Earthworks: Shamanism in the religious experiences of contemporary artists in North America.

Within the last 30 years a number of earthworks have been built by artists, primarily in North America, but extant examples are known elsewhere in the world. These artworks are not intended to be bought and sold or displayed within the usual gallery-focused art distribution system. They are site-specific works, often located in remote, hard-to-reach areas. Curatorial documentation is sometimes incomplete. Some artists do not even list their earthwork projects on their resumes. What than is the purpose of the contemporary earthworks? Are the contemporary works religious statements of sacral orientation? 203 questionnaires were sent to artists throughout North America whose work seemed to show an especial interest in earthworks, visionary experiences, and/or nature. Questions were asked of the artists concerning visionary experiences, paranormal experiences, life crises, religious background and current religious affiliation, among other things. Subsequent interviews were conducted with 19 artists. For most of the artists in the group their visions and paranormal experiences inspire and authenticate their work as artists, work which they themselves believe to be "healing" and linked to the earth as sacred, a world in which they frequently encounter "sacred places," power centers, and other experiences of mana or kratophany. In very special ways, the artists feel themselves to be mediums for a sacred knowledge which they believe comes from nature, from the earth, from the energies of all life, of all time--but not from god or gods per se. The artists appear to perceive the world as a self-contained whole, a healing whole, and in their art they take part in that healing whole. Thus, the dissertation argues that the analogy of shaman as artist (artist as shaman) is a useful one to make to explicate the religious experiences of artists; that artists can be studied as a group using the statistical profile methods of social sciences; and that contemporary earthworks may constitute a hitherto unrecognized body of sacred art. (Abstract shortened by UMI.