Legends in Sand

Legends in Sand: The Evolution of the Modern Navajo Sandpainting

This brief article examines the Navajo sandpainting as both a religious item and an art item. We’ll present a brief history and discuss the sandpaintings as art forms that are used and made today. Lastly, we’ll at how this art form has evolved. Note that this brief article only touches the surface; for more information, consult the references listed at the end.
Introduction
There are two forms of Navajo sandpaintings. The first is used in the traditional healing or blessing ceremony conducted by a Singer or Medicine Man, a hataalii. This is referred to by the Navajo as an iikaah, “a place where the gods come and go.” The sandpainting is the crucial element in this 2- to-9-day ceremony, which is designed to restore balance (hozho), thus restoring lost health or insuring “good things.” The Singer uses crushed stone, crushed flowers, gypsum, pollen, etc. The sandpainting is completed in one day and destroyed later that night. This type of sandpainting is rarely viewed in an actual healing ceremony by non-Navajos. However, several noted Singers have demonstrated their skills at state fairs and powwows, although they leave the paintings incomplete, unlike the pure and sacred ones used in actual ceremonies. The demonstration is designed only to “show how it’s done.”
The second form is sandpainting as an art, created on a piece of particle board or plywood. In this form, elements of the sacred ceremonies, some very nearly complete, are presented as a unique and permanent art form. Finely crushed stone — some natural, some permanently dyed — is applied to the glue base. The overall design is intended to be an art presentation that uses the sacred Navajo symbols in the manner that would not be considered disrespectful. Artists hope that the beauty of this work, coupled with the traditional Navajo beliefs, will please the public and will provide a meaningful income. James C. Joe learned sandpainting from his father (Eugene Baatsoslanii) and later became a noted Medicine Man; he is the first to have practiced both professions. The Navajo accept this art form as quite legitimate