OREGON COLLEGE OF ART & CRAFT
SYLLABUS
Course Number: AH301
Course Title: Art & Craft of the Ancient Americas
Instructor:
Phil Harris
Number of Credits: 3
Semester:
Fall 2012
Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00-12:25
Office phone: 971-255-4142 (or on-campus extension 142)
Campus email: pharris@ocac.edu
Office hours by appointment
ARTstor password: ocac301
Online documents:
http://harrisocac.pbworks.com/w/page/29193382/Ancient_Americas_Fall_12
Course Description and prerequisites: Focused on the Central Andes and Mesoamerica,two
major cultural centers in the early Americas, this course examines the development of arts and
crafts media within the broader context of environmental, social, political, religious and economic
influences. The Central Andes includes the Chavin, Paracas, Nasca, Moche, Wari, Tiwanaku,
Chimú, and Inca cultures, while Mesoamerica includes the Olmec, Zapotec, Mayan, West
Mexican, Toltec and Mexica/Aztec civilizations.
Required class texts (available online and through local bookstores):
Art of the Andes from Chavín to Inca by Rebecca Stone-Miller, Thames & Hudson, second
edition,2002
The Art of Mesoamerica from Olmec to Aztec by Mary Ellen Miller, Thames & Hudson, fourth
edition, 2006
Rationale: This class fulfills part of the BFA ‘s upper division Art History requirement.
Learning Outcomes:
• The ability to think, speak and write clearly and effectively
• An ability to address culture and history from a variety of perspectives, e.g. political, economic,
literary, etc.
• Basic understanding of and experience in thinking about moral and ethical problems.
• The ability to respect, understand and evaluate work in a variety of disciplines.
• The capacity to explain and defend one’s views effectively and rationally.
• Understanding of and experience in art forms other than the visual arts and design.
• Enhanced problem-solving skills, including the ability to perform research.
Assessment of proficiency: Weekly readings/q&a, taking part in class discussions, two
research papers (or a paper and made project), and a final oral presentation.
Goals and Methods: The format of this class is slide lecture/discussion. The class concentrates
on the arts and crafts of two distinct cultures: the Central Andes, which encompasses parts of
present-day Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile; and Mesoamerica, which consists of southern
Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and parts of other Central American nations. The work you will see is
visually arresting, and diverse in style and use of craft/art media. We will examine some of the
many theories that have been elaborated to explain the work and its cultural context.
Course Requirements:
• Weekly reading as assigned, with in-class discussion and the potential “surprise essay”
written in class. These “surprises” are most likely to happen if class participation and/or
attendance signal a slippage in commitment to the class.
• A Central Andes-based paper (Due Tuesday, October 9): A six-to-eight page research
paper on a specific technology or object from the Central Andes which you discuss the
intersection between the technical methods used and the underlying symbolism/use of the
chosen object/technique.
• A Mesoamerica-based paper (Due Tuesday, December 4): A six-to-eight page research
paper on a specific technology or object from Mesoamerica in which you discuss the
intersection between the technical methods used and the underlying symbolism/use of the
chosen object/technique.
• ***You have the option of substituting a made project for one of the research papers. An
object can only be substituted if it is based on documented research, and is a response in your
chosen material and style to a particular object/style covered in this course. If you think you
might want to do this, see me as soon as possible. A written proposal, with a detailed
plan/sketch of the object to be made, will be required.
• A brief oral presentation about your research projects/papers, due at the end of the term
(December 11-20).
Grading: Your grade will be determined by attendance (20%), participation in discussions
(10%), the midterm paper/project (30%), the final paper/project (30%), and the oral presentation
(10%).
If you feel that you will have difficulty keeping up with the reading or writing requirements, please
arrange to meet with me as soon as possible. I’m absolutely open to meeting with you to talk
over issues or concerns, or to help clarify class material.
Course Outline: Week-by-week course outline attached separately.
Attendance: The class is impoverished by your absence, and inconvenienced by your
lateness—your arrival, prepared to participate, enriches the whole experience for your
classmates.
Absence
Three unexcused absences will drop one’s final letter grade a whole letter.
An Excused Absence is one that is reported to the instructor by phone message or email prior to
or during the class period.
Absences are considered excused for reasons of illness or family emergency or when
permission to miss class is given by the instructor in advance.
NOTE: multiple Excused Absences will also lower one’s grade
Tardiness and early departure from class
Three late arrivals and/or early departures equals 1 unexcused absence.
Tardiness is defined as being more than 5 minutes late. Early departure is ANY unexcused
departure before class is dismissed.
Arriving more than 30 minutes late or leaving more than 30 minutes early is considered an
absence (or in some cases a partial absence) and not tardiness.
OCAC academic class policy:
At Oregon College of Art and Craft a semester hour of credit is awarded for an average of four
Carnegie (50 minute) hours of work each week over the period of a fifteen week semester for a
studio based course and three Carnegie (50 minute) hours of work each week over the period of
a fifteen week semester for a lecture based course.
Lecture courses meet for three hours per week of class instruction, either in one session or over
two class sessions; lecture courses require six additional hours of work outside of class for a
total of nine hours of work per week for a three-credit course.
AH301: Ancient Americas
Course Outline
ARTstor password: ocac301
Week 1:
September 4 Introduction; discussion of class requirements;
textbooks; introductory slides from Andean area.
September 6 Central Andes chronology; environmental context;
research paper and/or made project goals and deadlines.
Week 2:
September 11 The Chavín culture: Chavín de Huantar; early
religious cults; the role of the natural world; the afterlife/ancestors; ritual
interment; hallucinogens, trance and transformation in shamanism; duality.
September 13 Paracas/Nasca cultures; the emergence of textiles
as major cultural symbol; their role in burials; Karwa and possible Goddess cult.
Week 3:
September 18 Nasca lines; points of view and the religious
experience; theories of the sacred landscape.
September 20 Moche; emergence and influence of the city-state;
new expressions in metal and ceramics.
Week 4:
September 25 Wari/Tiwanaku; new influential cultural regions; the
imperial state; increasing abstraction in art.
September 27 Chimú/Sicán/Chancay: class stratification and its
expression; gold, metals and their relationship to the sun and sheathing.
Week 5:
October 2 The pre-Inca context; state of the arts and crafts.
October 4 Inca: Cuzco, Machu Picchu; proliferation of ritual; the
importance of the Sun; ceque lines and the quipu; sacred pilgrimage and child
sacrifice; the miniature.
Week 6:
October 9 Central Andes paper or project due Post-colonial Inca
work; Inca/Spanish cross-cultural influences.
October 11 Mesoamerican Chronology; environmental context;
basic comparisons with Central Andean culture; slides of Mesoamerican work.
Week 7:
October 16 The Olmec: shamanism; iconography/symbols of
nature and other worlds in stone and jade.
October 18 Mesoamerican calendar systems; writing, counting,
astrology, astronomy.
Week 8:
October 23 Teotihuacan: the “mystery” city; “Great Goddess” cult;
ritual sacrifice; Tlaloc; murals; ceramics.
October 25 Monte Alban and the Zapotec: major urban
developments; astronomy and architecture; Veracruz.
Week 9:
October 30 The Maya: Early expressions: Izapa, San Bartolo,
Cerros, Copán, Tikal. Geography, geology, literacy, ideology, cosmology and
ecology.
November 1 Classic Maya: Palenque, Uxmal, et al. Flowering of a
civilization--royalty; gods and myth; recording historical narratives in stone,
ceramics and books; blood sacrifice.
Week 10:
November 6 Breaking the Maya Code (54 min.)
November 8 Late Classic Maya: the ballgame; Uxmal; Bonampak
and wall paintings; Jaina Island and ceramic figurines.
Week 11:
November 13 Oaxaca (Monte Alban): the city of Mitla; architecture,
metal work and other artistic expressions.
November 15 Huastec/Toltec: cities of Tula, Chichen Itzá; the god
Quetzalcóatl; architecture and sculpture.
Week 12:
November 20 Aztec mythology and origins; notions of the human
body and landscape; maps.
November 21-25 Thanksgiving Break
Week 13:
November 27 The Aztecs: Tenochtitlán; human sacrifice and
renewal of sacred cycles; the role of violence and its depiction in art.
November 29 Aztecs continued: ceramics, wood, mosaics, stone
and other media.
Week 14:
December 4 Mesoamerican paper or project due. Post-colonial
Aztecs: the role of the Spanish (priests and military); destruction and
documentation; transplanted European painting and metalsmithing styles as
domination.
December 6 Post-colonial Aztecs, pt.2: papermaking, books, the
role of the codices in providing information about “absent” crafts such as textiles,
details of everyday life.
Week 15:
December 11 Oral presentations
December 13 Oral presentations
Week 16:
December 18 Oral presentations
December 20 Oral presentations