INDG 1000Y Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Kenojuak Ashevak, Cape Dorset, Baffin Island
25 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
What is now called traditional was once contemporary: They merely introduced new tools and styles to already flourishing art forms. Indigenous art was most often practical as well as visually pleasing. European traders viewed their works as artifact and not as fine art . The value, in european eyes, was in its collection as relics of a dying way of life rather than its aesthetic value. While much was stolen, indigenous peoples quickly saw a market for their works and items such as baskets, pottery and beadwork were used to acquire european goods. Post- world war ii, indigenous peoples began to turn back to traditional skills. The strain of ongoing colonization had resulted in fewer people learning the old ways and there was renewed desire to revive those skills and pass them on. New materials and ways of making art had been making their way into indigenous cultures and were being incorporated into traditional arts practices.
