Teacher Resources for 2008

Web sites and other resources for all disciplines

Folk Art

• The University of Virginia has an interactive web site, Singular Vision/Contemporary American Folk Art. There is an excellent essay by curator Susan Foley and an opportunity to tour the galleries on the web.
• In San Francisco, The Museum of Craft and Folk Art.
• The American Folk Art Museum in NY.
• A real treasure in Sante Fe the Museum of International Folk Art, which has permanent and changing exhibitions. Multiple Visions a Common Bond is in its 25th year. The Girard Foundation Collection: This unique exhibition designed by the collector and donor, Alexander Girard. Since the opening in 1982, has richly varied displays of toys, traditional arts, village scenes, textiles, and popular arts. Over 100 countries are represented in Girard's innovative use of the color and gallery space with objects at eye level for visitors 2 to 102, even overhead.

Slam Poetry: Web sites and Films

• http://voices.e-poets.net/
• http://voices.e-poets.net/SmithP/
• http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3658/
• Anglessey, Zoe, ed. Listen Up! Spoken Word Poetry. New York: Ballantine Publishing Group, 1999.
• Eleveld, Mark, ed. The Spoken Word Revolution. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2003.
• Glazner, Gary Mex, ed. Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry. San Francisco: Manic D Press, 2000.
• The Poetics of Hip Hop: a lesson plan on the Kennedy Center’s Arts Edge
• The United States of Poetry is the official web site for the award-winning PBS TV series. You have the option to click on themes and read poems by various poets, creating a dazzling landscape of word, voice and image.
• Marc Kelly Smith, Slampapi: Slam history, philosophies etc.
• On Poets.org. Interest in poetry across America was reborn with slams. A slam itself is simply a poetry competition in which poets perform original works and are judged by the audience....
  
• FILMS
  • Fooling with Words by Bill Moyers.
  • Slamnation directed by Paul Devlin.
  • Slam written and directed by Marc Levin.

Mexican Masks

• Mexican Masks from Guerrero. A terrific site with images and information on mask traditions in Guerrero.
• Mask Arts of Mexico. The University of Arizona has a strong collection of masks.
• Images of masks and other arts.
• Dance Masks from Mexico.
• Mexico and Guatemala Masks
• The Mask Monger has terrific illustrations.
• Target has sponsored a terrific site Latino Artistic Expression an educational resource guide for teachers. This is based on a PBS documentary Visiones: Latino Arts and Culture, produced by the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture.
• Dances and their Masks
  • University of Veracruz
  • University of Arizona
  • Folklorico.com
    
  • Alegría - Folklórico Méxicana
  • Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Nueva York is a non-profit organization that makes available its rehearsals and classes to anyone interested in learning and performing Mexican folkloric dance.
• Other books
  • Cordry's Mexican Masks
  • Maschere del Messico
  • Moya's The Other Face of Mexico
  • Esser's Behind the Mask in Mexico
  • Resources for teaching about the Americas
  • Children’s Book: Mexico The Culture, A Bobbie Kalman Book and Mexico from A to Z Bobbie Kalman and Jane Lewis, Crabtree Press.

Tap Dance

A quick Google search will net you several rich resources for Tap, including:

• TapDance.org lines up the steps the major players and references for films etc. Some of those are listed below.
• Tap Dance Origins: Some of the major patriarchs and to names of steps, also lots of advice for the practitioner.
• The American Tap Dance Association has a web site listing the inductees for the Hall of Fame; under each there is a biographical segment you can explore.
  • Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
  • John Bubbles
  • Charles “Honi” Coles
  • Chuck Green
  • Bunny Briggs
  • Baby Lawrence, and other contemporary dancers
• Master Juba (William Henry Lane) played an important role in developing what we know as Tap.
• Films
  • Stormy Weather (1943)
    Description: One of mainstream Hollywood's rare all-black musicals, showcasing Bill "Bojangles" Robinson's dancing and Lena Horne's singing and a romantic subplot. Also features Fats Waller, Cab Calloway and his orchestra, the Nicholas Brothers and Dooley Wilson ("Casablanca.") 77 mins. (1943)
    Comments: Minimal dancing by Bojangles, unfortunately. He has one number tapping across some drums. The Nicholas Brothers are amazing. Their portion includes running up the wall and landing in a split, furiously tapping everywhere and leap-frogging each other into splits coming down a set of huge stairs, all in tuxedos. This film is also great if you're a Lena Horne fan...(PJC)]
  • The Cotton Club (1984)
    Description: Francis Ford Coppola's lavish recreation of the famed Harlem nightclub and the gang lords who went there is a reiveting daram highlighted with a nostalgic jazz score. Richard Gere is a musician (trumpet, doing his own playing!) mixed up with the mob. Diane Lane is the boss' girl he falls for. With Gregory and Maurice Hines, Bob Hoskins and Fred Gwynne. 127 mins.
    Comments: Features Maurice and Gregory Hines as a brother tap duo and a visit to the "Hoofers Club" where Honi Coles (as 'Sugar') presides. Greg also does a great a capella solo and stair dance as counterpoint to gunfire as the camera cuts back and forth. Tap choreography by Henry LeTang and 'improvography' by Gregory Hines for his solos. (PJC)
  • Tap (1989)
    Description: Gregory Hines, Sammy Davis, Jr. and some legendary hoofers star in a rousing dance showcase about a second-generation tapper and paroled jewel thief who's torn between the stage an returning to his lavish life of crime. A throwback to those classic MGM musical, costarring Suzzanne Douglas. Choreography by Henry LeTang and Gregory Hines. Written and directed by Nick Castle. 115 mins. (1989)
    Comments: The sequence of tappers in the "Challenge" scene is: Arthur Duncan, Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, Steve Condos, Harold Nicholas, Sandman Sims and finally Sammy Davis, Jr. and Gregory Hines. The Shim Sham Girls in the nightclub scene are: Suzanne Douglas, Jane Goldberg, Dorothy Wasserman, Dianne Walker and Frances Neely. (PJC)]
  • Bojangles with Gregory Hines (2001)
    The award-winning actor and dancer Gregory Hines stars in this look at the life of extraordinary tap dancing legend Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. This is the story of an incredibly talented man who struggled with the demons of his past and the racism of his time, but still entertained millions with his unique and complex dance style.
    

African Art Resources

• Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture see specifically Foundations of Kingdoms p 9, and illustrations pp 39-53.
• "Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History," African Arts, Winter 1996, pp 23- 35.
• Art and Life In Africa: a rich resource from The University of Iowa, The School of Art and Art History articles on
• Mossi Masks (Burkina Faso) by Christopher Roy,
  includes images of the people and the masks from 1970 to 2004.
• African Art: Digging Deeper. Excerpts from Stokstad's Art History.
• African Stools
• African Art: Aesthetics and Meaning, Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia
• An electronic catalogue with references to the Aesthetics as listed in Susan M. Vogel, African Aesthetics, New York: Center for African Art, 1986.
• The Art of the African Mask, Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia
• National Museum of African Art, The Smithsonian Institution
• Resources at the Smithsonian’s web site celebrate the rich visual traditions of African sculptures, masks, textiles, furniture, pottery, paintings and much more. Educational programs offer innovative approaches to engage visitors with African art.
• Art and Life in Africa Project, University of Iowa Art and Life in Africa: Recontextualizing African Art
• University of Pennsylvania Museum
• Africa: The Art of the Continent, Guggenheim Museum
• Yoruba & Akan Work in Wood & Metal, an on-line catalogue Yoruba and Akan Art, at Lake View Museum, Peoria, Illinois.
• Ivory Coast Art at Oberlin College Museum
• Los Angeles County Museum Tradition as innovation in African Art
• Bamana Masks The collection of the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) Search for (classification masks), Region(West Africa), Country (Mali) and (ethnic group) Bamana you’ll see the Chi Wara kun mask of the Bamana people.
• University of Iowa Mask Catalogue
  
• Smithsonian Natural History Web: African Voices
  The Web site African Voices reflects a permanent exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History, examines the diversity, dynamism, and global influence of Africa's peoples and cultures over time in the realms of family, work, community, and the natural environment.
• Links for Univ. of Iowa web site Films:
  Videos about African art:
  DVDs about Africa by Christopher Roy ($24.95 each)
  • Carving a Crocodile Mask, Shaping a Mask of Leaves An artist of the Gnoumou family carves a crocodile mask of wood, and men of the Bayer family fashion a mask of leaves to represent Do, the God of the wilderness.
  • African Art as Theater: The Bwa Masks of the Gnoumou Family of Boni The masks of the Gnoumou family in the Bwa village of Boni act out the historical encounters between their ancestors and the spirits of the wilderness.
  • Speaking With God: A Mossi Baga Diviner in Burkina Faso. An elderly diviner, whose ancestor was painted in 1907 by a German explorer, wears a spectacular costume as he speaks with God.
  • Masks of Leaves and Wood: The Bwa People of Burkina Faso. The Bwa people make masks of leaves that represent the spirit of the springtime and of the wilderness, and masks of wood that represent nature spirits.
  • African Art in Performance: The Winiama Masks of the Village of Ouri.
  • Dozens of masks, representing chameleons, bush buffalo, antelope, dangerous one-horned spirits, monkeys, and others appear in a lengthy performance in a village in central Burkina Faso.
  • African Art in Performance: The Winiama Masks of the Village of Ouri, Burkina Faso (Blu-ray)
    
    African Art in Motion: The Masks of the Nuna People of Burkina Faso The masks of the Nuna people from the villages of Savara and Tisse, including the bush pig, butterfly, bush buffalo, old man, hyena, and many others.
  • Art as a Verb in Africa: The Masks of the Bwa Village of Boni. This video documents the opening celebration of the masks of the Bonde family in Boni in late February, 2005. Dozens of masks and thousands of people appear to dance, sing, and honor the spirits that watch over them.
  • African Masks: Burkina Faso. Three videos of masks in performance: the first is older footage from the 1970s and '80s of Mossi, Bwa, Bobo, and Nuna masks. The others are of more recent performances, filmed with digital video, of masks in the Nuna towns of Savara and Tisse.
  • The Death of an African King: The Funeral of the Omanhene of Techiman. The complex and colorful state funeral for the Chief of the large town of Techiman (Takyiman) north of Kumasi, in Ghana. Chiefs, royal arts, textiles, music.

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