Essay Instructions: Select one question below to answer in a five-page essay.
Discuss the Aboriginal myths of creation with reference to the celestial world in art in the Pacific Island. Give a variety of examples, with at least three works of art that you identify, describe, and discuss.
Please describe the Maori of New Zealand, and explain how their oral legends, poetry and other literary works are expressed in their visual arts, even today. Discuss at least three examples.
Please give an overview of the role of women in Oceanic art and culture. How were women depicted in art of this region? What role did they play in religion and society? Please provide three examples of works of art for this question.
In this final unit, you will first examine art of the Pacific Islands, including aboriginal Australia, an area sometimes called Oceania. This is the area around the South Pacific, and consists of over 25,000 islands, many of which are still little-studied, although inhabitants have been in this region of the world for tens of thousands of years.
Around 1900, art from the Pacific islands was beginning to be collected by a few art dealers. Some of these art dealers were initially attracted to the art because of a sense of power that they found in it. This sense of power was called “mana” (meaning sacred power) by the Pacific islanders who created and used the art. It is believed that individuals, works of art, and a wide variety of other objects can all possess mana. In some areas of the Pacific, mana is envisioned as an invisible but forceful spiritual substance, a manifestation of the gods on earth that can connect people with their ancestors and many gods that they believe in.
The people of the Pacific islands believed that people may acquire mana in several different ways. One way is through lineage. Chiefs were believed to be descendents of the gods, thus he and his immediate family members were born with sizable amounts of mana. Other nobles could also be born with large amounts of mana, depending upon how closely related they were to the chief. Lineage was not the only way to acquire mana. Another way was by skillful and courageous deeds. In addition, it was believed that the body occupies a central position in this concept of mana. Individuals of high rank can increase mana they have inherited and gained through deeds by wearing certain items of noble dress such as cloaks, belts, headdresses, and by their own body art, such as through scarifications and tattoos. After studying this section, you will answer one question below.
After this final section of traditional non-western art, please begin to reflect on the many issues surrounding non-western art in the modern eras of the 20th and 21st centuries. You may review the pertinent sections on contemporary art found throughout your book, as well as the online reading “Art without Boundaries” in order to answer the final essay question for this class.
Required Readings
In the Gardner’s text read Chapter 12 and online reading “Art without Boundaries”
Unit Objectives
In this unit, students will be able to:
Discuss the Aboriginal myths of creation with reference to the celestial world in art in the Pacific Island;
Providing examples, describe the Maori of New Zealand, and explain how their oral legends, poetry and other literary works are expressed in their visual arts; and
Select a topic and write a five page essay on modern art of the twentieth or twenty-first century, found in one of the regions we have studied, or culturally tied in some way to one of the cultures we have examined.
The Sacred Power and Art in the Pacific Islands
Please read Chapter Six in your text, which covers the art of northern Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Be sure to pay special attention to the discussion of mana, or the idea of “scared power.”
Does “Non-Western” Art Exist in the Post-Modern World?
In this final part, I would like you to read the last chapter in your book, reflecting upon what directions and shape art is taking across the world today. Is it still valid to think of a “non-western” art, or does art truly have no boundaries in the more culturally fluid post-modern society in which we live?
Key Terms
Ancestral Poles
Bai
Machiy
Mana
Marae
Mimi
Tatau
Tattoo
Tubuka
All written assignments should be double-spaced, with a 1" margin on all sides, and a 12 pt. font. Any images and/or bibliographies are not included in the five page length requirement. Note: five pages of text is roughly 1,250 words. In each essay, you will be discussing works of art. In all examples that you discuss, your images should be fully identified by title, artist (if known), date, and location of object. Then, give a brief formal description and analysis of the work, and explain in a very specific and detailed way a response to the essay question. Your paper should be written entirely in your own words, although you may use a limited number of quotations from your textbook, with page references given in parenthesis at the end of the sentence. This essay format will be the same for all essays you write in all units of this class.
