Art of the

Americas

Native AmericanMesoamerica South/Central

America

Native AmericanNative American Art and traditions are still being practiced today.

This diverse, yet distinguishable, art forms come from regionally specific tribes throughout the USA.

Creative functional work is also of artistic significance – pottery, dwellings, tools, textiles, etc.

They would use natural materials, pictographic symbols, abstract designs with superb craftsmanship.

Common themes were nature, legends and myth, passed down from generations and generations.

Cliff Palace, 1150, Mesa Verde. Pueblo

Hopi Indian Pottery- linear- Geometric- Stylized

Warbonnets (or war bonnets) are the impressive feather headdresses commonly seen in Western movies and TV shows. Although warbonnets are the best-known type of Indian headdress today, they were actually only worn by a dozen or so Indian tribes in the Great Plains region, such as the Sioux, Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, and Plains Cree.

Contrary to popular belief, Totem poles are an ancient tradition of the Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast only. The meanings behind them are as varied as the tribes

occupying the Northwest Coast.

The K'alyaan Totem Pole of the Tlingit Kiks.ádi Clan, erected at Sitka National Historical Park to commemorate the lives lost in the 1804 Battle of Sitka

A totem pole in Totem Park, Victoria, British Columbia

From Saxman Totem Park, Ketchikan, Alaska

Woman’s Style 3rd Phase Blanket, c.1890 ‘s Antique Navajo Germantown Pictorial Blanket, C. 1880 s′

Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. The term, Mesoamerica, also refers to various tribes and civilizations found in this area before Christopher Columbus, in 1492

Olmec Culture is the oldest civilization in Mexico (1500 BCE to about 400 BCE). The most familiar aspect of the Olmec's is their artwork, particularly the aptly named "colossal heads". Olmec

artworks are considered among ancient America's most striking

Mayans were noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art,

architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems.

The Olmec People & The Mayasof Mesoamerica

The Olmec’s Colossal Heads

La Venta Monument 1

Monument 4 from La Venta with comparative size of an adult and child. The monument weighs almost 20 tons.There are about 18 known Colossal Heads in the “Olmec heartland”

Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian

Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala.

* Pre-Columbian refers to before Christopher Columbus landed in the new world.

The Mayas

San Bartolo mural: The king as Hunahpu, 100 BC

Mayan Wall Panel, 790 ADRoyal Profile Late Classic Maya Mexico or Guatemala 650-800 CE Sandstone

Seated bearded man Mexico Maya lowlands Jaina Island Late Classic period 600-900 CE Ceramic

The largest pre-columbian culture and arose from the highlands of the Andes Mountains in Peru. The Incas were known as skilled ‘city’ planners to accommodate their population.

The Incas

Maccu Picchu• Architecture was by far the most important of the Inca arts, with textiles reflecting motifs that were at their height in architecture. The main example is

the capital city of Cusco. The site of Machu Picchu was constructed by Inca engineers. The stone temples constructed by the Inca used a mortarless construction that fit together so well that a knife could not be fitted through the stonework.

• This three-day, 26 mile hike from modern civilization to the lost civilization reaches a lung-squeezing height of 4,214 meters at its highest and there are several sections of original Inca stone paths along the way. Due to the fear of erosion on those trails, limited number of people can take the trek.

Inca art was practical. The Incas were an artistic people who used materials available to them in nature and blended them creating many artistic forms in utilitarian ways. Much of their artistic expression was used in everyday life and had a religious meaning. Most of the Inca art was melted down by the Spanish to satisfy their lust for gold and silver.

La Doncella

The mummy, called La Doncella or The Maiden, is that of a teenage girl who died more than 500 years ago in a ritual sacrifice in the Andes Mountains.

The girl and two other children were left on a mountaintop to succumb to the cold as offerings to the gods, according to the archaeologists who found the mummified remains in Argentina in 1999.

National Geographic Video