Can functional objects be considered art? Give examples from your own culture of objects that were made to be functional, but now can be found in art museums.

Write a fictional story about a ten-year-old Mimbres child who wanted to learn about painting pottery for his family and village.

How do we learn about cultures who have left no written record or direct descendants to tell us about their lives? What can we learn from objects, places, and other artifacts? Make a list of questions about the Mimbres culture. Which ones can you answer? Which ones can you speculate about? Which ones are impossible to answer?

Imagine that you are an archaeologist in the future who "discovers" the ruins of late 20th-century United States. If no written information remained and there were no descendants to tell about the culture, what objects or artifacts would remain? What would they tell about American lives?

Brody, J.J. and Rina Swentzell, . To Touch the Past: The Painted Pottery of the Mimbres People, Weisman Art Museum. New York: Hudson Hill Press. 1996.

To Touch the Past: The Painted Pottery of the Mimbres People. Classroom materials, Weisman Art Museum, 1996.

[ Return to the TOP of the page ]