Date post: | 11-May-2015 |
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Travel |
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Art of the Americas By: Dr. Ben Ewing, Professor George Tucker, Guillermo Lopez-Vila PhSwag
Historical Background • 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, hunters and gatherers roamed the Americas • Agricultural way of life • Appearance of ceremonial centers and towns • Monumental Architecture • Development of writing, astronomy, a calendar, mathematical systems • Transformation to farming by 7000 BCE • Settled villages by 2000 BCE • History divided into 3 periods:
Formative/Pre-Classic (1500 BCE-250 CE) Classic (250-900 CE) Post Classic (900-1521 CE)
Artistic Background • Many different cultures • Most hierarchical societies
-Olmecs, Teotihuacan, Mayans, Paracas, Nazcas, Moche • North American Art varied depending on region (NW, SE, SW etc…) • Art forms: monuments, sculptures, ceramics, weaving, metallurgy • Art varied depending on culture, however, was linked by trade • Art was used for decoration
Monuments, Coins, Ceramic Vases and Jars
Artistic Life • Art was part of everyday life • Each culture was unique with artistic uses • Monuments and religious spaces prevalent in all • Not much is known about the artists themselves • Did not sign their art • Religious leaders like high priests commissioned the art
Machu Picchu ● Means old peak ● Built 15th Century by Incans 7,970 ft.
above sea level ● In Cusco region of Peru ● Believed to be created as an Estate for
the Inca ruler ● Abandoned mid 16th century due to
Spanish Invasion ● Many of the original buildings are being
restored ● Gives insight into Incan culture b/c
never found by Spanish ● Classical Inca style with dry stone walls
Western Comparison • Machu Picchu and Abbey of Saint Gall
VS.
Nazca Lines ● Series of Geoglyphs in Nazca
Desert in Peru ● Believed to be created between
400-650 BC ● Range from simple lines to animals ● Created by removing red pebbles
and leaving behind whitish gray rock
● Largest figures are over 660ft. across
● Believed to have been created for religious purposes
Colossal Head ● At least 17 heads throughout Mesoamerica ● Found at 4 sites along Mexican Gulf Coast. ● 1 found outside of Olmecheartland ● Range in size from 6-50 tons ● As far back as 900 BC ● Carved from Large basalt boulders ● Boulders from mountains of Veracruz ● Believed to represent individual Olmec
rulers ● Each has a distinctive headdress ● Transportation is still unknown
Beaver Effigy Platform Pipe - From the Woodland period (300 BCE - 1000 CE)
- Created by artists of the Hopewell tribe
- Many similar to this were created
- Native American pipes had two main purposes:
- Smoking dried leaves as in modern day tobacco pipes
- Inhale the “spirit” (smoke) of the animal carved on it during rituals
- Medium used to create pipe is a stone colloquially referred to as “pipestone”
- Hopewell people traded their signature stone for resources from other tribes
- Eyes on pipes were typically made of inlaid jewels
- Beaver Effigy Platform Pipe has pearl eyes
- Pearls and other white things were associated with the “spirit world”
- Now resides in Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Can a brother get some WOOD?
The Spirit of Haida Gwaii - Created in 1991, Modern Art of the Americas
- Artist is Bill Reid
- Representative of Haida mythology
- Made in an effort to revitalize traditional art
- Medium is bronze with black patina (makes it shiny)
- Features shaman in the middle with basket hat
- Bear sits on prow at the position of the war chief
- Raven at stern with Mousewoman (official guide of the Spirit World) steer the canoe
- Bear is being bitten by eagle which is being bitten by a seawolf (I have no idea what a seawolf is but I think I saw it in an article in Fake Science monthly)
- Nevertheless, shaman paddles on, representing family with differences working together
- Now resides outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Are we there yet?
No, keep paddling.
Vocabulary adobe - The clay used to make a kind of sun-dried mud brick of the same name; a building
made of such brick. atlantid - A male figure that functions as a supporting column. See also caryatid. atlatl - Spear-thrower, the typical weapon of the Toltecs of ancient Mexico. backstrap loom - A simple Andean loom featuring a belt or backstrap encircling the waist of
the seated weaver. effigy mounds - Ceremonial mounds built in the shape of animals or birds by native North
American peoples. embroidery - The technique of sewing threads onto a finished ground to form contrasting
designs. kiva - A large circular underground structure that is the spiritual and ceremonial center apse - A recess, usually semicircular, in the wall of a building, commonly found at the east
end of a church. khipu - Andean record-keeping device consisting of numerous knotted strings hanging from a main cord; the strings
signified, by position and color, numbers and categories of things. powwow - A traditional Native American ceremony featuring dancing in quilled, beaded, and painted costumes.