Channeling: to be inspired by, (of a person) serve as a medium for (a spirit).
It comes from the Latin root word for reed. A reed was used as a channel, to allow things to flow from one place to another.
When I start painting, I tap into a flow of energy that is coming from one place and being directed into the canvas. I use many techniques to allow this energy to flow out … such as dripping paint, spraying it with a spray bottle, scraping with a card, moving it with my fingers across the canvas, turning the canvas… tapping into the energy and allowing it to flow from my hands onto the canvas.
Channel Flow
I am the channel for the flow of energy that is around me.
Recently my ancestors have been coming through heavily. The paintings showing up are based on the connection to my Anishinaabe heritage.
This image represents the Seven Generation Prophecy, along with transmuting the energy of the children lost at the residential boarding schools, and balancing the feminine and masculine energies within each of us.
When I paint, I can feel the energy of these experiences… I can feel the story they want to tell. It has been a powerful experience and I am so excited for the energy that wants to be shared!
This painting represents my Sundance experience. I feel as though there are still a few things that need to be added to this painting but this image has been speaking to me for a while. The man in the middle represents the dancer, we had sage wrapped in red cloth around our wrists and ankles, as well as a hoop that we carried. The middle of the circle was a tree with our prayer flags tied to it. This tree was a Y shape and represented duality coming together. We danced in a circle and a dragonfly pattern, sending our prayers out into the ether through each movement and breath.
The next painting shows the Fancy Shaw Dance, and energy of the pow wow. The energy and current that flows from dancing in circles with intention and prayer. This one is also unfinished at the moment, but I am really happy with the story thats showing up.
The energy I feel from these paintings is so intense…. I am honored to be in their presence.
I was recently invited to do a podcast with my wonderful friends Laura and Matt Grundler from The Creativity Department.
Art educator and artist Raine Valentine joins the Creativity Department on this episode. Raine talks about her Chippewa heritage and how it inspires her. Hear how indigenous philosophies have informed her creativity as she discusses her belief in the importance of expressing yourself. Self-expression is a powerful tool that will inspire others (students) to feel comfortable to do the same! Listen in to understand how tying this altogether creates connection between us all.
Remember that creativity is spirituality… when we create art and share our stories, we remember we are all connected.
Today is a day of remembrance for those who were affected by residential indian boarding schools. A day to give love to those little children taken from their families, some lost and some wounded for what seemed like forever. But today in a sea of orange, there is hope… as we call back to mind each of those beautiful souls, those who have suffered because of their differences, we can hold them in love and light, and let them shine their beautiful light to the world through us. Through our awareness, we can acknowledge and then take action in a new direction. In the direction we desire to see in the world.
Orange = Self Expression
When we hold space and bring awareness to a story, we have the opportunity to change the ending… to heal the past and create a beautiful future by sending the love now.
Growing up as a native american in Maryland I felt out of place because my bone structure was different from everyone else’s. My mom always told me that it was because I was native. I didn’t like it very much. My name was also different… Raine… I got made fun of often…. “Raine Raine go away and don’t come back.” My name was very native, or hippy. I didn’t always like it.
Going back to the reservation in North Dakota and visiting my cousins… life was so different for them then it was for me. We would usually visit during the summer for a week or so before driving back to Maryland. I would run in fields of wild grass, sweet grass and sage… never realizing how sacred it was. I would see life for the people on the reservation and feel many things, as they lived differently then I did. Living on the reservation wasn’t something I desired to do.
There was always one thing that stuck with me though… the sacred spiritual knowledge that I felt in my bones, deep down within my being….calling out to me to remember. I felt it when i danced in pow-wows.
When I was 12 I was honored with a naming ceremony….See my parents, even though they believed in religious teachings, always had an underlying connection to spirit in their lives. During my naming ceremony, our medicine woman shared that it was uncommon to be given the same name in ceremony that your parents named you. And that the creator told my mom to name me Raine Dawn because that was who I am… so my Anishinaabe name is Raining in the Dawn Woman.
After that experience, I began on a deep journey into spirituality (unknown to myself at the time, but looking back that is where it started) through Baptist, and Pentecostal religions… along with a deep connection to the holy spirit and feeling called to work with the youth, I started to really align who I was with who I am. Through attending a christian college to be a youth pastor, to going to Towson University to be an Art educator…. uncovering that deep connection to spirit that I felt within.
The path is so magickal and I feel so honored to be given the opportunity to be me, and share what I know and see with the world.
And all of this beautiful life because my grandmother and her grandmother and her grandmother made choices and took actions in ways that allowed me to flourish and become who I am today. Because my mother had a vision, to love her children and give them a life she never had… I am who I am today. I am grateful for the journey… as it reminds us we are all connected. <3
Johannesburg South Africa is the location of the 5th ARTIZEN Conference presented by the Teaching Artist Institute.
Incase you weren’t aware, I am Raining in the Dawn Woman of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa people. I am a spiritual leader and learner, intuitive, mother, artist, and art educator. I have been honored to share my journey and passion with the people of South Africa, and I could use your support.
This sacred journey of life has led me to learn many things and meet many people. The importance of our sacred journey is shown in the story of Anishinaabe, the original man, and his first responsibility. Great Mystery said to Anishinaabe “go and name all the things on the earth.” To name something is to form relationship with that thing. To acknowledge, observe, and share your journey with them as they have shared theirs with you. This teaching helps us to recognize the importance of following our own paths and sharing our experiences with each other. When are aligned with our paths, our light shines bright and shines on others paths so that they might see themselves clearly.
I grew up in American, one generation out from being raised in a boarding school. My mother and her brothers and sisters attended boarding school, having their spiritual way of living taken from them. My parents raised three amazing daughters, while dealing with their own trauma, because they always instilled in us the importance of compassion. Love is what moves us, but we first must know and love ourselves.
I believe in the importance of sharing our journeys with one another, as this is how we remember that we are all connected. Now I can see how all that I have experienced and all the experiences of those who have come before me, has led me to connecting with the Great Mystery through art to help heal the trauma that we hold.
The arts enable us to express ourselves authentically with one another, in ways that surpass any language barrier. Art is a powerful tool, not just for gratification of self-expression, but as a vehicle of personal and collective transformation. Art is Prayer, a sacred and vital discovery of one’s own special presence in the world. Through creation, a person illuminates and illustrates their inner being, while creating something which also stands separate. Through exploration and experimentation each of us can shine light on our inner world, allowing us to utilize expression as a means of awakening our Divine I Am.
Turtle Island to South Africa
I feel blessed to take knowledge from my journey on Turtle Island, to the Mother Land – Africa. To share the teachings of the Anishinaabe people, and shine light for others to know themselves more completely. Turtle Island is the North American continent. The turtle has deep meaning to the indigenous people, as is told in their creation stories.
Sharing the Indigenous teachings of the Anishinaabe with people of South Africa will form connections that remind us in a powerful way how we are all connected. I am certain that the teachings I learn in South Africa will be powerful for the people of Turtle Island to learn and grow on their paths in life.
Join me in supporting real change. Let’s support good in the world and make a difference. Help us create connections and pathways for healing and transformation through Indigenous arts around the world.
The Teaching Artist Institute (TAI) provides an opportunity for artist to learn techniques for social transformation through artistic expression.
Their goals are :
To train artist and artisans as educators of socially engaged art.
To establish and maintain a teaching artist collective.
To advocate cross cultural communication and mutual understanding thru art
To create a platform for teaching artist expression
Kim Poole is a Soul Fusion Performing Artist and Teaching Artist, as well as a Founding Fellow of the TAI. Kim and her team of Teaching Artists are developing ways to explore Art for Social Transformation. Kim is motivated to create art that celebrates culture, resilience and connection to one another.
TAI Tours
TAI also offers tours. A unique artist-led traveling experience which allows for authentic exchanges with people of the world! They offer customized itineraries, knowledgeable artist guides, and flexible schedules.
They also offer a Studies & Cultural Exchange which is a program that focuses on curating authentic exchanges with communities for the world in order to study or contribute to the regions symbolic.
The goal of the experience is to ensure that participants receive a holistic introduction to the region by being fully immersed in intimate ways with local culture and people of different sectors and classes in the region.
Underground Railroad
August 28th, 2021 TAI will be leading a 2-day camping excursion of the Underground Railroad through Cambridge, MD. Check out this link for more info!
Underground Railroad Excursion offers an experiential learning opportunity in outdoors survival education, scouting, land navigation and mariner arts that brings African American history off the page and into a practical modern-day focus.
Interconnected
I was introduced to Kim through social media, we both worked on promoting an art conference, and only recently did we meet in person! We immediately hit it off, I knew we were going to do awesome things together! Kim is such an inspiration, has a wonderful heart, and purpose driven! On top of all that she is an amazing vocal artist! Check her out on Facebook and Instagram.
Kim also works with tribes to share their creations! I was so blessed to now own a Chungu drum! Check out the video I made of it!
We are all connected! When we allow ourselves to shine bright, we shine light on those around us <3
The Red Road is the path we walk when we want a direct relationship with Gitchie Manitou, the Great Mystery. A road full of ritual, prayer, and gratitude. A path one takes to know themselves more, in relationship to the world around them. Original Man walked the Red Road when Creator lowered him to Earth and gave him instructions to travel the world and discover what life has to offer and how everything is connected. To be grateful for life, all that it brings and teaches us.
Living life based on the Seven Teachings of our grandfathers, the Ojibway walk the Red Road through Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty, Humility, and Wisdom.
These teachings give us a road map for a divine connection to ourselves, nature, and one another.
RED ROAD to DC
The House of Tears Carvers envisioned a journey across the U.S. to bring recognition to the need to save our sacred sites.
A 24-foot-tall totem pole was carved from a 400-year-old western red cedar tree. It symbolizes the challenges facing the earth and her people, especially the Native Americans whose stories are told during the dedication presentations in cities all over the country.
House of Tears Carvers are indigenous artists from the Lummi tribe in Washington state. In 2021, they are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Totem Pole Journey in the Spirit of Healing, Honor, Hospitality, Respect and Protection.
Our elder, Tom Sampson on Vancouver Island in 2002 reminded us, ‘The totem pole isn’t what is Sacred. It’s the gathering of the people around the Pole — that is what is Sacred.’ he said.
The pole was delivered to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and the Biden-Harris Administration to draw attention and action to sacred sites and Indigenous rights.
The fact that we are all here is not insignificant. When our nation’s capital was established, its policies were intended to exclude us, to assimilate us. Laws and policies were written without considering Indigenous communities’ challenges or their strengths, and we are working hard to undo so many consequences of these actions,” said
Deb Halaand, the nation’s first Native American Cabinet secretary.
#REDROADTODC TOUR
July 14 Departure for the National Red Road to DC Tour July 15 Snake River Dams, ID July 17 Bears Ears National Monument, UT July 18 Chaco Canyon, NM July 20 Bear Butte, SC July 22 Missouri River (Fort Randall Casino) July 24 Standing Rock, ND July 25 White Earth, MN July 26 Bay Mills Water Ceremony July 28 Washington DC
Tribal communities and Native peoples have been forced to defend the land, waters, and resources, from destruction and degradation for all of us. Sacred sites across Indian Country have been desecrated by development projects that move ahead without the consent of affected Native Nations or communities.
This has created a very real and growing crisis.
There is no time to waste to protect the most sacred places where Indigenous peoples pray, gather traditional foods and medicines, get drinking water, and visit to remind themselves of the ways their ancestors lived since time began.
We call on President Biden and Congress to direct all federal agencies to require the meaningful engagement and consent of affected Native Nations, early in the planning process, and before a project is approved.
Native Nations must be a part of the decision-making process. No more oil pipelines threatening water supplies without the consent of tribes. No more oil and gas drilling in ancient burial sites, without their permission. No more large-scale projects without tribes’ participation in planning and consent.
The U.S. must uphold the rights of Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples to Free, Prior & Informed Consent, as set forth by the United Nations.
Sign our petition telling President Biden and Congressional leaders to recognize the traditional, legal, and moral rights of Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples to protect sacred places.
I was able to attend the ceremony in Washington DC on the 28th at Diamond Teague Park. The Earth Corps. hosted the totem pole on the pier. We prayed and sang songs of life and unity, charging the pole with energy for healing and protection of each other and our sacred sites.
The Power of Art
What an amazing statement of the power of art! This whole project started in the mind of group of people and unfolded through their visions, sweat, blood and tears. Listening to a video of Jewell James discussing the process and idea behind the #RedRoadtoDC really touched me as an artist and art educator. This is a great example of how listening to our hearts and taking our imagination seriously will help us shape and create the world we wish to see.
Artivism
Aside from the beautiful totem pole, there was a large mural that had traveled the journey from Washington as well. People from all over the United States added their mark to this amazing mural which asks the question of us how do we connect with ourselves, each other, and nature.
Artivism marks a meaningful message in a public space. As it attracts people, it invites them to engage and sometimes get involved. The act of getting messy and play with paint sets an example of how we can break through our fears with spontaneity, trust, commitment, and creativity.
Melanie Schambach is the artist behind the idea of the mural. Her passion is in bringing people together in the name of sacred expression, through participatory painting.
How do we build capacity to understand we are all interconnected?
“I believe societies and the environment are facing extraordinary challenges while the speed of change is faster than ever. New methods of engaging people, radical collaborating, and courageous processes that uplift the spirit through self-discovery, are some of the ways to contribute to positive change. With this body of work, I aim to challenge and re-discover the narratives of who we are, how we relate to one another, how we belong to the earth, and what is our shared responsibility.”
Migwetch to everyone who attended the ceremonies and who have signed the petition. Our sacred sites are powerful and necessary places to assist us in remembering our connection to the divine. This journey is one of remembrance. Lets remind ourselves what it means to be connected to one another, and to the divine.
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