Shamanism, sacred narratives, the sea, and the cedar in the art of John Hoover, Aleut sculptor.

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the artistic work and thought of John Hoover, a little known American Indian sculptor who works primarily in Western red cedar. This study combines the approaches of art history and anthropology in order to distinguish those influences that inform Hoover's art, namely, the sea, sacred narratives, and shamanism. Hoover's life history and ethnographic data concerning the culture of Northwest Coast Indians are essential components to my discussion of his sculpture. By examining the body of Hoover's work with these factors in mind, I determine how this modern artist integrates traditional Indian art motifs into contemporary forms. I explore his struggle both professionally as an artist and personally as a man to arrive at his life's work, his perspectives on his own life and art, and how his identity as a native artist grew out of a background of mixed parentage and different cultural influences (his mother is Aleut and his father is Dutch-American). Discussion focuses on four central influences: the sea, shamanism, sacred narratives, and the importance of Western red cedar as his primary medium. The influence of Russian icon sculpture also plays a role in the analysis as do other non-native sources. A chapter on the sea's major role in his life and art opens the main discussion and includes treatment of his family history, his Aleut heritage, and his career beginnings as well as analyses of specific works of sculpture. Chapter two gives background information on shamanism followed by a detailed discussion of how Hoover attempts a parallel path to that of the shaman in the art he produces. Hoover has taken up the shaman's staff to produce works that encompass the spiritual in his art. Chapter three gives an in-depth overview of the sacred narratives from North America, with particular emphasis on the narratives from the Aleut, Inuit and Northwest Coast cultural regions, and how these narratives are used by the sculptor as a source of artistic inspiration. Chapter four completes the circle of analysis through discussion of: Hoover's creative processes, the sacredness of Western red cedar, the spiritual force inside the sculpture, how content gives form to the ancient stories, and the role of outside world/cultural influences. Furthermore, I clarify those characteristics that set Hoover's work apart.