Using Iconic Imagery to Tell Stories

Thousands of years ago, well before written language, humans first began building a shared history and culture by recording their stories with art.  Stories about where we came from. Stories about how the world works. Stories of what lies beyond the stars. 

Images and symbols with shared meaning are also referred to as icons. Throughout history, people of all cultures have been using images to communicate ideas and stories. Keep scrolling for some examples of images with shared meaning many people recognize today: 

Flags are icons representing a country and its history ...

... musical notation means the same thing all over the world ...

For thousands of years before Europeans arrived, Native American people shared images by carving and painting rocks. Sometimes they created rock art on large boulders that were easy to find, other times they created their art deep inside of caves. 

Speaking of caves, in Tennessee, there are over 10,000! It's not surprising that Native Americans who lived in that area created rock carvings, called petroglyphs, inside of some of them. Let's watch a video and see images they left in a Tennessee cave called Devilstep Hollow.

The most famous image in Devilstep Hollow Cave is Falcon Warrior. He is a powerful war god who is both man and bird. In the cave drawing he is holding maces (weapons and symbols of power) in both arms. A thousand years ago, everyone who saw this image would have recognized it.

Today, the Falcon Warrior image still carries meaning for many Native Americans. This modern Falcon Warrior artwork, made out of copper, leather, and leather string, also known as sinew, was created by Dustin Mater, an artist from the Chickasaw Tribe.

Today the Chickasaw Nation lives in Oklahoma, but when the Devilstep images were created, they and many other tribes lived in the Southeast United States, including the area that's now Tennessee.

In the next video, Dustin tells us about another image found in the cave: snakes.

It's interesting how snakes have different meanings in different cultures. For the Chickasaw, snakes represent transformative growth; in the book of Genesis, snakes represent evil power and chaos; for some ancient cultures, a snake eating its tail symbolized the circle of life.

What story do you want to tell about yourself? Your art could be about:
1. the things that make you, you
2. designing a seal or emblem for your school, town, or team
3. an issue or problem you care about
4. your favorite book, movie, story or myth

Think about the images and symbols that have meanings that fit with your story. They can be everyday images, like an emoji or a favorite pet. They can be cultural images, like religious symbols or flags. They can even be imaginary images that you or someone else made up.

Think about how to put your images together into one piece of art. Your art can be simple or complex, realistic or abstract. You can use whatever materials are available to you -- crayons, markers, colored pencils, paint, even clay. 

First, show your art to other people (like your friends, family, teachers, neighbors), in person or by texting a photo or video.


Then, share the story behind your art. You can talk about what it means to you right away, or people can tell you what they think and notice first. 

If you'd like, you could also
-Light your art with a flashlight in a dark, cave-like space
-Create art on rocks with chalk or water-based paint
-Imagine and write a story about the people who created this cave art
-Do this project with a friend!

Enjoy making and sharing your art! 

One last lesson: if you ever come across rock art in person, don't touch it in any way! It's very fragile and we want it to be there for everyone to see for thousands more years. Thanks!