Communication

Lesson 21: Arts for Spiritual Intervention: Honoring Patron Saints with Retablos, Mexico

Summary and Objectives

Students learn about the meanings of retablos and ex-votos in Mexico and discuss the significance of these to the individuals and families who use them in ritual practice. They create individual votive-inspired expressions of wishes and/or thanks. The lesson also includes a closer look at the representational imagery of Catholic saints and the impact such images may have in students’ lives. Students will

  • “Read” and interpret retablos and ex-votos from Mexico through discussion and writing.
  • Create retablo- and votive-like offerings.
  • Discuss individuals’ beliefs about ancestors and family patron saints as intercessors with the divine.

 

THIS LESSON IS PART OF:
Curriculum Resource for Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives.
Unit 4: Art and Transformation

Lesson 20: Arts for Spiritual Intervention: To Seek Divine Assistance: Emas, Japan

Summary and Objectives

Activities in this lesson provide opportunities for students to explore the importance of animal symbolism in Japanese art. Students interpret the meanings of selected images and engage in artmaking activities that focus on animals in art. Their study of emas extends to an exploration of a Japanese form of poetry known as a lune, which students use to express feelings of thanks or good wishes. Students will:

  • Study and interpret the symbolism of animals in Japanese art through writing and artmaking.
  • Create their own ema-like wish and engage in creative writing about their wishes and dreams.  
THIS LESSON IS PART OF:
Curriculum Resource for Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives.
Unit 4: Art and Transformation

Lesson 17: Harnessing Spirits: Pacific Northwest Arts, United States and Canada

Summary and Objectives

A study of selected works of art from the Pacific Northwest will introduce students to the symbolism, materials, and uses of masks, and serve as inspiration for artmaking. Another activity focuses on students’ discussion of the potlatch with its distribution of gifts. Students will

  • Explore the uses and visual forms of masks in the Pacific Northwest (United States and Canada) through visual analyses and artmaking activities.
  • Analyze the potlatch as a means of exchanging wealth and expressing status through discussion and oral language activities.
  • Express their interpretation of the concept of transformation through the making of masks.  

 

THIS LESSON IS PART OF:
Curriculum Resource for Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives.
Unit 3: Art and Power

Lesson 16: Status and Prestige: A Wall of Status and Prestige, Africa, Asia and the Americas

Summary and Objectives

Through a study of twelve works on display, students investigate how works of art can convey status and prestige. Provided with short commentaries on the objects, they should determine how the works confer status and then add to the list prestige objects of their own choosing, justifying their selections with short written discussions on the objects. Students will

  • Study twelve works of art to investigate how art can convey an individual’s status and importance.
  • Explore objects of power in their own lives through a creative writing activity.
  • Make judgments about works of art that express notions of power and status.

 

THIS LESSON IS PART OF:
Curriculum Resource for Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives.
Unit 3: Art and Power

Lesson 6: Memory and Cosmology: Mother of the Band: The Ntan Drum, Ghana

Summary and Objectives

Students study the iconography of a Ghanaian drum and investigate its meanings in terms of the history and cultural traditions of Ghana. As students “read” the drum, they come to understand the verbal/visual messages of the drum’s iconography. Activities also include creative writing and problem solving as students work with the imagery on the drum. Students will

  • Study the many images on a Ghanaian drum and investigate their multiple meanings.
  • Explore Akan oral literature and proverbs through creative writing activities.
  • Collect, document, and then use examples of proverbial language in conversation and creative writing.

  

THIS LESSON IS PART OF:
Curriculum Resource for Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives.
Unit 2: Art and Knowledge

Lesson 5: Painting History: Fineline Painted Vessels of the Moche, Pre-Columbian Peru

Summary and Objectives

The Moche peoples of ancient Peru (100–800 c.e.) portrayed complex scenes on fineline painted ceramic vessels, depicting everything from hunting and fishing to the ritual battles of supernaturals. Studying the painting on these vessels offers excellent opportunities for students to practice their skills of visual literacy as they gain a deeper understanding of the ancient Peruvian world. They will

  • “Read” ceramic vessels for the details of Moche dress, environment, and secular and sacred practices.
  • Express their understanding of the iconography through artmaking and writing-based lessons.
  • Analyze Moche depictions of confrontation and war and probe their own opinions on the nature of conflict.
  • Compare these with other depictions of war in art, as a means of understanding how the arts can comment on the crises and concerns of a community.

 

THIS LESSON IS PART OF:
Curriculum Resource for Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives.
Unit 2: Art and Knowledge