68:261 Canadian Aboriginal Art
Monday April 7, 2014
Reading: Page 1-20 Ch 1
Film: Archaeology
Bering Strait land bridge
Ice age crossing
Origin: Native American- A world covered in water, we
were always here.
Studying mitochondria DNA only went up to ice age.
Clovis points may be first evidence date to 11,000 years
ago non found in Alaska near land bridge
2 different groups identified with Clovis point
Found hair when digging 12,000 years old
South America 48,000 years inhabitants
Oral history roots people to a place
Google: Kim Tall-Bear
genome scientist Dakota (no such DNA that can say your aboriginal
Doreen Jensin: Carver
Rena: Weaver
Joan: Painter
Jane: Painter
Women kept the crafts/art alive
Tradition- land based
Contemporary- trying to revive with current media
Totem- shows story/genealogy/legend
Tuesday April 8, 2014
Tomorrows reading: Rest of
chapter 1 20-35
Encompasses the sacred and the secular, the
political and domestic, the ceremonial and commercial
Visual arts have the critical role as carriers of culture
For example in the film hands of history, Rena Point Bolton- who made cedar root
baskets- felt guilty for selling or making monetary gain from a traditional practice
which had been handed down to her through lessons in discipline and obedience
from her elders.
Her selling of stol:o baskets is a commercial enterprise
but then becomes as much a political statement about the loss of culture
because (as her husband noted) in previous times in her role as an artist who
made ceremonial items she would have been valued and taken care of by the
community
Rena Point Bolton’s
teaching later becomes more about cultural survival as she passes on her
lessons
Cultural survival
Angelique Merasty
birch-bark biting. There were used for patterns for beading but have now become
a collector’s item. It is a rare art form and delicate existent of the medium
Contemporary artists- like Joanne Cardinal-Schubert and Jane
Ash Poitras in the film hands of history take the art making process in a
different direction using western artistic mediums such as painting,
performance and mixed media to critique colonization, residential school
experience and show extraordinary stories of survival.
James Luna Image #2 p.3 of text combines elements
of installation and performance by placing himself in an exhibition case in San
Diego Museum of Man hall containing conventional ethnographic display about
American Indians. His performance critiques the objectification of indigenous
cultures by western museum and cultural displays by subverting the romantic
stereo typing and drawing attention to actual social problems
Art history and Native
Art
Aboriginal conceptions of time are often organized around
principals of cyclical rather than linear order
The story of aboriginal arts reveals centuries of responses
to crises such as epidemics, forced removals from homelands, repressive
colonial regimes, religious conversion and contact with foreign cultures and
their arts
Visual arts maintains the integrity of spiritual, social,
political, and economic systems
Oral traditions and
histories
Are eventful narratives that explain the origins of
present realities by the author of inherited transmitted truth that has the
force of more explanations (rather that scientifically verifiable fact that has
no moral force.)
Narratives of creation and a connection to the land in
each geographical region is carried through the arts in the form of
pictographs, stone marking and markings in addition to form of song, dance and performance
making.
Contemporary art in the making maintains cultured
survival and flourish in the emerging post colonial representation of
aboriginal history culture.
What is art?
Western view an object whose form is elaborated to
provide visual and material pleasure and to enhance its imposing power as
visual representation
Franz Boas (anthropologist) stressed the importance of
practiced skill in achieving control over materials and the regularity of form
and pattern as necessary pre conditions for the creation of an aesthetic
response as essential
But distinguishing certain objects as art then regulates
other objects as non-art or craft and thereby revealing different cultural
values
Contemporary native art and the use of western categories
is less problematic as artist become trained in Western Art in schools. Artists
often contest various aspects of scholarship collecting, museum display and
market value.
Native art
Aboriginal peoples valued the same attributes of the Western notions of art such a skills in handling materials, practiced
manipulation of established stylistic conventions and individual powers of creativity and conception
However these attributes were not the only features that
established value. Value may be decided through other means not always noticed
visually
Soundness or construction to ensure functionality or
ritual correctness in the gathering or war materials, or the powers that inhere
because of the objects original conception in a dream, experience, or the
number of times it is used in a ceremony-may be more important-
Collecting- curiosity,
specimen, artifact and art
Western collectors critic of value and beauty affected
how or what majority of objects survived today in collections held within
museums (both art and history museums)
Note: incomplete artistic visual expression available
Oldest objects survived due to the material- organic
materials rarely survived. Most of what exists is made of stone, metal or
pottery.
Categories of visual arts made with wood, fiber or hide
materials are unknown
Note: issue of modes of display and conservation finest
pieces may have been made as burial offerings intended to accompany the dead
into the next world
Sacrality- ceremonial objects
repatriation
The object is importance in ritual and historical record
maintains an inherent power
1884 pot-latch law banning of holding pot-latch and celebrations
(with further restrictions on the Sun-dance and Giveaway ensuring years)
U’Mista Cultural Center: Indian agent arrested 45 people
and released on condition of surrender of some 450 objects which were then sold
or placed in distant museums
Objects confiscated at a pot-latch in 1921 Kwakwaka’wakw
coppers, masks, rattles, boxes, blankets and whistles
Repatriation and representation (P.11)
Repatriation and cultural
revival
Objects of cultural patrimony
Inheritance- entitlement- heirloom
Native representatives request a return of objects from
collections (repatriation) or permanent removal from display or photos (Iroquois
False Face Mask)
If returned to community, objects of on display in
community centers or museums where they can be removed for use in ceremony or
studied by artist
Non ceremonial/non-sacred
Western collectors through trade purchase fists,
violence, theft, mostly dependent on the taste and interest of the collector.
objects available, depend on early contact with
Euro-Americans, different for each region, Eastern Woodlands, Northern Plains,
Arctic, etc.
Collection were known as curiosities or the concept of
the exotic, exciting, wonder or interest due to craftsmanship or use of unfamiliar
materials or because it was strange or unique to Europeans of the time (ex.p12)
Video: Totem the
return of the G’psgolox Pole
Wednesday April 9, 2014
Video: Totem the
return of the G’psgolox Pole
·
Issues with
the elders (felt wrong and broken that they had to put it in a museum)
·
Ethics in
protocols(taking care of pole, transport)
·
They want
the connection and possibly use for teaching.
Video: Totem: return
and renewal
- · 1st repatriation
- · Shipped in climate controlled box until a museum could be made
- · Using as a teaching tool
- · Metal pole symbolized the colonization and repression of the native populations
Artefact
19th century- field of anthropology was
established westerns began to regard indigenous objects within a new framework-
borrowed from the field of natural history- objects became scientific or artefact
Museums as designed to reconstruct the historical
evolution of mankind and thus began the construct of museum as placed to
preserve a scientific record of vanishing
Aboriginal Cultures
Ethnological collecting- stripped objects from communities
with support spiritual life.
Categories of art then became subject to western notions
of high art, applied art or craft.
Whiteboard notes
State: Property of mankind-legitimized-contract-export
paper
Haisha- stories-oral history- sacred- 2 poles
Repatriation-logistics-air/sea, money (Replacement pole)
Revival of culture/awakening
Reconciliation ->museum/community, hope start, happy
story, within community
Authenticity
Collecting- valued objects dating back to early contact or
with little use of European influences as most interesting or valuable
The Noble Savage, Indian princess stereotyping- romanticized
the past and ignored the present or modern lives of contemporary Aboriginal
Peoples, culture, accomplishments and problems
Commoditization of Native art and issues of stylistic hybridity
in response to tourism- which were previously disapproved by scholars and art
connoisseurs- is now being recognized as the motivation for artistic production
for the last 150 years.
Identity
Social organization of Aboriginal Peoples- affected the arts
produced
Example: clans may have a totem or animal which serves as
the original ancestors and or associated spiritual being- turtle, eagle, wolf,
or crane. Images of clan animal’s mat appear on masks, personal belonging,
grave markers, or other objects and may become the identifying marker or signature.
The Canadian government controls legal definition of “Indian”
– whereas individuals see the issue of identity as subjective and developed as
a result of person and family history.
Cosmology
Knowledge systems as derived from a relationship to place
community and cosmos
Epistemological (a way of knowing, how things are understood
to be) systems or beliefs explain the fundamental structures of cosmos, the interrelationships
of humans and other beings, the nature of spirit and power, life and death.
There believes provide a basis for the development of
specific ritual practices that make human beings effective in critical activities
such as: hunting, growing crops, working in offices or factories, curing
disease, making war, accomplishing a journey from this world to the next.
Spirituality and Christianity are often practiced alongside,
but disruptions are prevalent due to colonization ad residential school experiences.
Indigenous peoples (of the land) have commonalities and
shared beliefs that concern;
- · The nature and location of ‘spirit’
- · The fundamental structures of space and time
- · The concept of power- including medicine
- · The value of visionary experience/dreams/visions
- · The role of the ‘wapiya/medicine person/healer/spiritual advisor.
- · The importance of feasting and gift giving in validation of blessings received form spirit protectors.
Map of the Cosmos
Space is mapped- the universe is seen as having distinct
spatial zones associated with different orders of power
Ritual- the devotee is oriented in relation to spatial
zones- which is vital to the efficacy of ritual (in order for the ritual to be
effect they have to be in the right sacred space)
Space is experienced in relation to land, sky, water and
thus each region reflects upon particular environments. (p.22)
Example: Plains and Woodlands- space is divided into three
zones of sky, the earth’s surface, and the realms beneath earth and water.
Earthly space is circular and divided into four directions
or quadrants- west, north, east and south- the winds that blow from these
directions bring the change of seasons
Example: West Coast – river or sea realm, coastal zone where
people reside and the realm of the forest and mountains
Everywhere in North American the zones of earth, water and
sky are also linked by a central, vertical axis that provided a path of
orientation along which human prayers can travel between realms of power
Axis- visualized in different ways- great tree (image 13,
p23) offering pole (sundance), the path smoke travels from hearth to smoke hole
above (longhouse)
Center of the world
Mircea Elide- axis mundi/ Cosmic Center
A Sacred space where a person orients themselves to receive or
obtain contact between different planes- a fixed point or center
The manifestation of the sacred in the earthily or physical space is something breaking
through one plane of existence into another
Ritual Space- important for creating an axis mundi or cosmic
center- revealing the sacred
·
Consecration of space
·
Re-establishes a center
·
Re-enacts the sacred that began creation the
symbolic
·
The symbolic center becomes the Center of the
world.
Knowledge systems, legends, stories, traditions, explain how
the powers and knowledge’s- essential to human survival- may be transferred to
human beings and how this occurred in the time of creation and how it occurs in
the present
Power can be transferred among humans by inheritance or
exchange or through prescribed rituals
Example: the rights and privileges conferred by lineage
ancestors of Northwest Coast families are clearly identified with particular
zones in sky, sea, and forest.
Fire bird (people thought that art was abstract, but it was
because the images of the spirits were so powerful they had to be portrayed
that way)
The nature of Spirit
Beliefs and rituals are based on the concept of ‘power as
spirit’
Spirit/soul which animates and personifies- is not
confined to humans but may be present elsewhere within the universe such as:
-Animals
-Features of land and water
-Plants
-Heavenly bodies
The notion of ‘medicine’ as a substance imbued with
active affective power is a part of this larger definition of the animate
Presence is often manifesting in transformative acts.
Thursday April 10, 2014
Dreams and
Vision Quest
·
Liminal states and bordering places facilitate the crossing of boundaries between
conscious and unconscious experience and between spatial zones of power.
·
Vision Quest – fasting & isolation –
all sacrifices designed to provoke compassion from other-than-human beings, to
bestow blessings of power.
·
Historically – these powers
obtain by vision quest would be maintained with help of aesthetically
elaborated forms – the image received in a vision may be replicated on a tipi,
shield, bag, mask, and so on.
·
Equally expressed through performance of song and dance in
ceremonial occasions.
(Example in the
book “Black Hawk – page 25)
Shamanism
·
Certain individuals recognized
for being gifted and/or receptive to visionary experiences.
·
They have the ability to access
spirit protectors
·
They lived in service to others – providing healing,
guidance for hunters, or other purposes vital to the survival of The People
(ex. Growing plants).
·
Commonly use drumming &
singing in performance of visual and dramatic arts (both privately and
publically) to relate their experiences of out-of-body travel.
·
They often wore distinctive
dress, used amulets, masks of power beings – among which the BEAR is prominent
through North America.
Visual
Iconography
·
Specific representations result
from the beliefs and practices of the intercessor/shaman
·
Features motifs such as:
-
Skeletal markings to represent
the liminal state that the intercessor occupies.
-
The marking of the joints –
which are points of entry and exit for the soul
-
Hollowed out or projecting eyes
that signify the shaman’s extra-human powers of sight.
Dorset Artist
Shaman’s
Tube (ivory). Shamanic practice and shamanic art are both concerned with
transformation.
This small item
would be used in medicine rituals, the tube has a human face, but out of its
head spring two walruses who interlock their tusks, perhaps in struggle, or in
assistance.
Art and the
Public Celebration of Power
·
Spiritual empowerment is acknowledged
and put forth through public forms of celebration
·
Performance through speaking,
singing, dancing embodies the TRUTH- WORDS ARE SACRED
·
Performance becomes vital
aspect to the Truth of the experience and is thus validated
·
Performance done in concert
with feasting and a distribution of gifts.
·
Example: Northwest Coast
Potlach – marked occasions such as receiving an inherited title
·
Occasions for celebration but
also occasions for which the production of visual art – clothing, robes,
decoration of ceremonial space and making gifts for the guests
Personal
Adornment
·
Aesthetic principle of adorning
oneself in proper relationship to the gods
·
Adornment/dressing – clothing
& body decoration were one of most important means of artistic expression
·
Body painting was also
widespread in construction of self-image that was presented
·
Tattoos
were also prevalent but was largely suppressed by missionaries and government
authorities who disapproved of what would be considered a state of nakedness.
·
Woodlands, Inuit and Dene
Peoples – widely practiced tattooing – which was a medium for representing
guardian spirits making gender personal beautification.
·
Important passages in a
person’s life were occasions for lavish display of finery
-
Rites of passage
-
Loss of a loved one – no
grooming
-
Marriages
-
Visionary experience
-
Use of items obtained in battle
-
Re-affirmation of gift of
healing and/or
Creativity –
Innovation and Tradition
Trade
goods provide for creativity and innovation with new textiles, colors and
techniques.
Manufactured
naterials became incorporated by artists into their repertoire of
self-expression.
It was evident
that people took pride in the display of items made by outsiders (p.28 Tlingit)
·
Tlingit creative explosion of
textile arts – but also were able to display status, wealth, power and the
ability to trade and incorporate.
·
Objects should be seen as
having been in perpetual dialogue with other objects and their makers
·
The exotic and the unusual was
always highly valued by Native Peoples – this evident through ethnological and
archaeological material.
·
Important to note that vast
trade networks were formed before first contact, continued and flourished with
the advent of manufactured goods.
·
Naming of new goods included
characteristics as given from the spirit world – ex. The translucency of glass
beads, tradecloth, etc.
·
By the 19th century
(mid 1800’s) beads were fully integrated as a traditional medium and continue
up until this day
Innovation
This bag may
have been make as a gift item
Some hybrid objects
were made as commodities for the tourist market.
Gender and
Making of Art
·
Women’s and Men’s art tended to
be distinct
·
Example: Men carved &
painted; women made clothing
·
Men’s arts were representation
and women’s were abstract
·
These designations were tied to
gender roles and responsibilities and were most often complementary
·
However value judgements of
Eurocentric approach to art – saw men’s arts as sacred and women’s as secular.
·
Too often women’s arts were
seen as not having a connection to spiritual or political power – while men’s
carvings and paintings were.
·
P. 33
·
European art is divided into
sacred and secular
·
European observers divided art
into the contexts of public art and non-public (ex) arts associated with
political, military and ceremonial life
·
Native Art – All artistic
creation involved untilizing materials in which power may reside, including
wood, stones, grasses, and pigments
·
There is a relationship of
reciprocity with the materials collected in environment
·
Both men and women used dreams
as inspiration for at
·
Some people crossed over into
gender specific art production or were gifted with ability to do both
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