How can I incorporate Indigenous Art in my class without appropriating the culture?
This is a great question!!
Many teachers want to use Indigenous styles of art and music in their classrooms. There are so many really amazing First Nation, Metis and Inuit artists creating beautiful and thought-provoking works of art. This art includes visual arts, music, dance and drama. These works of art are excellent avenues to ensure you are sharing the perspectives and experiences of Indigenous people with your students. It is through this sharing we can build understanding.
Please keep reading to discover ways we can appreciate the works of Indigenous artists.
First of all, let’s talk about what cultural appropriation actually is.
Cultural Appropriation is taking parts of someone else’s culture that you find interesting, beautiful or “cool” and using it in ways that it was originally not intended. If the action doesn’t allow for the cultural context to be shared, then it can perpetuate stereotypes and minimize cultures to simple tropes or cliches. It silences the voices that need to be shared. The best way to avoid cultural appropriation is to make sure you are making space for voices that have generally been silenced to be shared.
Cultural appropriation is something that we should all be aware of. Sometimes we need to take a step back and look at our classroom activities from a different perspective to see if we are appropriating someone else’s culture. This also extends beyond First Nation, Metis and Inuit cultures.
This is a really interesting article about Cultural Appropriation and Indigenous Artwork that you could share with your students. It also comes with a call to action around speaking up against cultural appropriation supporting Indigenous artists.
If you are looking for more information about Cultural Appropriation please see this earlier post with a recording of our online session:
What to do:
- Do share indigenous Art
- Reference where the artist is from (If known, share nation)
- Make space in your classroom for marginalized voices
- Teach History and Current events, make space for marginalized voices to share culture
- Use the Curriculum as your guide
- Creating and Presenting
- Reflecting, Responding and Analysing
- Exploring Forms and Cultural Contexts
What About Indigenous “Inspired” Art?
Creating and Presenting: Share the artwork, ensure the students are creating their own instead of copying artwork that is unique to Indigenous Peoples.
As the curriculum guides us we want to give students opportunities to be inventive and imaginative in their thinking, rather than copy the artwork of another artist or group of people.
Instead of using them as something from which to copy, we can use these works of art as a starting point for an Inquiry (Inquiry can be conducted in the Art classroom!!).
Who is the artist? Where are they from? What is their nation? Why did they choose the medium? Who/what are the inspirations for their artwork? Is there an artist from a local First Nation we can contact who can tell us more about the style of art? Is there an artist we can contact via Skype?
Reflecting, Responding and Analysing:
(Taken from the Ontario Arts Curriculum, Pages 23-27)
One way you can utilize artworks by First Nation, Metis and Inuit artists is to use it to teach critical analysis. The above flow chart comes from the Ontario Arts Curriculum.
Here is an example:
Christi Belcourt is a Metis artist and Isaac Murdoch is an Ojibwe artist who create prints and paintings. On their website, http://onamancollective.com/ you can download their Water Is Life prints to use as posters, or for your classroom. These are excellent examples of Indigenous voices being shared through visual arts.
With your students have a discussion about why Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch would just give away their artwork in this way?
What imagery do you see in their work?
What makes it powerful?
Look to the curriculum to guide your discussion as well:
- How does the artist use:
- Colour, Line, Value, Texture, Space, Shape and Form (Elements of Design)
- Pattern, Contrast, Proportion/Scale, Harmony, Variety, Movement, Balance, Emphasis, Unity (Principles of Design)
This is success criteria that you can use when looking at artwork created by Indigenous artists.
Should students copy the images/symbols represented?
Nope. BUT, students can look at these symbols and create their own posters about protecting water or to advocate for an issue that they wish to support or draw attention to. They can use their own symbols and imagery to get their point across.
Christi and Isaac use printmaking to create their posters. You can introduce your students to the art of printmaking!
Exploring Forms and Cultural Contexts
I really like totem poles. If I take the time to teach my students about them and their history, is it okay to make them?
Well, no.
Totem poles and the styles of art seen above are very beautiful and are very distinct to unique groups of Indigenous people. We’ve all seen them, maybe we’ve even used them in our art classroom as inspiration or a template from which to copy. These styles of art have had generations of stories, experiences, and traditions behind them. To feel like we as teachers can give them the respect they need in a 40 minute lesson is showing the artists and their ancestors a great deal of disrespect.
Claire Kennedy, a teacher from Sir John Moore created a unit plan for the visual arts strand. She has made sure to include many First Nation, Metis and Inuit artists in the plan.
You can find this unit plan here: Visual Arts Unit Plan
It can easily be adapted for many grades and includes a lot of resources for further exploration. Miigwech for sharing, Claire!
Can I invite an artist from a local First Nation to my class to share their work?
Yes! Please do!
Some teachers have invited artists from Kettle and Stony Point, Aamjiwnaang, Bkejwanong and Eelunaapeewi Lahkeewiit to their classes. Many of these artists share their stories, traditions and their styles of artwork with the students. While the visiting artists are sharing with the students and teachers, these styles and stories still belong to the artist and their ancestors. They are not to be later taught by the teacher.
When in doubt, reach out!
Cultural appropriation is sometimes difficult to navigate, but it can be very hurtful, damaging and can perpetuate stereotypes. When in doubt, please ask! I get many questions from teachers, and I really appreciate the time they take, and the bravery they show when asking! Send me an email! gretchen.sands-gamble@lkdsb.net
Miigwech!
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