Step 1b: Magazine Sample Idea

This is  an idea I want to get out for the magazine I think I would like to do as part of my project, the next task taking references for Native American history websites and drawing out sketches for website layouts an plan what is the content that will go on it.

Why Some Ideas Die and Others Survive "Made To Stick"

As I was updating my blog I wanted to share some info with all of the class, I've been picking up some hints from a book I was using as reference for research and idea developing purposes. The authors of this book are Chip Heath & Dan Heath, they come from an interesting point of view. Their book talks about how to develop ideas and make them stick in your audience's head.I found it important to share some of their questions with you all, it may help with your own projects and organization.


Questions & excerpts from "Made to Stick":
-So how do we nurture our ideas so that they will succeed in the world?
-Many of us struggle with how to communicate ideas effectively, how to make our ideas to make a difference.
-We wrote this book to help you make your ideas stick . By "stick" we mean that your ideas are understood and remembered, and have lasting impact--they change your audience's opinion or behavior.
-If you have to tell someone the same thing ten times, the idea probably wasn't very well designed.
-Why do some ideas succeed while others fail?
-What makes some ideas more viral than others?


These were some of the things I found interesting while I read this book, and just wanted to share with you all.

Christopher Columbus Arrival - 500 Nations - Native American - Part 1

As part of my research, i'll be watching this documentary produced by Kevin Costner. Feel free to comment and watch the first few minutes of it... pretty educational.

Step 1a: Locating Magazine References

So as I have mentioned before, the way I saw my project evolving, and perhaps reaching a broader audience was using other media outlets. For example, I thought a good medium to reach broader audiences was through a print magazine. I've scanned certain pages of these magazines so you guys could understand what is the type of content I feel would be interesting to my target audience and its readers.

Ecuador Infinito is a nationally published magazine in my country, and talks about the "undiscovered wonders" in modern day Ecuador, such as places to visit, historical places, visual artists, crafters, and other valuable information for Ecuadorians. This magazine also has a section that comes out in every issue, its a section on Native Indigenous people which talks about our traditions, history, customs, current environmental issues and other current news. The first time I came across this magazine after some research I thought "It would be great to have a magazine with this type of content, but one that exclusively talked about all and any of the Natives in modern America, Natives that still live countries like Canada, the United States,  Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, Brazil etc."

INDIAN (By the Museum of the American Indian) goes along this line, and writes about different Natives across the Americas. But I believe its only a NYC magazine, what would happen if a magazine that had my ideas be available in different countries? Such as the National Geographic magazine? Which is published in languages such as English and Spanish? People may have an interest about reading and learning about the Natives in their own individual countries. Therefore learning a little bit more in general about the First Nations (possible magazine title) of the Americas. 

NICOLE KLAGSBRUN PROJECT Critique

The NICOLE KLAGSBRUN PROJECT was probably the show that was most extensively talked about in our last class meeting. Therefore, I will reflect upon what was mentioned before and say that the overall opinion of such show seemed to be perceived as "Cheesy". As a whole I think most of the audience including the class were initially entertained with the variety of apparatuses exhibited in the gallery. The environment of creating a "Spa" feeling, the pedaling bikes, the "steam" room, and the scientific machine all contributed to create an unexpected setting. 
What I personally found interesting was to analyze and figure out what the entire process and purpose of the exhibit was. By the end, the audience could figure out that all these mechanisms were related to each other, or were connected through time & a virtual space that was created by the video and the live presentation. However, by the end of the presentation the majority of the class was not convinced of the projects artists intellect.

The Evolution of "Welcome to Native America" Draft 3

This is the third revised draft of my thesis statement for my project, this is an idea I have to put out there to see how well it is received, and will it be plausible. My idea was to reach people with three different media outlets;  Map (in educational environments, perhaps high schools), Magazine (I got references from magazines such as Ecuador Infinito or Museum of the American Indian, they have certain Native people current events), Website (If people are interested into learning even more, this would be the place to go)

The  “Welcome to Native America” project will act as an educational tool that could use three forms of media to reach different audiences and help increase recognition of  Native American people in modern day America. In the hopes to one day help petition for a nationally recognized Indigenous Holiday.

Main Concerns

The main questions that I have been trying to answer were brought up by fellow class mates that have left comments on my blog throughout the development of this project. For example there was a particular question that asked how would the project get people interested in these stories, history, tribes, and culture if they were outside of the Native American community? What outlets would I sue to reach them?

The project of "Welcome to Native America"started with the idea of a map, its a typography exercise names many Native tribes since 1492. The question I asked myself was how could this project grow from the first step of making a map?

I would like to reach more people, through different mediums and environments. The people that come across the map so far are only through the visits of a retail store located in the Palisades Mall. After meeting Prof. Thomas O'Reilley in person, he suggested this map would benefit greatly in educational environments, such as elementary schools. After discussing with Prof. Moderegger about this idea, he asked the question of whether it would become even more beneficial to display a map like mine in high schools, since it is here where young adults begin to develop a more conscious state of intellect. Whether its in an elementary or higher educational environment, the idea of having maps like mine in public schools would be of a great achievement for me. 

But what happens when these students, teachers or other people that come across a map like mine, want to learn more in depth about individual tribes or Native American nations? That is where the idea of having a website will come in handy. I visualize a website that has a user interface concentrated and designed around  my typographical map. If a website visitor wants to know about the Natives in his or her own individual country for example, he/she would click under the map shape of Guatemala, Surinam, Brazil, or Mexico and be taken to a page that gives the visitor information on images, history, culture, and most importantly if that Native tribe still exists today and current population. 

The Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian publishes a monthly magazine about Native people from across the Americas. Their idea is another media outlet that I think my project could benefit from. If someone who visits the website wishes to receive current news from Native people and their work, artistic merit, or other interesting topics, they may find that a magazine is a great source for this information. 

I could try to reach more people through these three outlets; a map, a website, and a magazine. This of course is just an idea, whether they make sense individually or a as a group is another topic of discussion. But as of now I see a project that could be explored through these outlets and reach more people in a more serious and meaningful way.

The Evolution of "Welcome to Native America" Draft 2

The class of Art 31511 have questioned  how the project of "Welcome to Native America" will continue to evolve aside from the initial execution of a map with the names of Native American nations on it. There have been questions on how the project will attract a bigger audience, and if the project and audience will mutually benefit if it were interactive either online or as an installation.
The valuable content and information may benefit tremendously by presenting them through three different mediums: the web, a magazine, and the poster. As part of my thinking process this is my 2nd draft in condensing my idea into a one sentence thesis concept.


“Welcome to Native America” is an educational project that uses multiple forms of media to increase the recognition of Native people, and honor the first indigenous nations of the Americas.

Visual Ideas and Concepts: The Question

These three photos display an idea I had in my head, this isn't part of the concrete project that is developing. These images are exploring merely a socio-political commentary, when I see them together I ask myself what is the audience understanding, what do they want to respond, where do they step in history with  these maps?

These images are a thought process for my own personal steps to come up with a new concept of an idea, looking for the "distinctly different" in regards to my other map. Trying to look for the answers of my greatest challenges:

• Take all this new information I'm always getting and filtering it to an audience
• Not dumbing down facts
• Combining several aspects of my research i.e. Time period, Geography, Cultural differences, Languages etc.

Reconsider Columbus Day Video & Time Magazine Photos

         The Reconsider Columbus Day video was first presented to this class as part of the reasons for the development of "Welcome To Native America" Project. The message of the video is to reconsider Columbus Day, and petition for a nationally recognized Indigenous Holiday. Again, this is an example of a mutual feeling that there hasn't been enough recognition and respect by government authorities or educational institutions of the first indigenous people before the arrival of Columbus, a part of history that has been tried to be overlooked or erased.

          Part of the message says "...It happened a long time ago. But remaining neutral? And pretending like it didn't happened? Or that it doesn't still impact us today?..." delivers their strong beliefs that this first step in America's history (Not just the United States) had a complete impact on its future and peoples.

Such impacts for example is the lack of federal funding in Native reservations in the state of Montana for example, for educational programs in high schools, adequate medical hospitals, job opportunities, and other important neglects. 

Time Magazine's website illustrates these problems through a photo series, a photo reads:

"Richard Littlebird is a 47-year-old freshman at the college. Inspired by the possibilities of education, he has enrolled in the school in spite of his age and two children. Though he is unsure of what career path he will follow, he vows to come back to the reservation and try to improve life there." It may be safe to say that if there is a lack of recognition in the history of Native people in the past and how we were treated, then until this day there is still a lack of recognition in the present into what are the things we need. Whether its in the U.S or other countries that still have Native American populations in their own backyard.

Take the time to see Time's Magazine's Photos here:

Montana Tribal College

Take the time to see Reconsider Columbus Day video here:

Reconsider Columbus Day

Compassion Assignment: "Empathy Virus" Analysis

Carl Scrase, creator of the "Empathy Virus" is an artist who "People kept telling [him] that art can't change the world; so [he] stopped calling what [he did] art...". It seems that Carl has passed through the same topics of what can be considered art.  According to the sample photos of his work, he seems to replicate what viruses look like or how they seems to make people feel. His personal project has evolved into a collaborative one because of simple reasons such as not wanting to work alone, and making his projects grow into something bigger. He is interested in working with other artists to gain a broader perspective, where he is currently working, in Australia, it seems they can gain more recognition as a whole than individually.
I am on the same process of making my personal project evolve into working with other older and more experienced teachers, the three maps uploaded before were actually given to me by a professor who works with SUNY. I will meet other individuals who seem to have an interest i my project, and work on it to attract a broader audience.

5 Word In Class Assignment

My partner for this assignment was Michael, he worked on words that responded to him based on what he had seen so far of my developing project. His words were:

• Cultural
• Insightful
• Maintain
• Significant
• Dignity
• Pride
• Sacred
• Mindful

        The word that I finally decided to work with was "Pride". At the beginning of this project that started several months ago, it initiated as an educational piece. A map that would illustrate all the Native American indigenous people that existed throughout the Americas before the 15th century, not just modern day "The United States of America". I thought it was important to have a visual representation of such information inside a store where there are different hand made artworks from diverse indigenous backgrounds. The setting of such store with Native crafts, jewelry, ceramics, and clothing always lent itself with a similar question by customers such as: "These products are all hand made from real Native American people right? Not like from Mexico or Peru?" The map became a form of response or solution to these similar questions that were basically asked on a daily basis. 

        "Pride" comes to mind because it reminded me of my initial response to these remarks or questions. This project is a very intimate and personal one, perhaps it was my "pride" that unconsciously drove me to educate myself about all the Native people that I could find information about. Unfortunately,  the media in the United States or Europe has taught people how to think about Native American people in a very stereotypical way, a narrow view on where they are from, how they dress, what languages they should speak, what they look like or even how they live. 

          Charles C. Mann, author of the book 1491 "New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus", wrote the following:

"For almost five centuries, Holmberg's Mistake--the supposition that Native Americans lived in an eternal, unhistoried state--held sway in scholarly work, and from there fanned out to high school textbooks, hollywood movies, newspaper articles, environmental campaigns, romantic adventure books, and silk screened t-shirts. It existed in many forms and was embraced both by those who hated Indians and those who admired them. Holmberg's Mistake explained the colonists' view of most Indians as incurably vicious barbarians; its mirror image was the dreamy stereotype of the Indian as a Noble Savage..."

           The term "Pride" is a simple but personally complex term for my project because its what partially drives the evolution of my work. It seems important to me to educate those who wish to learn, but I myself have to learn where I came from, and where we are going as a proud cultural indigenous nation.

Map References

I've found these maps, they are all different in terms of showing which Native American Nations existed before. They all have something unique, I will explain in class how I wish to combine these three maps into my project and its evolution.

Artists References: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Diego Rivera,Oswaldo Guayasamin

For my thinking process, I thought it would be important to find what other visual artist have said about  Native American history and its people. This would help me clarify my thoughts and help me create a more personal message, a more intimate point of view. I thought it would be interesting to see what other artists from North, Central, and South America have said. I came across artists such as Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Diego Rivera,Oswaldo Guayasamin.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith is a Native artist from the Flathead Nation in the U.S. Diego Rivera was a Mexican Muralist artist who was married to Frida Kahlo. Oswaldo Guayasamin was an Ecuadorian painter from parents of Quichua descent. 

Personal Questions:

“What are other visual artists saying about the history of Native American indigenous people? How are they exploring it and how are they executing it through their artwork?

Sample Work:

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

State Names

Diego Rivera

History of Mexico,

From the Conquest to the Present Day (detail) 

Oswaldo Guayasamin

These three different artists from three different continents have different artistic styles and forms of execution. However, their history relate to the same events of the past, and somehow are all talking about the same negative effects that colonization had on Native people and their future descendants.

Online Research Tools: Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian

The Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian is an interesting website that involves and relates to the idea I had about my project eventually developing into an online website. This is an amazing source of information for me because it includes information about all the Native people by regions. Including textual information on geographical locations, and even sample of artwork by region; such as the Natives from the Southwest, the Andes, the Amazon and others.  

The Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian include this map on their website because it explains the Americas geographically, showing the vast differences in terrestrial conditions. This of course has an affect on architectural, agricultural, and cultural differences.  This is something I would like to further explore for my project. On the bottom of this post there is a link to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian website. Feel free to check it out.

Infinity of Nations- Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian

The Evoluiton of "Welcome to Native America" Draft 1

My project will continue evolving as I continue to complete research from a variety of maps I have come across by other artists. For the most part I believe the project would first have to develop as much as it can from a Print medium, I would eventually like to create a website that Illustrates all the tribes in one place. Perhaps open links to all these cultures and photographs, and information of their current status or if they still even exist.

As part of my thinking process this is my 1st draft to condensing my idea into a one sentence thesis concept.

“Welcome to Native America” is a socio-political commentary for the initial purpose of cultural & personal identity, but to also gain recognition about the large populations of Native indigenous people throughout the Americas.

Welcome To Native America Map

My personal project "Welcome to Native America" is a map I made for the simple reason of wanting to learn more of the Native American populations before the arrival of Columbus in 1492. According to a variety of text and literary sources I have come across, the populations in Pre-Columbian "Abya Yala" (Now known as the Americas) could have reached as many as 100 million people. To the viewer I ask the question "How Many Are Left Today?" Do you know?

“Rescuing Identity Through Art”

Being part of the indigenous Kichwa Nation has always affected how I look at the world. The history of Native American people throughout North, Central, and South America has been forgotten or ignored by the general public. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, and the rest of European invasion, it’s been estimated that there existed as many as up to 100 million Native people living throughout these three continents. Until this day, children living in the 21st century are still not taught enough about the first indigenous people living in what is now called the “United States of America”.

        Therefore, for this lack of education that starts with public and private schools I wish to educate the general public about the existence on Native American Nations before, and after 1492. The project could develop into creating works that educate; with the help infographics, typography, advertising concepts, illustration and/or photography.