Native Art, Native Voices A Resource for K–12 Learners Dear Educator: Native Art, Native Voices: A Resource for K–12 of art. Designed for learners in grades K–12, the Learners is designed to support the integration lessons originate from James Autio (Ojibwe); Gordon of Native voices and art into your curriculum. The Coons (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior resource includes four types of content: Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, Chippewa/Ojibwa, Ottawa); Dyani White Hawk (Sičháŋğu Lakȟóta 1. Artist interviews [Brulé]); Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota, Mohegan, 2. Essays about artworks in Mia’s collection and Muscogee); and Margaret Swenson, a visual arts questions to support deep looking, critical educator and collaborator with Heid Erdrich (Ojibwe thinking, and discussion enrolled at Turtle Mountain) in the creation of a Native artist residency program at Kenwood Elementary 3. Art lessons developed by and with Minnesota School in Minneapolis. Native artists 4. Reading selections for students to help provide Video Interviews environmental context for the artworks. Video interviews with eight Native artists allow your This resource includes information about Native students to learn about the artists’ lives in their own cultures both past and present and supports words and to view their art and other artworks in Mia’s Minnesota state standards for visual arts and Native art galleries. View multiple segments by indi- social studies/U.S. history. vidual artists, or mix and match to consider different artists’ responses to similar questions. Each video is less than 8 minutes. Discussion questions follow the Essays & Discussion Questions videos to guide your students’ exploration of the rich Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota, Mohegan, interview content. Muscogee), a Native American artist and educator in Saint Paul, researched and wrote the essays. Myles North American Regions & uses her art and writing to celebrate her Indigenous Environments culture and language, as well as to educate the public about the significance of Native oral traditions and Art is often influenced by culture, current events, expe- their representation through Native art. In these riences, the environment, and region. Many of these essays, Myles invites you and your students to learn influences are present in the video segments, essays, about artworks from the ancient past to the present and art lessons contained in this learning resource. by looking closely, exploring techniques, and under- Additional context about the region and environment standing context. Discussion questions designed by comes from informational essays by Amanda Norman Mia educators to encourage close looking, critical (Minnesota Chippewa), originally written for another thinking, and making connections to individuals’ lives Mia resource. This content can be assigned as reading follow each essay. to students in grades 4–6 or incorporated into lessons by educators. Students are prompted to think critically, make connections, and compare and contrast art by Art Lessons diverse Native nations across environments, both All of the art lessons have been designed by and/ similar and different. Following each reading, prompts or with Native artists for use in your classroom to and resources provide a starting place for further teach about Native art and culture while avoiding exploration and discussion. appropriation. Rather than asking students to replicate or directly imitate Native American objects, these Cover: George Morrison, (Grand Portage Anishinaabe, 1919–2000), art activities engage students in creative thinking Collage IX: Landscape (detail), 1974, wood, The Francis E. Andrews and problem solving as they create unique works Fund 75.24 © Briand Morrison MIOA Native Art, Native Voices 2 Native American vs. American Acknowledgments Indian Native Arts/Native Voices: A Resource for K–12 Mia refers to the original inhabitants of this hemi- Learners is the product of a collaboration of many. This sphere as “Native Americans” or Indigenous because learning resource would not be possible without the those terms encompass objects in the museum’s spectacular research, writing, historical knowledge, collection from North, Central, and South America. and insights of Marlena Myles. Thank you to all of the This learning resource focuses on art made largely by other contributors, listed here in alphabetical order: artists living on lands now called the United States of Jill Ahlberg Yohe, James Autio, Jill Blumer, Jeffrey America. The names of Native American nations have Chapman, Gordon Coons, Elizabeth Day, Jim Denomie, complex and interesting histories. Indigenous names Heid Erdrich, Bridget Gallagher-Larkin, Carla Hemlock, were translated (often phonetically) into English, Dakota Hoska, Tobie Miller, Nora Naranjo-Morse, Spanish, and French. Sometimes Europeans adopted Diane Richard, Margaret Swenson, Xiaolu Wang, enemies’ names for other Native nations, rather than Gwen Westerman, Dyani White Hawk, and Sihai Zhu. the names those people called themselves. Mia uses Special thanks to everyone in the Division of Learning the name that is indigenous to the people, adding the Innovation; in one way or another you contributed to often historically more familiar European or other alter- this project. nate name in parenthesis; for example: Anishinaabe (Ojibwe). If artists refer to their own nations by names Sheila McGuire Head of Student and Teacher Learning other than these, their preference is retained. Dakhóta Thamákhočhe kiŋ The Dakhóta Homeland Mnísota hé Dakhóta wičhóie héčha. Mnísota hé The state name Minnesota comes from the Dakhóta wičhóie kiŋ wašíču iá, “land where the water reflects word Mnísota, “land where the water reflects the sky.” the sky,” eyápi. Minneapolis Institute of Arts - The Minneapolis Institute of Art is located in Dakhóta Minneapolis Wókağe Omnáye Thípi kiŋ Dakhóta Makhóčhe, the Dakhóta homeland. The Dakhóta Thamákhočhe éd yaŋké. Ómakha 1600 wahéhaŋyáŋ were here long before European explorers arrived in Wašíčupi kiŋ hípi. Wašíčupi kiŋ hípi šni ečhéd Dakhóta the 1600s. In the 1820s, the United States military Oyáte kiŋ makhóčhe kiŋ déčhiya thípi. Ómakha built Fort Snelling directly above Bdóte, the birthplace 1820 k’eháŋ Isáŋ Tháŋka Akíčhita kiŋ Čhuŋkáške of the Dakhóta and the center of their universe. thípi kiŋ káğapi. Čhuŋkáške thípi kiŋ Wašíču iá Fort Bdóte—“where two waters come together”—is where Snelling eyápi. Čhuŋkáške thípi kiŋ Bdóte ikhíyedaŋ the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers merge, a place of káğapi. Dakhóta Oyáte kiŋ Bdóte hé wakháŋdapi confluence and regeneration. k’a makhóčhe kiŋ hé etáŋhaŋpi wičádapi. Bdóte wašíču iá, “where the waters come together,” eyápi. Mnísota wakpá k’a Wakpá Tháŋka okhížata kiŋ hé éd makhóčhe hé Bdóte ečíyapi. MIOA Native Art, Native Voices 3 Table of Contents Art Essays by Marlena Myles Video Interviews 6 Hohokom artist, Bowl 98 Jeffrey Chapman 9 Ancestral Pueblo artist, Pot 98 Jim Denomie 12 Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) artist, Club 98 Heid Erdrich 15 Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) or Dakhóta artist, 98 Carla Hemlock Dance Blanket 99 Dakota Hoska 18 Possibly Meskwaki (Sac and Fox) artist, Cape 99 Marlena Myles 21 Maȟpíya Boğá wiŋ (Nellie Two Bear Gates), 99 Nora Naranjo Morse Suitcase 100 Gwen Westerman 25 Hé Núnpa Waníča (No Two Horns), Tipi Cover 101 Video Discussion Questions 30 George Morrison, Collage IX: Landscape 33 Allan Houser, Rendezvous American Regions & Environments 36 Richard Hunt, Transformation Mask by Amanda Norman 39 Jamie Okuma, Adaptation II 103 Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region 42 Dyani White Hawk, Untitled (Quiet Strength I) 105 Great Basin and California Region 107 Northwest Coast Region Art Lesson Plans 109 Plains, Prairie, and Plateau Region 46 K–3rd grade: Painting Animals, 111 Southwest Region by James Autio 113 Woodlands Region 64 2nd grade on up: Clan Animals & the Woodlands Style by Gordon Coons Minnesota State Standards 72 3rd grade on up: Indigenous Corn Drawings, 116 Social Studies by Margaret Swenson 119 Visual Arts 75 4th grade on up: Abstraction, by Dyani White Hawk 79 5th grade on up: Watercolor Paintings of Fish Found in Red Lake, by Margaret Swenson 82 6th–8th grades: Charcoal Drawings, by James Autio 94 6th–12th grades: Water is Life: Organic Watercolors, by Marlena Myles © 2018 MIOA Native Art, Native Voices 4 Art Essays by Marlena Myles Back to Contents page MIOA Native Art, Native Voices 5 Hohokam artist Bowl, c. 900–1200 Clay and pigments 63/8 × 183/4 × 183/4 in. (16.19 × 47.63 × 47.63 cm) The Director’s Discretionary Fund 2004.71 Back to Contents page MIOA Native Art, Native Voices 6 Bowl, c. 900–1200 Hohokam, which means “Ancient Ones,” refers to Coloring Ceramics an ancient Southwest Native culture that existed from about 1 to 1450 ce. The term comes from their Diverse groups of ancient people from the south- descendants, the O’odham (Oh Oh DOM) people, who western United States created pottery using particular live in the lands once inhabited by the Hohokam in colors of paint and clay, with characteristics unique to the center of present-day Arizona. The Hohokam were the community that made them. To create the paints, sophisticated people known for their massive complex they used various native plants, minerals such as irrigation system, which watered up to 110,000 acres pounded hematite, and manganese and limonite stones. by 1300 ce. This system made possible large-scale The earth gave color to the clay, much of it tinted with agriculture in an otherwise arid environment. iron oxide, yielding