Cloth & Clay: Communicating Culture

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• Learn more about art, art history, Central America, culture, folk arts, North America, South America, and world history.

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A product of the Textile Museum of Canada and the Virtual Museum of Canada, Cloth and Clay: Communicating Culture website is an online exhibit of art and history. Here you will “explore over 2,000 years of Mexican, Central and South American culture and history.” Through careful study of the ceramic and textile objects in CLOTH & CLAY, students can follow different paths of exploration to discover the great Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations of the ancient Americas.

The section of the site called let the Objects Speak encourages students to piece together history through examining art. They learn who made each item, what it is, and where and when it was created. The clever part is each object also tells its own story, explaining the form, function and details of its history so students can see exactly where it fits. For example, a Mayan vessel says, “To you I might look like a flower vase, but I was actually used as a drinking vessel in my day,” while an Andean textile tells “All of the many steps and skills required to weave me speaks of my value and worth to my people and is reflected in the way they included me within an elite burial.” As engaging as these stories are to students learning about pre-Columbian life in the Americans, the opportunities to tie this approach to pre and post field trip activities and local history are also intriguing. What stories might treasured items in North Carolina museums tell? How about objects featured in online exhibitions from other library collections? What about items passed down through the generations in the student’s family? A writing activity like this one could be adapted to artifacts from any region or time period.Explorehelps students make the connections between ancient landscapes and the way people interacted with the natural world. Available resources varied according to geography so ancient peoples interacted very directly with the landscape as they looked for food sources and materials for clothing and shelter. The landscape also provided less tangible influences including inspiration for cultural and artistic expression. By examining the characteristics of the jungle lowlands, coastal desert and Andean highlands and the cultural and physical landscapes that developed in each region, you can learn more about how the ceramic and textile artifacts vary in form and function. Learn Howexplains ancient weaving and pottery techniques. The raw materials used are detailed in both sections as is the construction of the final product. The textile section includes more information about the meaning of the design. This area of the site also profiles two modern artists working in each of these areas. Their story is told and their techniques are pictured; students can compare how the objects formed using ancient methods may be used today.Travel Back to the ancient Americas in a “choose your own adventure” style virtual field trip through time. As you make your choices you either find yourself back with the class group in the museum or interacting with mysterious characters in Lamanai, an ancient city of the Maya in Belize, Central America. Don’t let go of the thread if you want the adventure to continue! Be sure to visit the Resources for additional museum websites relevant to Mesoamerica and ancient Peru, teacher’s materials for this site, and a bibliography of books and websites.