The art object I chose was in Swallow Hall. “BONNET” was in fact a traditional war bonnet from the Great Plains made up of eagle feathers, otter tails, cloth, rawhide, and sinew. Great Plains tribes consisted of Sioux, Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, and Plains Cree who believed that the headdresses were a sacred display of honor and courage, and each feather told a story. Generally only chiefs wore such headdresses. I would ask my students to think about the stories the feathers of their headdresses would tell if they were a chief. Each student would make their own war bonnet with feathers that made statements with the big idea of individuality. They would investigate questions like: What makes me who I am? How am I different? What characteristics do I possess? What is something incredible that has happened to me? What is my heritage? Etc. Students could develop art-making knowledge of parts as a whole using the feathers to create an entire piece of a headdress. Creating the bonnet would be a way of making meaning about aspects in their lives as well as others. Through discussion students would be able to make distinctions about individuality. They would learn how they are different from their classmates in many aspects and make meaning about specific cultures.
Alicia,
ReplyDeleteThe idea of creating a war headress or power objects has been utilized across time and cultures. I would look at the Sioux headress as an example of this and discuss with students how these ideas are utilized today. Do we wear things that bring us power? baseball hats, athletic gear? fashion embellishments? I would think more generally and more deeply in lesson planning. Why, for example should your students use feathers in making their headress if they are not, in fact, from a native group? I would also like to see you make connections to your readings in the Walker text? How has that reading impacted your thinking about how to teach these ideas? Blog entries should be about 500 words.