NATIVE AMERICAN ART NOTES

Native American art can also be called Pre-Columbian Art. Pre-Columbian means “before Columbus” and refers to the time period and cultures in the Americas before the arrival of Christopher Columbus and other Western explorers and settlers.

NORTH AMERICAN ART

• Northwest Indians• Southwest Indians• West Indians• East Indians• North Indians

SOUTH AMERICAN ART

• Nazca/Nasca Peoples• Moche Peoples• Incan Empire

CENTRAL AMERICAN ART• Nazca/Nasca Peoples• Moche Peoples• Mixtec Peoples

• There was NO distinction between the APPLIED ARTS and FINE ARTS

• Artists were respected individuals- In places with large urban populations artists were valued members of the hierarchical society

- Helped leaders maintain order in this world and the otherworld of the sacred ancestors, spirits, and deities.

- In smaller societies where artists supported themselves by other means such as hunting, gathering, and agriculture, they were also highly regarded as caretakers of important sacred information

about the otherworld and its powers

• Artistic traditions developed largely independent of other cultures, although there was trade and exchange between cultures

• Artistic works played the following roles in Native America1. Reflected complex relationships between people and Gods

2. Expressed political power

3. Expressed group or familial identity

• Visual symbols are prevalent in all forms of Native American Art

COMMON SPIRITUAL BELIEFS

• Two Worlds existed, the terrestrial and celestial, and Shamans traveled between the two.

• Shamans are also known as medicine men because they preform curing ceremonies.

• Shamans used art and architecture to travel to the other world to receive messages from the ancestors and Gods.

• Shamans would enter a trance state where they would obtain visionary powers

• Trances were enhanced by drums, rattles, and masks sometimes representing the Shaman’s animal counterpart.

• Shaman would go between the terrestrial and celestial world and upon their return they would convey special knowledge and messages from the Gods

• Shamans used their powers to heal the sick, assist hunters and warriors, control weather, foretell thee future and advise rulers

• They constructed enormous elevated plat formed temples, and moved and cut stones that weighed over 100 tons