Native American Art

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Historical Period

European explorers and settlers brought diseases to North America that killed a large portion of the native population in the East during the historical period. Many of the survivors were forced by settlers to leave their traditional lands and regroup elsewhere. Some artistic traditions survived and were transformed by these changes, but others were lost. In some groups, artists preserved tribal practices in images engraved with thin lines on birch bark or recorded tribal histories as symbolic patterns woven into wampum belts. These belts consist of tubular purple and white beads that are made from clam shells, threaded on string, and woven into beaded cloth. Wampum belts were taken out on special occasions when specialists educated to know the meanings of the designs “read” them aloud.

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Clothing and Adornment

Much native artwork of the Eastern region involved clothing and other items of adornment. The spiral motifs of the Mississippian Period resurfaced in beadwork designs embroidered on fancy sashes, decorative bags, and garments. Bags twined (woven with a finger technique) of natural fibers, animal hair, and wool had patterned images of powerful supernatural beings such as thunderbirds and underwater panthers that played a role in native religions and philosophical thought in the Eastern region. The bags probably contained a collection of special “medicine” or power objects meant to provide spiritual help to the owner.

Women embroidered complex designs out of porcupine quills to decorate clothing and other objects. They colored the whitish, tubular quills by boiling them with dyes. After washing the quills they flattened them and created patterns on hide by attaching the quills with sinew (animal tissue) in rows. Other decorative elements, made by folding, braiding or weaving, could also be sewn onto the hide.

The production of decorated clothing and bags increased after contact with Europeans as a greater variety of textiles and other materials became available through trade. Imported glass beads inspired native women, who quickly adapted quillwork techniques for the creation of beaded apparel. European curvilinear and floral designs of the 19th century proved as meaningful for the native women who worked with them as they were for the nonnative women who purchased and wore them. Native women gained income by selling souvenirs, including beaded and quilled works such as moccasins and pin cushions, and birch bark objects such as miniature canoes, baskets, and boxes that were intricately embroidered with fine moose hair.

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Masks

Some men of the Iroquois Nations of upstate New York and Ontario belonged to the False Face Society. Members of this society accepted offerings and performed dances in masks for the purpose of sweeping disease from the community. The society continues its work today. Some Iroquois people have requested that the masks used for this purpose not be placed on public display or included in museum collections. They consider these ceremonies to be private and powerful.

B

Arts of the Plains

The Plains region stretches from the Mississippi River westward to the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It includes adjacent areas in Alberta, Canada, to the north, and extends as far as the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Before European contact most Plains groups cultivated crops. Buffalo-hunting was central to their way of life as well.

American literature and mass media have popularized images of Plains Indians on horseback, wearing beaded clothing and feather headdresses. These images represent a period of Plains culture after Spanish settlers had introduced the horse in the early 17th century. Plains life also changed after native peoples acquired guns in trade for fur. With horses and guns, Plains people had greater success in buffalo hunting and could range over a larger territory. More food and additional territory encouraged population growth and the elaboration of artistic and architectural traditions.

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Riding Gear

The high value Plains peoples placed on horses was reflected in the flamboyant “costuming” of the animals. Beaded martingales (harness straps) might ornament the necks of horses. Symbols were painted on the horses themselves to give them greater power, and some horses wore masks as war regalia. Padded saddles for men had an hourglass shape and a covering of durable skins. Women’s saddles were made with a wood frame, carved with high pommels (saddle fronts) and cantles (saddle backs). Painted or beaded saddlebags showed riders and horses to best advantage on social and ceremonial occasions.

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