Implications for Education:  
Use of Indigenous Art in the Classroom 

Indigenous art, full of rich cultural meaning, is a valuable tool for use in the classroom. Wendy Alvarez, an art teacher at John Jay Middle School in Katonah, New York, understands the value of this resource. 

Wendy has taught art for many years, most of which has been at the elementary level. Wendy explains, “My use of multicultural art projects has its origins at the elementary level. It always seemed to afford young children a natural pathway to express their innate and intuitive sense of color and design. I believe that children in grades K - 5 are superbly capable of capturing the ‘essence’ of an image, without artifice or restraint. It is later, when they grow older, that they become more restrained in self-expression, concerned with how things "should" look--less able to give voice to whimsy, imagination, flights of fancy.”

Why is this? Why this loss of an expressive voice? “The reasons for this are many -- adolescence brings changes that directly impact creativity,” says Wendy. “Peer pressure, fear of being ‘different,’ a need for literal interpretation, as well as accuracy and realism, a reluctance to display their inner visions--all of these developmental changes put the whammy on creative spontaneity. I feel the use of multicultural units in my art program allows middle school students that freedom to again use design, color, and associative imagery and to find ‘connectedness’ to their personal visions once again in a joyful way. It opens them up.”

In addition to the creative pathways created by indigenous art, this type of art provides a method for encouraging an appreciation of cultural diversity in a visceral way. “Our school district is becoming more and more heterogeneous in the composition of its student population,” explains Wendy. “That art should reflect our society's changes is always a given, key to an informed aesthetic.” 

Wendy is currently preparing a project for her 7th graders, which involves the creation of molas. Wendy plans to use brightly colored fadeless paper in the same manner as the Kuna Indians create their molas from fabric. 

Bird Molita	Fish & Flower Mola

Molas are traditionally colorful panels of cloth, which make up part of the Kuna woman's blouse. Originally, the word "mola" meant cloth, but now it describes both the blouse of the Kuna traditional dress and the individual panels making up the bodice.

All Kuna women make molas from the time they are young girls. Those made with skill and artistry are especially prized and are true works of art. Molas might also adorn a wall, be made into pillows, or be displayed in a variety of other ways.

Geometric Mola	Two Birds Mola

The use of molas is but one example of the educational implications of the use of indigenous art in the classroom. The use of indigenous art paired with other teaching tools is especially powerful. Wendy describes a previous project funded through the Readers Digest Tall Trees Grant in 1997:

“The school librarian and I received the grant to create a folklore project for our 4th graders. The money enabled Janet Duffy, our librarian, to buy approximately 100 books on stories from all over the world. As none of the books were too long we gave the students 3 weeks to read 10 books of their choosing. We designed ‘passports’ for the kids-- every time a child finished a book, (s)he would specify the country of origin, a brief synopsis of the plot, and a personal ‘critique’ of the story on a page of the passport.  

At the end of three weeks, they brought their passports to the art room and began the second stage of the project. Asking the children to select their favorite story from their passports, I explained what a "symbol" is, and told them to think of an appropriate symbol for that story. Then on a 12"x18" piece of paper, they were to fashion that symbol using anything from paint to markers to colored pencils. Around the periphery of the paper, borders were created using the style of art typifying that particular country. We had an incredible variety of art styles, from colorful Mexican Aztec design to Japanese pen and ink lines to Persian tessellated patterns to Egyptian hieroglyphics! The borders were fabulous!

China by Elyssa Michaels	Switzerland by Christian Costello	Russia by Liana Felt

When this was done, each artwork was mounted on a 18"x24" piece of colored poster board. And lastly, the poster board ‘frame’ was filled with selected text from the particular story, written in the child's own hand. The project was displayed at the Katonah Village Library and the kids had their own Artists' Opening in the evening with their parents.” 

Grain of Rice by Sebhia Dibra	Eskimo by Daniel Schillinger	Windigo by Fiena Kirkdatricks

Indigenous art, sprung from the creative impulses of the peoples of many cultures, is a tool that should not be overlooked by educators. Not only is indigenous art a tool for teaching art, it is a tool for teaching cultural appreciation and principles of tolerance. Indigenous art is a deep and meaningful way to begin to understand people from other cultures…to tap into the emotional and celebratory outpourings in the form of art…to feel as well as learn. What better way to be introduced.

LeAnn Simonson, Guest Writer & Editor 

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