Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2017 i Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

1. What quacks and shows up in traditional artwork from many American cultures? Mallard ducks—the ones you’ve probably seen in ponds and lakes—inspired the work of South Dakota flu e maker Bryan Akipa and Maryland hunting decoy carver Lem Ward. 2. Ever dream of joining the circus? When she was just 13 years old, Dolly Jacobs joined the circus as a dancer and elephant rider. Her dad was a famous circus clown, and she grew up traveling the country on a circus train with her whole family. 3. It doesn’t take a magician to turn ordinary grass into beautiful sweetgrass baskets—just the skillful hands of Mary Jackson and knowledge passed down over generations. Mary’s intricate and inventive basket designs have been exhibited in art museums across the country. 4. Feet…

Have you seen a duck recently? If you have, odds are it was a mallard, the most common duck in North America, with an estimated population of 11.6 million. That’s one reason why NEA National Heritage Fellows hailing from as far apart as Maryland and South Dakota have been inspired to feature the mallard in their artwork. Mallards are easy to find. They live in most wetland environments, including parks, ponds, marshes, bogs, reservoirs, farms, and even some backyard puddles and swimming pools. Males have a shiny green neck and bright yellow bill. Females and babies are brown with orange and brown bills. Both sexes have a bright blue speculum, or patch of feathers, on their wings. Mallards are not exactly picky eaters. They belong to a subfamily of waterfowl…

We’re all surrounded by music: in shopping malls, on television, and on our own electronic devices. If you’re 10 years old now, chances are you’ve already heard more music than your great-grandmother would have heard in her entire life. Much of the music you hear sounds quite familiar: pop, rock, rap, R&B, jazz, and classical. If you dig a little bit deeper into your school, community, town, and country, you’ll be amazed at how many ways there are to learn, create, and enjoy music. The NEA National Heritage Fellows reflect he musical diversity found across the United States today. Here are a few examples. 1. Oil drums ringing Elliott “Ellie” Mannette’s steel pans The steel pan, with its rich, bell-like tone, was developed by Afro-Trinidadians as a part of Carnival…

Aloha, welcome to Hawaii, (also spelled Hawai’i) where a special dance helps keep an ancient language alive. For the Kanaka’ole family, hula is much more than a dance. Stretching back eight generations, it is a link between the past and present of the Hawaiian culture that they cherish. The family and their students are recognized widely as keepers of the art of hula. Sisters Nalani Kanaka’ole and Pualani Kanaka’ole Kanahele and several other NEA National Heritage Fellows from Hawaii represent a movement to preserve and carry on Hawaiian language and traditions. What is hula, exactly? The answer is not as simple as the grass skirts and swaying hands made popular for visitors to the islands. The oldest form of hula includes chanting (a type of sacred singing), drumming, and dance.…

What do African American quilters, Appalachian ballad singers, Ukrainian American textile artists, Native American basket makers, Cambodian American dancers, and Mexican American musicians have in common? They are all Americans and all folk artists, but they also represent a sampling of people to whom the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded National Heritage Fellowships, the highest honor for traditional artists in the United States. In this issue of FACES, you’ll travel across the country, meeting several NEA National Heritage Fellows. You’ll discover the ways they found their passion for a particular folk art and how they pass these arts onto new generations. Their stories are often funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and always inspiring. Their talent and commitment to their arts bring them, and us, together as a nation. Since…

Dolly Jacobs never had to dream of running away to join the circus—she was born into a family of circus performers. Dolly has been performing in circuses since she was 13 years old. Today, she is world famous as an aerialist who performs acrobatics while suspended in the air. In 2015, she became the first circus artist to win the NEA National Heritage Fellowship. Both of Dolly Jacobs’ parents are circus performers. Her father was the famous clown Lou Jacobs who performed with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for more than 60 years. There he met her mother, Jean Rockwell Jacobs, a dancer, elephant rider, and aerialist. Dolly grew up and lives in Sarasota, Florida. Ever since John Ringling moved the Ringling Bros. to Sarasota for the winter…

On a Monday morning in December, NEA National Heritage Fellow Losang Samten arrived at the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School (FACTS) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Using markers, a straight edge, and a compass tool, he slowly and carefully began to draw precise intersecting lines and circles on a square table. Losang emptied small bags of colored sand into shiny metal bowls and used one color to fill one foot-long hollow metal cone. The cone made a soothing and rhythmic sound as he rubbed it against a second cone, controlling each grain of sand placed at the exact center of the table. He chanted to help stay focused amid the noises of the busy school. Under the watchful gaze of students and teachers, Losang spent a week creating an intricate and colorful…

Generations of children in Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan Pueblo), New Mexico, have delighted in and learned from the traditional stories of the mischievous rabbit and his tricks. This story was told by NEA National Heritage Fellow Esther Martinez (P’oe Tsáwä). After she passed away, her family and community carried on her legacy. As P’oe Tsáwä’s grandfather told her, “You should give of yourself whatever it is you have, whether it’s material things or some kind of knowledge.” Be on the lookout for some Tewa words in the story! Tewa is the native language of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. Somewhere in San Juan Pueblo there lives a little Rabbit who nibbles on cactus fruit every morning. Somewhere close by there is a Coyote who is tracking that rabbit. He loves juicy…

Sosei Shizuye Matsumoto won an NEA National Heritage Fellowship for being the most accomplished master and influential teacher of the tea ceremony in the United States. During her 60-plus years of teaching this ancient and beautiful ritual, she has instructed 5,000 students of all ages. The Japanese tea ceremony is known as chado, which means “way of tea.” It has been practiced in Japan for more than 1,300 years. Tea was once rare and expensive. The green tea plant, camellia sinensis, didn’t grow naturally in Japan and had to be imported from China. Only the Japanese upper-class could afford it and saved it for special occasions. Sosei’s path toward mastering the Japanese tea ritual is an interesting one. After growing up in Hawaii and California, she graduated from the French…

You’ve heard of “sweet 16” parties, but many girls in American Latino communities follow another tradition. A quinceañera (KEEN-say-ahn-YAY-rah) is a grand celebration marking a young girl’s rite of passage from childhood to young womanhood when she turns 15. The honorees usually wear special dresses and headpieces for the occasion. NEA National Heritage Fellow Genoveva “Eva” Castellenoz from Nyssa, Oregon, crafts beautiful quinceañera coronas (crowns) that are sought out far and wide by families wishing to add a traditional touch to the celebration. Let’s find out more about the quinceañera and Eva’s contribution to this tradition. The History of Quinceañera Quinceañera is celebrated in Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and other parts of Central and South America, in addition to Latino communities in the United States and Canada. Its origins…

What is capoeira? It’s a dance, a martial art, a game, and a way of life. Capoeira (kah-pou-EY-rah) is one of Brazil’s best-known cultural traditions. Under the instruction of masters, known as Mestres, such as Jelon Vieira and João Oliveira dos Santos—both NEA National Heritage Fellows who now live in New York City—this lively art attracts thousands of young students across the United States. Why is capoeira so popular? Perhaps the answer lies in its combination of dance, music, and acrobatics with self-defense techniques. Players do not actually hit each other. Instead, they move respectfully in continuous sequences of attack and defense. The sequences are smooth, methodical, and rhythmic—and, of course, fun. According to legend, capoeira was created in the mid-1500s by enslaved Africans who were brought to Brazil to…

When I was young, we didn’t have any such thing as summer camp in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. To keep me busy during the long hot days, my mother and grandmother taught me how to make baskets from local materials. Little did I know that making baskets would lead to a lifetime of creative work continuing this tradition. The art of making baskets from sweetgrass and palmetto leaves has deep roots in my family, stretching back centuries. The technique, coiling the grasses into circular shapes and sewing them together with palmetto, was brought to America by enslaved West Africans. Making baskets was a family affair, with the men and boys harvesting the materials and the women and girls shaping them into beautiful and functional vessels. Early baskets were used in…

The 6th grade classes at FACTS created their own interpretations of traditional mandala symbols. One of the themes they worked on was “Peace inside you, around you, and in the world.” You can see some of their artwork and their explanations of the theme here. Materials Paper Colored pencils or markers What does the idea of peace bring to mind for you? Sketch your design idea in the intersecting circles below. Add colors and additional artistic flourishes inspired by NEA National Heritage Fellow Losang Samten’s work, pages 34–37. My symbol means peace and love. This is a community, meaning that everybody treats everybody the same. It’s okay if they are other people that are other colors. —Genesis R.  My symbol is a heart with the world inside. It means to…