Numerous writers view art-making as linked with the spiritual (e.g., Bright, 2007b; 2008; Denzin et al., 2008; Estés, 1992; Ferguson, 1996; Foster, 1976; Moltmann-Wendel, 1994; Morris, 2005; Patterson, 1992; Pendergrast, 1987; Pewhairangi, 1975; Puketapu-Hetet, 1989; Roth, 1997; Te Awekotuku, 1991a, 1991b; Te Kanawa, 1992). Among some arts writers and among those writing from worldviews of feminist spirituality, indigenous peoples’ and non-western cultures, creative and performing arts are often seen as interwoven with spirituality. For example, Te Awekotuku (1991b) sees art-making and
spirituality as inextricably interwoven in Māori culture: “Spirituality and art- making have formed an integral part of the Maori world view from ancient times until the present day” (p. 135). According to Pendergrast (1987), Māori view items of art as taonga or treasures which “embody great spiritual power and prestige…derived from the artists who created them, the ancestral heroes depicted on them and the ancestors who have owned them” (p. 4).
Pere (1982) identifies “all the art forms involved in weaving” as areas in which the spiritual presence of Hine-te-iwaiwa can be identified (p. 13, bold added). Similarly, weaver Erenora Puketapu-Hetet (1989) speaks of weaving as spiritual work: “In Māoridom, weaving is acknowledged as having its own life force, and is accorded a level of respect depending on the mana of the weaver and the qualities of the weaving process” (p. 1). This life force can mean that the weaving has a guardian and that the weaving is buried along with the guardian in order to return to the earth. According to Puketapu-Hetet (1989):
Weaving is more than just a product of manual skills. From the simple rourou food basket to the prestigious kahu kiwi [kiwi- feathered cloak], weaving is endowed with the very essence of the spiritual values of Maori people. The ancient Polynesian belief is that the artist is a vehicle through whom the gods create. Art is sacred and interrelated with the concepts of mauri, mana and tapu. (pp. 1- 2, brackets added)
Because of these spiritual connections, the taha wairua [spiritual side] was traditionally taught along with the physical skills of weaving and the spiritual side is then experienced by the weaver: “The weaver normally experiences feelings of being linked with something greater than herself and the present. Maori people call this a link with ngā tūpuna (ancestors)” (Puketapu-Hetet, 1989, p. 5, parentheses in original). The weaving patterns handed down from generation to generation are viewed as tapu and these patterns often represent Māori values: “Māori weaving is full of symbolism and hidden meanings, embodied with the spiritual values and beliefs of the Māori people” (Puketapu- Hetet, 1989, caption to Plate 2). Such spiritual meaning is also embodied in kōwhaiwhai patterns, whakairo (carving), weapons, jewellery, tā moko and other taonga (treasured art works) (Patterson, 1991).
An interesting example of a bridge between indigenous and non- western and western understandings of the spiritual in art-making can be seen in
Gardener and Wilkinson’s (2008) work on graphic and digital design. In this book, most of the contributors are from western educational institutions and spirituality is not mentioned as part of their discussions; the only notable exception in this context is the paper of Llotente-Thurik who is a Cuban American. Llorente-Thurik (2008) discusses how the nature of collaboration changes in a culturally-based design conference in Cuba in October 2007:
this is where the strongest bonds are forged, where the collaboration begins to take new form and the exchange solidifies from a creative to a spiritual collaboration, one based on the desire to be part of something that goes against all odds, that gently sets aside our differences and puts forth our similarities as professionals and human beings. (p. 229)
In dance, in both western and non-western contexts, the spiritual is often acknowledged as interwoven with the dancer and the dance. For example, Ferguson (1996), a Christian pastor of the western reformed tradition, dances in both private and public worship and prayer and sees his spirituality embodied in his dancing body. He maintains that his dance is a way of healing the spirit/body dualism of traditional Christianity and that, rather than being an impediment to his relationship with God, his dancing body becomes part of the “divine
incarnation” (p. 83). Ferguson’s (1996) experience of the transmutation of dance into an expression of spiritual experience echoes Foster’s (1976) description of a young woman dancing to the song Steal Away to Jesus. Foster (1976) maintains that the dancer:
might well have been swamped by the feeling impulse roused by the music and by the sentiment of the piece. But she was able, with clarity and with simplicity, to transmute the spiritual into forms of action which articulated for her (and indeed for those who watched) her deeply felt understanding of what the piece stood for. There was no hint of imitative action, or literal meaning; even such gestures which were recognisable as related to those of prayer, praise, and submission were intensive realisations in symbolic form of the deep experience of these states. (p. 57)
Although Foster (1976) doesn’t link this scene with her earlier discussion, she may view the young woman’s dance as an example of the “transcendent quality” that can occur in dance (p. 6). Transcendence in dance has been
connected with religion in both western and non-western contexts (Moltman- Wendel, 1994; Roth, 1997). However, Foster (1976) describes transcendence, in non-western cultures, as being seen in the way a dancer or actor is entered by, or enters, “another power” (p. 6). This form of dance is sometimes referred to as trance dance (Roth, 1997). While trance dance is understood in some western and non-western contexts, the concept of the spiritual being embodied in dance is not unusual in either western or non-western dance forms. Moltmann-Wendel (1994) includes dance as an art form that embodies the spiritual. This
inseparability is also the focus of writers such as Roth (1997), the title of whose book Sweat your prayers: Movement as spiritual practice encapsulates an interwoven approach to dance, embodiment and spirituality. Likewise, Halprin (2003) includes the spiritual in an approach to therapy which involves a range of arts including dance. Roth’s (1997) and Halprin’s (2003) work are discussed more fully in the context of art-making and embodied knowing below. Such interweaving of the spiritual and embodied is similar to some indigenous peoples’ understandings of the inseparability of culture, spirituality and embodiment.