4/8 Warm-Up
1. Take a look at the picture hanging below
the “Warning, Deadlines are closer…”
poster.
What is this? Is it art? Why or why not?
What materials do you think it’s made of?
Who would wear this? When? Where?
What do you think of it? Explain.
Sketch your own version of this.
Native North American Art
• This type of art is extraordinarily rich
and diverse. Today Native artists, male
and female, trained in their communities and in
professional art schools, and living in cities
and on reserves, work in a
broad range of media and
expressive styles.
• A lot of the work we will
look at comes from the
early 1800s. There is not
one “type” of Native American
art; each region, community,
and tribe all seem to have their own style of art.
• Originally, these objects were produced in different
cultural contexts and for altogether different purposes.
The Apache are natives of the Southwest deserts (particularly in
Apache Indians Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas). Some Apache people were also
located across the border in northern Mexico.
Apache artists are famous for their fine beadwork and
basketry.
Hopi Indians
Zuni
Kwakwaka'wakw
numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on
northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland
and islands. The first European contact documented was
in 1792.
Kwakwaka'wakw arts are exemplified
in totem poles, masks, wooden
carvings, jewelry and woven
blankets. Visual arts are defined by
simplicity, realism, and artistic
emphasis.
Totem poles are an ancient tradition of
the Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast--Washington
state in the USA, British Columbia in Canada--and some of
the Athabaskan tribes of southern Alaska. Contrary to
popular belief, the Southwest Indians, Plains Indians, and
Inuit never carved totem poles (think of how there are no
trees big enough!)
Native American totem poles are not only aesthetically
pleasing; they are also culturally significant to the indigenous
people who made them. Native American totem poles can
be a symbol of the history of a family or of the whole tribe.
They can also be a record of traditions, legends, or spiritual
stories.
Native American totem poles are hand carved from large pieces of wood.
They usually contained themes and were covered with pictures of animals.
They often sat in the center of a family’s tent and if they had to be moved
only a man could carry it. In other cases the poles were placed outside of
the tents as a status symbol.
A totem is actually an animal guide that is assigned to an individual; a totem
pole is a piece of wood that is carved with a persons totems.
Native Americans tradition states a person is assigned nine animal guides that
provide spiritual direction both in this life and the next.’
Among these nine is one main guardian spirit that is designated as the
totem animal. This guardian can convey wisdom and direction only if a
person recognizes the animal and understands how to communicate with it.
WHAT IS YOUR TOTEM ANIMAL?
Similes= is a figure of speech that directly compares
two things through some connective, usually "like,"
"as," "than," or a verb such as "resembles
What are some of your
personality traits?
What animals are they similar
to?
How can you use animals in a simile?
Brave as a ___________
Sweet as a _____________
Wise as an ___________
For your project….
You will be creating a drawing on rainbow scratchboard paper, of
a chosen totem animal.
Choose your totem animal by looking through National
Geographic magazines, self-reflecting, looking through the
worksheet, and taking an online quiz.
Incorporate different
characteristics of Native
North American art that you
have seen here, online, and
other research tools;
patterns, texture, line,
shape (geometric, simplified).
TODAY:
-Brainstorm list of personality traits in DW
-- Look through list of animals, pick a few
you feel connect to you
-- Take quiz online and check out other
websites
-- sketch 2 animals in your DW
-- by the end of class, have you final
TOTEM ANIMAL chosen.