Emily Nachison

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ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

RES I DE N CY

Emily Nachison

January 25-February 11, 2016

Long Lost

EXHIBITION

Site Specific Installation

February 11-March 22, 2016

The Marlin and Regina Miller Gallery, Kutztown University

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

Emily Nachison

Long Lost Site Specific Installation

RES I DE N CY

January 25-February 11, 2016 EXHIBITION

February 11-March 22, 2016

The Marlin and Regina Miller Gallery, Kutztown University

Photo credit: Gabrielle Fattori

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About the Residency Every year The Marlin and Regina Miller Gallery at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania requests proposals from artists, craftspersons, and designers for the production of an original, temporary, site-specific installation for our exhibition space. The selected artist (or artist team) will be awarded $7,500. The installation will be on view during the beginning of every spring semester.

Proposed artwork can be realized in any medium and there are no restrictions on form or content. However, proposals that demonstrate innovation and deep, nuanced understanding of contemporary art, craft, or design are preferred. Proposals must be for a site-specific installation and must differ greatly from a solo exhibition. Preference will be given to proposals that have a strong student involvement component.

All proposals will be reviewed for overall artistic merit, impact on the experience of our students, feasibility within the established time-frame and budget, artist’s demonstration of ability to complete such a project , and the relationship of the project to the gallery’s mission.

About Long Lost Long Lost is a project by 2016 Kutztown University Artist-in-Residence, Emily Nachison, exploring American mysticism through the folklore and traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch and early European settlers in the North Eastern United States.

The project consist of two components: an immersive installation at the Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Marlin and Regina Miller Art Gallery and a web archive of stories, information and drawings.

Long Lost is titled after John George Hohman’s book POW-Wows, or Long Lost Friend. Originally published in 1820 near Reading, Pennsylvania, under the German title Der Lange Verborgene Freund. The Long-Lost Friend draws from the traditional folk magic and healing of Pennsylvania Dutch customs.

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Powwow and the Ritual Use of Everyday Objects

Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University

Pennsylvania’s healing traditions, known among the

for a comprehensive system of beliefs that encompassed

Pennsylvania Dutch as die Braucherei in the regional dialect

domestic, agricultural, and spiritual life. Braucherei in its

and powwow in English, encompass a wide range of folk-

original connotation implied customs, ceremonies, rites,

cultural expressions of ritual practices for the healing

and rituals that served to integrate these aspects of life into

and preventing of illness among humans and livestock.

a coherent narrative.

Combining a diverse array of verbal benedictions, prayers, gestures, and the use of everyday objects, as well as celestial and calendar observances, these rituals are used not only for healing the body, but also for protection from physical and spiritual harm, and assistance in times of need. These healing practices have been passed by word of mouth from one generation to the next for over three centuries among the descendants of 18th-century immigrants from

Verbal elements of Powwow ritual, consisting of blessings and religious benedictions, are part of a memorized system of oral tradition, typically taught by a woman to a man, or vice versa. The rich imagery contained within these prayers, derived from scriptural and mythic narratives, is expressed in poetic rounds that are often metered and rhymed as part of their mnemonic function.

German-speaking lands, comprising one of the oldest

Just like prayers belonging to officially sanctioned religious

North American expressions of European folk belief that

activities, Powwow prayers incorporate invocations

has survived to the present day.

and supplications to divine forces and saints. However

As the most ethnically and religiously diverse of the original 13 colonies, Pennsylvania provided the fertile soil for such traditions to flourish in the New World. With roots in the Roman Catholic consensus of the Middle Ages, converging with the Post-Reformation mystical elements of Pietism among the Protestant population, the folk-religious climate of Pennsylvania was the new-world point of origin 32

Patrick Donmoyer

the objectives in Powwow rituals tend to be broader in scope, resembling prayers attributed to the medieval cult of the saints, used for concerns as varied as safe passage in a storm or finding an object that is lost. While all prayers are in a basic sense a form of communication and negotiation with divine forces, Powwow blessings serve as the script for a distinctive form of cultural and ceremonial

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performance, engaging both the patient and practitioner in a ritual context composed of elements that are at once mundane, cosmological, and sacred. Central to this ritual performance is the use of everyday objects. Such materials are incorporated into ritual in a manner that contrasts with ordinary use, but echoes the role that the object plays within a larger context.

My first exposure to the tradition as a child was through a narrative from my grandmother who recalled that she had been healed of a wart when she was young by her grandfather who had enacted a centuries-old ritual. He cut a potato in half, and quietly spoke words in the Pennsylvania Dutch regional dialect, while rubbing the wart with the potato. This took place on the family farm, outside, under the witness of the full moon. My grandmother was never precisely sure what words he spoke, nor was she aware of the principles behind the cure, but when her grandfather proceeded to bury the potato below the downspout draining from the eaves of the his home, it was assumed that when the potato rotted away, that the wart would wither as well. Within a short time the wart was gone. To this day, the efficacy of this practice is still widely believed by older generations throughout Pennsylvania, and many other parts of North America where Pennsylvania Dutch cultural influence has spread. Although the wart cure is considered one of the simplest ritual applications of Powwow, the basis for how it is perceived to work is far more complex than appearances would suggest.

The phase and visibility of the moon is crucial for this process, as a beacon of cosmic order, and an agent of change, growth, and dispersal. Echoing sentiments expressed in

Photo credit: John Sterling Ruth

the common farmer’s almanac, the moon, as it waxed to

relationship that reflects the direction of the moon’s force of

full, was believed to exert a force away from the earth,

influence. The word “zunemme” also has a double-meaning:

powerful enough to enhance the growth of climbing plants,

both “to wax” and “to take on” – as the moon itself is thought by

such as corn or beans, as well as affect the rise of the tides,

some to actually take on the wart itself.

or the wetness and quality of wood when cutting timber, or even the growth of one’s fingernails and hair. It is no wonder then that this lunar force was believed to assist in the transference of illness to the potato, which, when cut in half, has a cross-sectional profile that resembles the round, white, textured, surface of the full moon. However, as a crop, potatoes were to be planted during the waning moon, when the force was directed towards the earth, enhancing the downward growth of roots growing below the soil. By burying the halved potato in the full moon, it was believed to be more likely to rot away under the downspout or below the drip-line of the eaves, a location that represented the outermost boundary between the home and the outside world, separating that which is familiar from the unknown.

Although most recipients of ritual healing rarely hear the verbal blessings that accompany the process, as such words are spoken soto voce, these elements are often descriptive of the ritual mechanics and the desired outcome. The ‘moon prayer’ that typically accompanies this wart remedy has been preserved in both oral tradition and written sources.

Although the relationships that undergird this ritual process can be understood as symbolic, these beliefs are actually based in the philosophical and pre-scientific doctrine of sympathy, an ontology that interrelates all manifestations of existence by subtle, cosmic relationships. This doctrine was widely accepted throughout the Renaissance until the time of the Enlightenment, when it was discarded by the scientific community, but continued as an esoteric and folk-cultural concept. Based ultimately upon the notion of the divinely created universe, this doctrine contends that all manifestations of the material and invisible worlds are connected by subtle relationships. Attributes and sensory qualities assist in the delineation of these affinities for both physical and immaterial entities, and reveal patterns that can be put to use for the benefit of humanity.

Within the folk-cultural imagination, these material aspects range from the stars to the soil, and everything in between – a potato, a broom, a lock of hair, a pitchfork, an egg, a coal shovel, a pig trough.

One transcription, recorded in a doctor’s ledger from 1830 in

The more subtle immaterial aspects include human emotions,

the Oley Valley, reads: Alles was ich sehe das wachse, und was

thoughts, alliances, kinship – but the correspondences

ich fühle das vergehe im Namen des Patri, Fillii et Spiritu Sancti

are rarely linear. Colors, materials, shapes, fragrances,

(All that I see may it increase, and what I see, may it vanish,

temperatures – each property and descriptor expresses a

in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Other

greater significance beyond its literal meaning.

sources use the dialect words zunemme (to wax, increase)

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and abnemme (to wane, decrease), relating the withering

One of the classic everyday objects that finds its way into

of the wart with the waxing of the moon in an inverse

myriad healing rituals is common string, ribbon, or cord.

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Photo credit: John Sterling Ruth

Used for a broad spectrum of ailments ranging from

urine, are often believed to carry the essence of the person,

inflammation of an infection to menstrual cramps, the

and can be used to remove illness. The plugging of illness

string varies in color based on how it is used, and what

into a hole bored into a tree is a classic ritual. A manuscript

illness is being removed. For instance, a red string is used

from the late 19th century outlines:

to remove the inflammation from the dangerous skin infection erysipelas, known among the folk as “wildfire.”

The red of the string relates the color of the fire of the inflammation in a like-attracts-like scenario. Alternately, a remedy for menstrual cramps uses a blue string, which is invoking the element of water in order to re-establish a healthy flow from the body. In each of these cases, the string suggests a linear, directional quality that facilitates a movement through or away from the body, or a passage

hollow then scrape off a little from each nail of the hands and feets [sic] put it into the quill & stop it up after bore a hole towards the rise of the sun into a tree that bears no fruit put the Quill with the scrapings of the nails into the Hole and with three strokes close up the Hole with a bung maid [sic] of pine wood. It must be done on the first Friday in the New moon in the morning.”

from one point to another. In an overarching sense, the

This practice is well documented in Pennsylvania as well as

string is a visualization of the subtle connections between

the Ozarks, and occasionally, such deposits are discovered

all things.

when trees are cut down, especially along property lines,

The string’s composition is usually silk or wool, and most rituals specify that it has to either have been previously unused for any other purpose, or that it has to have been begged or borrowed, rather than purchased. In most rituals, the string is either used to measure the afflicted person’s body, or wrapped around the person. By measuring the person, essentially the image or qualities of the person has been transferred to the string, serving as a proxy for removal of the illness. Depending on the nature and elemental correspondence of the illness, the string could be disposed of in a chimney, or tossed down a well. In other cases the string might be wrapped around a fence post until it rots away.

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“Take a goose quill and cut it of[f] where it begins to be

marking boundaries of ownership. In this case, the tree is being used as an object of transference, accepting the illness from the scrapings or clippings of the nails. In other cases, hair or urine is used in the same procedure. Perhaps the most important piece of evidence indicating that the tree becomes the vessel of the illness is the cryptic admonition the tree must bear no fruit – negating the possibility that a human being would accidentally contract the illness by eating a piece of fruit. The scheduling of the ritual within these particular cosmological constraints serves to affirm beliefs concerning the effect of the moon upon earthly affairs. Contrary to the lunar mechanics in the wart cure where the wart is drawn to the moon (or the potato by proxy), in this case the waning moon, exerting its force

Aside from objects used to represent or mirror the

towards the earth is believed to draw the illness down and

functions of the body, substances like hair, fingernails, or

into the tree.

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This procedure has been documented for the healing of

or hardness to firm up the atrophied muscle. In other

both humans and animals, and demonstrates the belief that

cases, the stone was tossed over the barn, or deposited into

such cosmological forces would work equally well in both

a body of water – all of which symbolized a removal and

scenarios. It is interesting to note that in a practical sense,

neutralization of the illness.

while belief may play an important role in the efficacy of such cures among humans, animals are exempt from holding such notions. This indicates that modern attempts to rationalize the healing process as being a function of belief or placebo, cannot be applied uniformly across the board for all aspects of healing ritual.

Another common concern for draft animals was theft. A crime formerly punishable by death in the early United States, horse-thievery could spell disaster for a family farm that depended on draft labor. One Berks County ritual to compel a horse to turn away from its captors was conducted using a pitchfork. The fork had to be the same pitchfork

Veterinary medicine, with its host of different ailments and

used to clean up after the horse, having had contact with

concerns, is equally complex as human medicine, especially

the horse’s manure in order to qualify. At the last location

as it pertains to equine health. The level of attention that

where the horse was seen, the fork was to be thrust point-

horses and other draft animals have received within the

down into the soil, and the farmer was to kick the pitchfork

tradition is in keeping with the importance of these animals

while repeating the following poetic prayer, and addressing

to earlier stages of the culture’s farm practices that relied

the horse by name: “I kick thee, I stick thee, I bid thee,

upon beasts of burden for transportation and labor. Equine

(Insert the horse’s name), thou shalt return. Turn away

illnesses, especially those that limited the animal’s capacity

from the hands of the thief, as swift as the wind, just as

to work were especially important to address.

the fish swims in water, and the bird flies in the air, and as

A common cure for muscular atrophy, especially in the shoulder, known as Schwinne (Sweeny), was cured using a stone or a bone found in the barnyard. The stone would

gently as the dew settles on the water, come thou quickly and swiftly into the field, that by thee penance may be settled.”

be rapped gently against the affected muscle, and drawn

It is implicit in this three-fold ritual, that the horse is

along the horses body from head to tail three times while

invoked through the pitchfork, and that the pitchfork is

speaking: “Fleisch un Blut, Mark un Bein, und Schwinne,

receiving the “kick,” the spot of ground where the horse

sinn hart als en Stein” (Flesh and blood, marrow and bone,

was last seen is receiving the “stick,” and the animal is “bid”

and sweeny, become as hard as a stone, in the name of the

remotely through the intermediaries of the pitchfork and

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.) Following these words, the

the spot of ground, as the horse had direct contact with

stone was then placed back in the same exact impression

both of them. This is a classic example of sympathetic belief,

in the soil from which it was taken, and was believed not

where an object, person, or place can be used to represent

only to absorb the illness, but more so to lend its strength

another, and that intentions, communication, healing,

or illness can be transferred from one being to another.

This notion is dependent upon the belief that all things proceed from the same source, and that connections can be established regardless of physical proximity.

Folk culture, unlike formal practices of European ceremonial magic, maintains that the objects used for powwow rituals do not take on a special, “magical” significance after use, but instead are returned to everyday life. A pitchfork is still a pitchfork, even if it is used to recover a stolen horse. Formalized practices of European ceremonial magic often depend heavily upon consecrated objects that are separate from mundane life.

Only occasionally are such items created to aid in the performance of ritual among the Pennsylvania Dutch.

One rare ritual object, documented as early as 1775 in Berks County, was a knife marked with 9 crosses, used in conjunction with particular verbal blessings, along with gestures of the sign of the cross, for the purpose of dispelling criminal violence. Manuscript sources and local narratives have suggested that there were special procedures for creating a 3 cross knife, and that it was to be forged at a crossroads on New Year’s Eve, and could only be struck with a hammer three times each year – assuming that it would take a decade or more to fashion. A twentieth century informant in Berks County described the use of the knife to avert insomnia, illness, or even a hex (a curse).

Other sources have suggested an application for divination, where the knife was thrust into a loaf of bread and placed under one’s pillow while sleeping. While this example is a Photo credit: John Sterling Ruth

corollary to the European practice in the Tyrol of marking folding knives used for hunting with 9 crosses and 9 moons

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to avert spiritual danger, the Pennsylvania ritual knife is

objects, is their accessibility among the folk, rather than

one of a number of rarities in local practice where an object

a specialized caste of practitioners. Passing of an infant

takes on a permanent ritual significance.

around a table leg or through a horse-collar to cure colic, or

A much more common, ritual object known across many cultures, and certainly among the Pennsylvania Dutch, is the dowsing rod. Although dowsers have different techniques for selecting their material of choice, frequently hazel or apple wood is cited as the material of choice among the Pennsylvania Dutch. Not everyone who powwows also engages in dowsing, but there are particular powwow

drawing of three pieces of rye straw through the mouth of an infant and depositing the straw into the outhouse to cure thrush, are examples of rituals that anyone could engage at any time. The folk-cultural beliefs surrounding the broom are perhaps one of the best examples of the perception among the Pennsylvania Dutch that the context of everyday life is what empowers an object for use in powwow rituals.

prayers to bless a dowsing rod, such as one taken from John

According to beliefs held even by some in the present day,

George Hohman’s collection of Powwow materials, Der

the household broom, when leaned against the jamb of

lange verborgene Freund (commonly called the Long Lost

the front door, or concealed below the threshold, has the

Friend): “Glücksruthe, behalt deine Macht, behalt deine Kraft,

capacity to protect the home from anyone wishing spiritual

wozu dich Gott verordnet hat” (Divining rod, keep thy power,

harm upon the occupants. Such a broom was recently

keep thy might, which Gott hath provided). This was to be

discovered in a Berks County farm house, and was placed

spoken before selecting a branch for dowsing, although no

there by an occupant within the past few decades. While

mention is given concerning what type of wood was to be

some have assumed that this custom is related to popular

used, or when the wood was to be harvested. Occasionally

associations of the broom with witchcraft, indeed the

personalized wands, canes or staffs were created based

opposite is true.

upon the individual’s liking. Some examples collected by Henry Mercer at the turn of the 20th century were carved with snakes wrapped around the handles, and a cane in the author’s collection was embellished with three coils of copper, fixed with three nails, used for powwowing in Montgomery County.

The broom represented the home, and had directcontact with the dust in the home, created by everyday activities.

This dust was believed to carry some measure of the essence of the home and family, which fostered a whole series of old folk beliefs surrounding the cleaning of the home. One was not to sweep out the house after dark, for fear that the home

On account of the emphasis placed on the power of the

would be vulnerable to spiritual attack or misfortune. The

mundane, reinforced by generations of domestic and

old broom was also the first thing placed into a new home, as

agricultural life, objects with permanent, rather than

it brought with it some measure of essence of the previous

temporal, ritual significance are considerably less common

dwelling place. During feast days, such as the week between

in Powwow practice. The advantage of using everyday

Christmas and New Year’s Day, one was not to sweep out

the house or barn for fear that they would sweep away the blessings that were imparted by the atmosphere during these holy times. Even outside of the sacred calendar, the dust from the home was believed to have important useful properties. It was once common to take dust from the four corners of the house and to mix a tiny bit into your coffee, or into the flour used to bake bread, before one went on a long journey in order to avoid homesickness. The person who partook of the coffee or bread was therefore taking the home’s essence into their body in order to fortify them against pining for home while away. This type of comprehensive belief made manifest in domestic ritual lends a whole new level of meaning to the activities of daily life, and broadens the context of everyday tasks.

Although many of the most intriguing powwow narrtives pertaining to the use of ritual objects are historical or anecdotal, rather than active in the present day, the traditions are still very much a part of the cultural memory of the Pennsylvania Dutch, and form one of the most important repositories of ritual folk-culture in North America. One need not be Pennsylvania Dutch or from the region to appreciate the opportunities that powwow presents to consider the power of ritual to forge healthy and thoughtful connections between our beliefs and daily life.

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About Emily Nachison Emily Nachison received a Bachelors in Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a Masters in Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She is represented

by The Bullseye Project in New York and Oregon, she has had solo shows in the Museum of New Art in Michigan and the Cricket Engine Gallery in California. Currently, Emily Nachison will be one of four artists presenting in the Art Byre Exhibition, which takes place in Latheronwheel, Scotland. Each artist has been commissioned to create an installation based on a different room in the Latheron House complex.

Among other honors, Nachison was the finalist for the 2015 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, and was also the recipient for the Artistic Focus Project grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council in Portland, Oregon. She is currently a professor and the Head of the Fiber Department at the Oregon College of Art & Craft, in Portland.

About Kutztown University The Marlin and Regina Miller Art Gallery of Kutztown University presents significant and professionally executed solo and group exhibitions of contemporary art in a variety of mediums as well as supporting programs, events, and services that will directly enhance the artistic and philosophical development of our students and will contribute to the lives of residents within our service area. We strive to challenge assumptions and stimulate discussion by presenting artwork and programs relevant to the social and cultural life of the general and special populations within our service area.

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, located an hour north of Philadelphia, and two hours west of New York City, has an enrollment of 10,000+ students. Each year, our College of Visual and Performing Arts awards approximately 225 undergraduate degrees in Communication Design, Fine Arts, Art Education, and Crafts. Our Visual Arts programs are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

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Special Thanks U N I V E R S I T Y FA C U LT Y A N D S TA F F

Dean Mowder and Associate Dean Kiec College of Visual and Performing Arts

Karen Stanford Director of University Galleries and Community Outreach MILLER GALLERY COMMIT TEE

Josh Miller, Miles Decoster, Dan Haxall, Leigh Kane, Carrie Nordlund, Michael Radyk, Dan Talley.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Gabrielle Fattori John Sterling Ruth CATA LO G D E S I G N

Wyatt Glennon Special thanks to all the KU student volunteers