Indigenous Art History and the Education System

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Recommended: Effects of environmental and developmental factors in child development

“His Buffalo and horses are always in motion--they're running for their lives. They can't be caught. That's real freedom”(Lee).

In the American educational system the curriculum is supposedly designed to enrich the hearts and minds of all the students who wish to become enriched. Professional educators throughout western civilization compose their contributions as to what is considered to be in the best interests of the students. However, some oversights have been made apparent. The history of Indigenous American Art has been ignored, for too long, at the expense of the students who happen to be the descendants of the first peoples of this continent. Furthermore these students also happen to be the majority within the Los Angeles Unified School District; whether these students are of American, Canadian, Mexican, or Central American ethnicity they almost always have one thing in common, the indigenous blood that runs through their veins. Science has established that environment greatly influences behavior, whether that environment is a classroom, a home, or the American Continent. Subsequently, this continent is reflected within the hearts and minds of its people, and inevitably in our artistic expression. We the first people of this continent have existed here for thousands of years before the western civilization stumbled its way to this side of the planet.

Indigenous American Art and its history play a vital part in our facet of the human experience. What's more, it is fundamental for fulfilling our potential and responsibilities as human beings. In addition to the contribution to our collective psyche, indigenous art is a historical and anthropological timeline of natural and supernatural phenomena. It is apparent that ...

... middle of paper ...

...de as we all account for each other and ourselves with clear wisdom and responsibility before creation.

Works Cited

Gangel-Vasquez, Janice. “Re: Native Art History II”. Email to the author. 17 August. 2003.

Lee, Jeff and Donna Hand. “2 dimensional Art-Ed Defender”. Trophies of Honor. 9 Aug. 2003.

www.msstate.edu/Fineart_O...troph1.htm

Martín del Campo, Edgar. “Mesoamerican Deities”.

Edgar”s Mesoamerican art page. 7 Oct. 1996. 9 Aug. 2003. members.aol.com/emdelcamp/edgar2.htm

McMaster, Gerald R. “Towards an Aboriginal Art History”. Native American Art in the Twentieth Century. Ed. W. Jackson Rushing III. New York. Routledge. 1999. 81-96.

Moreno, Lisa M. “RudyResponse”. E-mail to author. 15 Aug. 2003.

Surrounded by beauty: History and Culture. 9 Aug. 2003.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts. www. Artsmia.org/surrounded-bybeauty/history_culture.html

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