another explanation given by one Oneida cornhusk worker is that a "pretty" face on the doll will cause conceit or excessive self—pride in the doll’s owner, who might identify too closely with her pretty husk version of herself. Still another viewpoint from Tuscarora is that you should not sell a doll you made with a face, for to do so would be like selling your own child. From Six Nations comes the idea that faces would thwart a child’s daydreams (Newman 1970:8). Jamieson (1942:7) wrote that no features were on the doll so that it could have "an imaginative expression as occasions arise". Clearly, there are varying explanations. Faces on older dolls are said to be certain evidence that they were made for the tourist trade. Makers of cornhusk dolls today report that, faceless as most dolls are, they are seldom purchased by the Iroquois themselves, but are sold to mainly non-Indian doll collectors.

The making of dolls dominates cornhusk work today, but, generally speaking, once people begin to work with dolls they also tend to experiment with other cornhusk items. Mats and cornhusk moccasins, sometimes termed "overshoes", have been made for centuries. The typical cornhusk bottle made today is coiled out of braids, sewn together with thread, and finished with a corn cob stopper, although braided or husk "corks" have also been used. Cornhusk baskets, bowls, and tray are also made today by braiding and sewing the braids together.

Cornhusk is a versatile material and can be used in a number of creative ways. It has been used to make cornhusk hats, turtle pin cushions, glass-lined vases, and a life-sized man. The versatility of cornhusk helps it survive. It also evokes the agricultural foundations of Iroquois society. A completely natural material, cornhusk is particularly popular with those seeking to retain identity through traditions.

BASKET MAKING
Baskets have been made to sell or trade by the Iroquois since the late 1700s. They were and continue to be an important economic asset for the Iroquois. Originally baskets were made by Iroquois for Iroquois for such purposes as storage, food preparation, and transportation. Various social changes such as loss of land, changing male and female roles and Christianity affected the Iroquois economic system and made basketmaking and trading an important economic benefit in some communities. Many of the first baskets made for trade were work baskets. While many of these were strictly work baskets, some of the storage baskets were ornamented with painted or stamped designs. By the latter part of the 1800s, fancier baskets were made incorporating sweetgrass and special weaves. These baskets could be sold to tourists at such places as Saratoga Springs or Niagara Falls or to trading posts.

Basketry at Akwesasne grew considerably at the turn of the century due in large part to the St. Regis trading post. By standardizing the basket styles and sizes, the trading post was able to produce a catalog and market the baskets throughout the country. During the 1940s and 50s, few continued to make baskets, but by the late 1960s basket weaving was becoming more important at Akwesasne. A few women hung out signs indicating that they made baskets, and a cooperative was formed to market the baskets. For many years during the 1970s the Mohawk Basket Fund was a steady outlet for the basket makers. Today, the Akwesasne Museum and North American Indian traveling College are outlets on the reservation. While basket making flourishes at Akwesasne, it has not been sustained in other communities. Only at Oneida, Ontario and Kahnawake are baskets made by a very few individuals. At Akwesasne, many families are involved, including young people, and some classes help to encourage others to become involved.

The making of a basket is a complicated process, involving a number of people. First the black ash tree must be selected and cut down. The bark is then stripped from the tree. Pounding the length of the log with the back of an ax head causes thick splints to separate at the annual rings. These splints are made thinner initially by splitting the top of the splint with a knife and then pulling it apart. The thin splints must then be smoothed and cut to size for weaving. If a basket is to be colorful, splints must at this point be dyed. When sweetgrass is used, this too must be gathered, cleaned, and sometimes braided for extra texture. If a basket is to have a handle, either hickory handle is carved or one is braided from sweetgrass. Once these materials are gathered and prepared, the basket is ready to be woven. Various weaves are employed. The tightness and evenness of the weave contribute to a well-made basket.

POTTERY
Creating from clay is another rediscovered art form for Iroquois. Once clay pots were essential cooking and storage containers, but they were quickly replaced by the copper, brass, and iron kettles traded to the Iroquois by Europeans These kettles were so accepted by them that the skills to mine and prepare clay and to fashion by coiling were lost. Even the knowledge of whether the geometric designs had special meanings or if artisans had personal patterns was forgotten Today, however, a few Iroquois have revived the traditional art of pottery making. Their pottery however, is not mere form. Like painters, potters use the clay body as a canvas. Some potters have expanded the medium into sculptures.

Usually clay sculptors depict human figures representing artistic visions of Iroquois concerns today such as pollution of the environment or even the society. The Iroquois artist is sophisticated and sensitive; cognizant of the wrongs his people have suffered, and subtly critical of his people’s response to outside intrusions.

The first concerted effort came from a few dedicated women and men at the Six Nations Reserve in Canada in the late 1960s. The late Elda and Oliver Smith along with Sylvia Smith, Dee Martin, and Karen Williams began to create a form of pottery which became known as Mohawk Pottery. While using an electric wheel and kiln, they produced pots which were Iroquois in design yet modern in function. These artisans developed a brown wash which resembled the colors of the ancient pots and studied the geometric design elements to decorate their pots. In time they also began to use the clay as a canvas, incising into the clay, designs which symbolically represented events in their history or meaningful values such as a tree of peace or clan animal. Others such as Darlene Smith, have now joined this original studio known as Kanyengeh Pottery and a few potters have developed their own style of creating in clay. Kanyengeh Pottery has now closed, but a few potters continue on their own. Today, the son of Elda and Oliver Smith, Steve and his wife Leigh, have a successful studio at Six nations. Their pots are in many ways their canvas for delicate carvings and incising of images of nature and symbols of the Iroquois.

The Iroquois artists augment the words of the storyteller and historian by making visual what is verbal. They express pride in their people, strength in the unity of the Confederacy, an understanding of the sensitivity and cognizance of the natural and spiritual world, anguish at the pollution of the earth, and a great sense of fortitude and optimism for the future,