chap23

CHAPTER 32
Native Arts of the Americas After 1300

1. Read the chapter.

View this site from the Metroplitan Museum of Art on Aztec stone sculpture. Then, explore this interactive site entitled "Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries."

2. Remember these words:

Tenochtitlan, atrial crosses, codex, beadwork, Quetzalcoatl, blackware, matte, dry joining, coiling, shaman

Detail of the gold Tairona pendant from Columbia; page 949 Gardner text.

3. Examine these ideas and issues:

    a. What are some of the Aztec mythological symbols and imagery see in the art? See pages 854-857, and the inset on page 856.
    b. Why did the Spanish conquerors destroy so much of the Aztec, Inka, and other arts of the native peoples of the Americas? See pages 857 and 860.
    c. Discuss the Inka architectural methods of of dry-joined masonry. See pages 859-860.
    d. What does the Kachina figure represent and how is it used by traditonal Hopi and Navajo cultures? See discussion on page 862.
    e. Discuss the revival of puebloan pottery and other Native American traditonal art forms. See pages 863-868 and the inset on page 863 regarding gender roles.

4. Remember these works of art from the text:

    a. Mictlantecuhtli and Quetzalcoatl, illuminated page from the Borgia Codex, Mexico, c. 1400-1500. Deerskin. Biblioteca Apostolica, Vatican, Rome. See page 854.
    b. Coyolxauhqui (She of the Bells), Aztec, from the Great Temple of Tenochitlan, Mexico City, late 15th century. Museum of the Great Temple, Mexico City. See page 956. Also view Coatlicue (She of the Serpent Skirt). See page 857.
    c. Machu Picchu, Inca, Peru, 15th century. See page 859.
    d. Kachina Doll by Otto Pentewa, Hopi, New Oraibi, Arizona, before 1959. Arizona State Museum, University of Arzona, Tucson. Page 862.
    e. View a pot similar to the Blackware Jar by Maria Montoya Martinez, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, 1939. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. See page 863.
    f. Eagle Transformation Mask, open and closed views, Kwakiutl (North West Coast), late 19th century. American Museum of Natural History, New York. See page 864. View a similar Eagle Transformation Mask.
    g. Chilkat blanket with stylized animal motifs. See page 866. View a similar Chilkat blanket.
    h. Honoring song at painted tipi, from the Julian Scott ledger, Kiowa. See page 868.

5. Explore these sites on the Internet:

    a. Visit the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University and a site on Latin American Studies.
    b. Examine the traveling exhibition Mexican Folk Retablos: Images of Devotion .
    c. View a collection of Navajo textiles.
    d. Explore Puebloan pottery from the Americas.
    e. Examine "Plains Indians Drawings" at the Drawing Center in New York.

6. Write a one-page report that explains how the native art of the Americas is seen in contemporary art and email your report through the LISTSERV. See the Schedule for date due. If you haven't done so by now, take a look at the additional "links" provided; there are many that relate to the arts of the Americas.

7. Respond to someone else's question and/or discussion issue through the LISTSERV and be sure to participate. See the Schedule for date due.

Here's something extra: find me an authentic "Maria Montoya Martinez" ceramic pottery...somewhere in the Internet...and see if you can find out the price. Send this information to me only.

Then for fun...you must think I have a strange notion of what is "fun"...find the "Wall of Skulls" and tell me the URL.

Page Updated 4/29/09

Return to: Summer Internet Schedule