Tag: Native American

NAEA Town Hall – Leading with Creativity

Post author By Raine Dawn
Post date March 24, 2023
No Comments on NAEA Town Hall – Leading with Creativity

Town Hall

The National Art Education Association Town Hall is a monthly panel discussion where educators come together to discuss a topic. Our topic was Leading with Creativity. NAEA and Crayola teamed up for the 75th anniversary of NAEA. They developed Creativity Week in January, and invited 75 teachers from around the world to be Creativity Ambassadors, I was one of the 75. James Wells, Crayola’s Education Manager, was leading the discussion and invited me to participate in the conversation.

Creativity Panelists

Panelist bios are available here.

James Wells, Education Manager, Crayola
Lauren E. Burrow, Associate Professor of Education Studies, Stephen F. Austin State University
Raine Dawn Valentine, Art Educator, Ridgely Middle School; Adjunct Instructor, Notre Dame of Maryland University
Mari Atkinson, Instructor, Shack Art Center; Student Teacher Supervisor, Western Washington University

Here is the recording of the discussion! My part starts at 42:00 <3

Leading with Creativity

When I got the email about the town hall and the topic of discussion I was really excited! Even more so when I received our questions and saw what I was being asked to share. Talking about how creativity is spirituality, is one of the things I am most passionate about. I love leading my live with this mindset. I had so much to say during the town hall but only had a short amount of time! So I decided to write about everything I wanted to say.

Creativity is the use of our imagination, original ideas. Creativity is Spirituality, which is the quality of being concerned with the human spirit… which is the seat of our emotions and character. Our emotions are a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood or relationships with others.

Leading with Spirituality

Art making is inherently spiritual. Art is the expression or application of human creative skill or imagination. To express is to convey a thought or feeling and make them know. We express ourselves through relationships with others, nature and the divine… connecting through sharing, reflecting and celebrating.

Creating is the means by which I form my identity and self. Through self reflection, self awareness and self actualization, I create and live. My art practice is a way of seeing, understanding and conveying what I see, feel and hope for.

I do this through my choice of ritual. Through maintaining a life if intention. Choosing my daily ritual for the highest good, then celebrating the rewards the commitment and intention will bring. Actions Rewards Truth. A.R.T.

In the teachings of the Annishinabe creativity plays a huge part in the role of original man. Waynaboozhoo was lowered to the earth and give the responsibility to name all the things. He was building relationships with all things, and learning how to see himself through different perspectives. He learned to create a canoe from the beaver, and learned to swim from the fish. He also learned about the beauty in creation and destruction, and about life and death. Through his observations with the world, and his ability to creatively live, Waynaboozhoo survived and learned many things.

He lived life creatively, to recognize every moment as a moment to reflect and form our identities which are ever changing and forming. It is our job to live creatively, and find ways as humans to keep creating a life we desire. Creativity looks like exploring, experimenting, questioning, expressing and reflecting. Laughter, learning, and love. Where we remember we are all connected. That our places in this life are just a valuable and necessary as the next.

When we start to live creatively we stop from living out of fear. I start turning the fear energy into trust and knowing. We start to allow ourselves to be vulnerable with each other, and to open up and share. When we share with each other we remember how connected we are.

LIVE CREATIVELY. REMEMBER WE ARE ALL CONNECTED.

Tags Art, Art Education, CrayolaCreativityWeek, Creativity, Education, Leading, NAEA, Native American, teaching, Town Hall

Art Class

Crayola Creativity Week

Crayola Creativity Week

January 23rd – 29th, 2023 is Crayola Creativity Week! We are celebrating at Ridgely Middle School by doing creativity week activities in our STAG advisory groups. I am so excited about what the students will create today.

There is a list of resources available at the Crayola Creativity Week website.

I am especially excited about today’s lesson, which is based around Native American Dancing! I recently completed a painting that shows my personal journey with Native American dancing. This painting is called Reign Fancy, and it shows a female native fancy dancer.

Author Ria Thundercloud and illustrator, Kalila Fuller, will share their book, Finding My Dance. As students hear Ria’s story, they’ll be moved to connect culture, identity, and self-expression. From pow wows to traditional regalia, Ria will captivate students with her remarkable journey. Then they can draw and illustrate nature-inspired patterns and dance poses, making their art dance on paper with Kalila J. Fuller!

Cultural Creations

After watching the video, students will create their own drawings of traditional regalia, or dancing from their own cultures. This is a great way to get to know your students and share the arts from other cultures.

Take pictures of what your students create and post them on social media with the hashtag #CrayolaCreativityWeek and you could win prize packs from Crayola!

Happy Creating!

Tags Art, Art Class, Art Education, BCPS, CrayolaCreativityWeek, Education, Native American, Powwow, teaching

Art

Reign Fancy

Fancy

Fancy is such an interesting word. In my mind when I hear the word fancy I think dressed up, but fancy means a lot more than just how nice something looks.

Fancy is defined as: elaborate in structure or decoration, also created from the imagination rather than from life. It comes from the word Fantasy, which comes from Greek phantasia ‘imagination, appearance’, later ‘phantom’, from phantazein ‘make visible’.

When you are fancy, you decorate or rather make with your imagination. To be fancy is to make your imagination visible.

Reign

Reign is the quality of prevailing and overcoming opposing forces, to live with sovereignty which is a state of self governing.

Reign Fancy was painted using my imagination. Imagination is the action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.

Intuitive Painting

Bringing my imagination to life through the use of my intuition, I created this painting without knowing exactly what it was going to be.

I first began with a lotus flower shape, and slowly added layers of colors while flipping the canvas different directions. Slowly I started to see a woman figure from the flower and realized it was an indigenous fancy dancer.

Fancy Dancing

When I was young we would go to powwows and I would dance the fancy dance category. Fancy dance, or shawl dance was first a men’s dance but after a while women adapted it. The women’s fancy shawl dance represents the opening of a cocoon when the butterfly emerges. The shawl is usually the most extravagant piece. The fringed shawls are colorful and flashy, often featuring embroidery or ribbon work. The fringe on the shawl have movement that coincides with the dancer.

The fancy dancers shawl represents the wings of the butterfly. The butterfly is a metaphor for transformation and hope; across cultures, it is a symbol for rebirth and resurrection, for the triumph of the spirit and the soul over the physical prison, the material world. Among the ancients, is an emblem of the soul and of unconscious attraction towards light.

When I dance I imagine that I am swirling energy up into the ether vibrating peace, love, unity, harmony, balance and bliss. I feel supported by the energy of those who came before me, the energy of lives lived on this land. The rituals of everyday life, charging the land with intention.

When I dance I feel uplifted by the energies around me, and it feels like a new dawn.

Spirit Name, Raining in the Dawn woman

At age 11 my parents sent my sister and I to North Dakota. While out there we receive our Spirit names from our tribes medicine woman in a naming ceremony. As my name was being presented to me, our giiwa had to take a moment to explain that it was unusual for our Ojibwe Spirit names to be the same as our Christian names. She said that Creator told my mother to name me Raine Dawn because that was who I am. My Ojibwe name is Raining in the Dawn woman. When I think of what Raining in the Dawn means about who I am… there is no shortage of synchronicities, it is who I am.

As this painting emerged I felt the true meaning of raining in the dawn… rising above into a new dawn. Dawn is the beginning of a phenomenon or period of time, especially one considered favorable. Dawn is to come into existence.

When I think of raining I think of the purification rain brings. I think of the ions in the atmosphere and how they change before and after a storm. How they rebalance themselves to bring back equilibrium.

The title evolved through all of this as the painting unfolded. I decided to use the word reign over rain because I’ve always had the inclination to think of the word reign just as much as rain. Being able to prevail in any situation, to have a growth mindset, is one of the most important things in my life.

Lets all reign in the dawn of our own lives.

If you’re interested in purchasing a print of this painting you can go to my Etsy Account here.

Tags Anishinaabe, Art, Fancy, Naming Ceremony, Native American, Ojibwa, Ojibwe, painting, Spirit Name, Turtle Mountain Chippewa

Art Indigenous Knowledge

Channeling Indigenous Teachings

Post author By Raine Dawn
Post date April 7, 2022
No Comments on Channeling Indigenous Teachings

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.

Tags Anishinaabe, Art, Channeling, fancy shaw dance, Indigenous, Native American, painting, pow wow, Prophecy, residential boarding schools, seven generations, sundance, Teachings

Art Education Indigenous Knowledge

The Creativity Department Podcast

Post author By Raine Dawn
Post date March 22, 2022
1 Comment on The Creativity Department Podcast

Creativity reminds us we are all connected.

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.

Check it out!!

Tags Art, Creativity, Education, Indigenous, K12ArtChat, Native American, Podcast, raine dawn, teaching

Divine I Am

Healing Perspective

One of the hardest things about healing from trauma is changing our perspective.

As a society our perspective on trauma is that it is bad and needs to be stopped. However the word trauma really comes from the root word injury which comes from the Latin word that means – a wrong. This denotes that there is a wrong and a right way of being.

When we are living in duality, we are living in world where momentum and awareness are created by friction. Life happens in the moments… moments are accumulations of different energies interacting.

Society usually says to experience life and decide IF it resonates with us. Instead we should be questioning HOW it resonates with us…. what it’s trying to show us? What treasures can we uncover from the experience? What learning can be gained?

Trauma Healing

Most people see trauma as such a horrible thing. When really it just wants to be loved. To be seen for its true essence…not how it makes us feel. Our emotional response to trauma is a signal to really sit with it and question it. Reflect and realign. Our emotional response is our responsibility, not someone else’s fault.

That’s hard for most people… because we feel like that other person should pay for what they did to us… or we feel like we didn’t deserve the bad thing that happened to us! The Anishinaabe say – never say sorry to someone for what they’re going through… that is like saying they are not worthy of their journey. That they’re not worthy of the beautiful treasures and gifts waiting to be received. Each experience has a gift to help us grow in our awareness of self!

Changing how we view trauma is the answer to healing. If we can say, I love and appreciate ALL parts of my journey, and truly feel it… we are healed… because the experience is no longer being seen as wrong, but rather we have found the gifts and treasures in it.

It takes compassion for yourself and others. Unconditional love through gratitude and trust. Realization that your higher self is aligned with your deepest passions and desires and is simply waiting for you to resonate with receiving them!

#reemergence #reawakening #recreating #selfawareness #creativebalanceinc

Tags Anishinaabe, Experience, healing, Native American, perspective, trauma

Art

Holiday Print Sale

Prints on sale until Dec 10th 2021.
Guaranteed to arrive before the Holidays
Order by Friday December 10th, 2021 and get free domestic shipping!!

Please include your address with your payment information in the note!