sandpainting

The tradition & historical record

Sandpainting or drypainting is the art of pouring colored sands, and powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, or pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed or unfixed sand painting. Unfixed sand paintings have a long established cultural history in numerous social groupings around the globe, and are often temporary, ritual paintings prepared for religious or healing ceremonies. Drypainting is practiced by Native Americans in the Southwestern United States, by Tibetan and Buddhist monks, as well as Indigenous Australians and Latin Americans for festivals. ¹

In the sandpainting of southwestern Native Americans (the most famous of which are the Navajo [known as the Diné]), the Medicine Man (or Hatałii) paints loosely upon the ground of a hogan, where the ceremony takes place, or on a buckskin or cloth tarpaulin, by letting the colored sands flow through his fingers with control and skill. There are 600 to 1,000 different traditional designs for sandpaintings known to the Navajo. They do not view the paintings as static objects, but as spiritual, living beings to be treated with great respect. More than 30 different sandpaintings may be associated with one ceremony. The colors for the painting are usually accomplished with naturally colored sand, crushed gypsum (white), yellow ocher, red sandstone, charcoal and a mixture of charcoal and gypsum (blue). Brown can be made by mixing red and black; red and white make pink. Other coloring agents include corn meal, flower pollen, or powdered roots and bark. The paintings are for healing purposes only. Many of them contain images of Yeibicheii (the Holy People). While creating the painting, the medicine man will chant, asking the yeibicheii to come into the painting and help heal the patient. When the medicine man finishes painting, he checks its accuracy. The order and symmetry of the painting symbolize the harmony which a patient wishes to reestablish in his or her life. The accuracy of a sandpainting is believed to determine its efficacy as a sacred tool. The patient will be asked to sit on the sandpainting as the medicine man proceeds with the healing chant. It is claimed the sandpainting acts as a portal to attract the spirits and allow them to come and go. ¹

Indigenous Australian art has a history which covers more than 30,000 years, and a wide range of native traditions and styles. These have been studied in recent decades and their complexity has gained increased international recognition. Aboriginal Art covers a wide variety of media, including sandpainting, painting on leaves, wood carving, rock carving, sculpture, and ceremonial clothing, as well as artistic embellishments found on weaponry and also tools. Art is one of the key rituals of Aboriginal culture. It was and still is, used to mark territory, record history, and tell stories about "The Dreaming". Aboriginal people have taken to transforming their tradition sand paintings into more permanent forms using modern techniques and materials. Geoffrey Bardon was an Australian art teacher who was instrumental in creating the Aboriginal art of the Western Desert movement, and in bringing Australian indigenous art to the attention of the world."... ¹

Tibetan Buddhist sand paintings are usually composed of mandalas. In Tibetan, it is called dul-tson-kyil-khor (mandala of colored powders). The sand is carefully placed on a large, flat table. The construction process takes several days, and the mandala is destroyed shortly after its completion. This is done as a teaching tool and metaphor for the "impermanence" (Pali: anicca) of all contingent and compounded phenomena (Sanskrit: Pratītya-samutpāda). The mandala sand-painting process begins with an opening ceremony, during which the lamas, or Tibetan priests, consecrate the site and call forth the forces of goodness. They chant, declare intention, mudra, asana, pranayama, do visualizations, play music, recite mantras, etc. ¹

On the first day, the lamas begin by drawing an outline of the mandala to be painted on a wooden platform. The following days see the laying of the colored sands, which is effected by pouring the sand from traditional metal funnels called chak-pur. Each monk holds a chak-pur in one hand, while running a metal rod on its serrated surface; the vibration causes the sands to flow like liquid. Formed of traditional prescribed iconography that includes geometric shapes and a multitude of ancient spiritual symbols (e.g.: Ashtamangala and divine attributes of yidam), seed syllables, mantra, the sand-painted mandala is used as a tool or instrument for innumerable purposes. A primary purpose is to reconsecrate the earth and its inhabitants. When the meditation is complete, the sand painting is ceremoniously destroyed using a Vajra and the sand is then gathered and taken to a body of water for offering. ¹

Emperor Tenmu (631–686), the 40th emperor of Japan, used Bonseki techniques to describe landscapes and natural objects. Several gardens in Kyoto are also believed to have been designed using bonseki. The 1300 essay by the Japanese Zen monk Kokan Shiren, "Rhymeprose on a Miniature Landscape Garden", talks about the principles of bonseki and garden architecture. Bonseki became a popular art form of the Japanese aristocracy during the reign of Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1443–1490). The historical figure with the most profound influence on the Japanese "Way of Tea", Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591), practiced bonseki. From the 15th century in Japan, Buddhist artists in the times of the shōguns practiced the craft of bonseki by sprinkling dry colored sand and pebbles onto the surface of plain black lacquered trays. They used bird feathers as brushes to form the sandy surface into seascapes and landscapes. These tray pictures were used in religious ceremonies. Although the practice of bonseki nearly died out after WWII, there are still actively practicing schools. ¹

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the royal courts of Europe employed "table deckers", who decorated the side tables at royal banquets having adapted the craft of 'bonseki' from the Japanese. The table deckers sprinkled colored sands, marble dust, sugars, etc. upon the surface of plain white tablecloths to create unfixed pictures of fruit, flowers, birds and rustic scenery. In between each design spaces were left for fruit bowls and sweetmeat dishes so that the diners could refresh themselves in between the main courses of the feast. These ornate pictures were discarded along with the debris of the feast. As a fine example of the table deckers' craft, Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, England possesses an ornate folding screen with three panels, decorated with sand pictures protected by glass. The center one has five spaces for sweetmeat pyramid dishes while the two side leaves of the screen have three spaces for fruit trays. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Sandpainting”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

sandpainting is form of art creation, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 8 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²