Week 7

GROUP 1: Native/Indigenous Americans

California Native Americans lived as hunters, famers, and fishers throughout the land. The Native Americans were very spiritual beings who participated in rituals and ceremonies. Their artwork ranged from beaded designs and jewelry to painted masks and carvings or even sand painting. When the Spanish arrived in the 1700s, starting up missions and spreading Christianity, the Native Americans were faced with hardship, disruption, and disease. A positive aspect of European influences in the Americas was that the Europeans brought over horses; some escaped and bred in the wild. These wild horses made it possible for Native Americans to travel farther to expand their territories, trade with other tribes, simplify hunting.

The Ohlone people, also known as the Costanoan, are Native Americans from Northern California. They occupied the regions of the San Francisco Bay, Monterey Bay, and the lower Salinas Valley. I lived in Monterey County the last two years so I was interested in learning more about the indigenous people from that area. Before Spanish Colonization, the Ohlone people lived in more than 50 groups with an average amount of 200 members per tribe. Ohlone cultural arts included basket weaving, ceremonial dances, tattoos, and piercings. Their staple diet consisted of berries, acorns, nuts, grass seeds, game, and fish. The Ohlone people lived in woven or bundled huts in most areas, but in areas where the Redwood trees were accessible they built wooden houses. Before European contact the Ohlone people practiced the religion of Shaminism and in some areas Kuksu. By 1852 the Ohlone population had shrunk to about 864-1000 people which was less than 10% of the population before the Spanish invasion.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States
http://www.historymania.com/american_history/Native_Americans#Early_history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohlone
http://www.muwekma.org/history/tribe.html

Ohlone Mythology

The Ohlone mythology is the spiritual beliefs that the people had regarding world order. Ohlone mythology centered around an animal hero Coyote.

1. The Ohlone people believe that the original world had been destroyed and covered by water. They thought the only land was a single peak called Pico Blanco on which a Coyote, Hummingbird, and Eagle stood. When the water rose, the Eagle carried them all to Sierra de Gabilin to wait for the land to dry out.

2. The Ohlone people believed that humans were the decedent of the Coyote. Legend has it that Coyote married a beautiful girl in the river and their children became the Ohlone people. The Coyote taught them how to survive and increased the human population after the flood. Some myths hold the Coyote as God of all the world.

3. According to legend, death was created by Coyote so that people had enough to eat. These people went to the “Land of the Dead” where there is only one road and a man receives their spirits. There is food and water to eat and drink prior to the spirit jumping into a white foam-like sea where they cannot return from.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohlone_mythology
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/Coyote-Costanoan.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k3HwCR5rUw

Classmates:
1. Angelina learned that as of 2007, the Met measures almost 1/4-mile (400 m) long and occupies more than 2,000,000 square feet.

2. Elizabeth chose the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pennsylvania where it contains contemporary art as well as collections of American art from the nineteenth century, French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, and American and European decorative art from the late seventeenth century to present.

3. Jacob visited the Museum of Contemporary Photography (CoGP) in Chicago, Illinois.

4. Jennifer learned that the MOMA holds approximately 150,000 pieces of art, and 22,000 films.

5. John learned that In the Tomb of Tutankhamun, they found the mummified remains of two stillborn infants.

6. Justin would like to visit the Met in person one day.

7. Lori visited the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan and learned that it cost $3 million to build the in 1959.

8. Maria visited the National Gallery of Arts in Washington D.C. and found out that the largest mobile created is in this museum as the only painting of Leonardo Da Vinci outside of Western Europe.

9. Nikole visited the Miami Art Museum in Florida because it contains art with influences from North and Latin America.

10. Wendy learned that Salvador Dali was given the same name as his deceased older brother and when was 5, his parents told him that he was his brother's reincarnation and he believed his parents.