Cape students study Native American arts
Owls are a symbol of death; bears are a symbol of strength.
Cape Henlopen High School sophomore Jillian Brower used both on the pot she is working on in ceramics class.
“We’re making Native American-inspired pots. We’ve been studying all the different Indian cultures,” she said. Brower focused on American Plains tribes in her research and used many animal symbols to decorate the pot she made in Elaine Ippolito’s ceramics class.
Students researched symbols and also learned from Native Americans about symbols used in their artwork.
Freddy Mendez said he focused his research on the Cherokee. “The Cherokee were warriors. I like that,” he said.
Tommy Dennison decorated his clay pot with buffalo, which he said were very important to the Blackfoot Nation. “I like it; I think it’s cool,” he said.
Brandi Smith, a sophomore, layered leaves around her pot. “It looks more earthy,” she said. Smith researched the Iroquois, a diverse tribe that she said appealed to her because of their peacefulness.
Ippolito said the unit on Native American culture is helping students learn more about the history of the country’s native people as well as their rich culture.
“We, as artists, use symbols everyday,” Ippolito said. “That was their language,” she said of the myriad of symbols Native American people used to represent ideas.
Sam West, a sophomore, said the tribe he researched, the Comanche, were hunter-gatherers. “Mine was more about the environment, so I’m adding vines to reflect that,” he said.
Dennison said the pots did not have to precisely replicate Native American design, but were supposed to have meaning.
Shawn Haddaway and Krystle Muntz visited the class earlier this month. Haddaway, an artist, musician and dancer, said Native Americans were born into clans, generally represented by animals such as turtles, wolves and bears.
He brought powwow costumes and explained how clothing symbols reveal a person’s clan. Muntz, a member of the Lenni Lenape and Nanticoke tribes, is an artist and dancer. She makes intricate beadwork and brought several powwow dresses, explaining how the designs on each one are created specifically for the owner, to represent personal interests.
Haddaway said it’s important to work on artwork in a positive frame of mind.
“If you put five minutes into it, it’s going to look like you put five minutes into it and last probably as long,” he said.
Ippolito said students are working hard at making large pieces of work.
“This is tough, making things this size,” she said. “They’re struggling, and they’re really doing great.”
Ippolito’s grant came from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
