American Indian art

Art and craft of the North American indigenous peoples from prehistory through to the modern era. Some groups maintain their ancient traditions, but much was lost during the period of European settlement. Art has always been part of everyday life for the American Indians, both for functional and ceremonial purposes. Each object is regarded as a piece of cultural history and a profound form of creative expression. American Indian art includes ceramics, metalwork, beadwork, quillwork, textiles, sculpture, painting, leatherwork, and the creation of ceremonial objects and dress. Artistic style and choice of media reflect the different cultures, lifestyles, and environments of the various American Indian groups; for example, Inuit art features miniature bone carvings, a media available in the Arctic. One constant is a deep respect for the natural environment and an all-encompassing bond with the spiritual world.

Art history

Although many art objects and artefacts were lost during the period of European settlement and subsequent relocation of American Indians to Indian reservations, the recent resurgence of interest in American Indian art has enabled the piecing together of a comprehensive art history. Most ethnographic collections include American Indian artworks; notable are those at the Museum of the American Indian, New York, and the Museum of Mankind, London. The Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has a good collection of artefacts from the southwest area.

Prehistoric art

The first Arctic cultures were established in North America about 12,000 years ago. Remains of prehistoric cultures, including stone carvings and pottery (offerings to the dead, household items, and animal-shaped vessels), have been found in the northeast, southwest, and southeast of the continent. In the southeast, pottery was painted with natural pigments and coloured slip (liquid clay). Vessels in the southwest were more refined in shape and usually coloured in natural earth tones: red, brown, black, and white. Geometric forms, objects from nature, spiritual symbols, and mythological animals were incised (cut) into or painted onto the pottery surface. Prehistoric designs are commonly used to decorate modern American Indian ceramics. The finer American Indian artefacts belong to the last 2,000 years.

Geographic and cultural divisions

The peoples of North America can be divided into ten geographical regions: the Plains; the Southwest; the Great Basin; the Plateau; California; the Southeast; the Northeast, or Northeast Woodlands; the Northwest Coast; the sub-Arctic; and the Arctic. Until the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, these regions contained numerous American Indian cultures. Each major culture comprised a number of peoples, each with their own cultural traditions and language; for example, the ‘pueblo’ (village) cultural grouping in the southwest includes the Hopi, Zuni, and Pueblo peoples, the latter differing linguistically. Individual groups within these peoples also developed their own traditions; for example, the Sioux of the Great Plains are divided into three groups: Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota, each with their own subgroups.

Generally, the arts of the different peoples were determined by materials available, lifestyle, and religion. Nomadic peoples such as the Plains Indians, who hunted the buffalo herds for their livelihood, had to move around, so produced more easily portable art. The Sioux and the Crow decorated buckskin clothes and tents with beadwork and quillwork, and painted buffalo hides. In the harsh sub-Arctic and Arctic regions, the Inuit, produced bone and walrus ivory carvings, shaman masks, and decorated sealskin for clothes, tents, and canoes.

Settled peoples could produce more involved art. The American Indians of the Northwest Coast region, such as the Haida, Kwakiutl, and Tlingit, lived in a rich environment, allowing more time for artistic expression, such as the creation of masks with movable pieces and ornately carved totem poles. Their art reflects the importance of religious belief and social status, as demonstrated in the potlatch ceremony (a formal distribution of wealth, in particular chilkat blankets). In the Southwest region, the art of the Hopi and Zuni features mimbres pottery and murals in kivas (underground ceremonial rooms), reflecting their settled pueblo culture. Earlier peoples built cliff-palace complexes, such as the 12th-century Mesa Verde in Colorado. The Navajo of the Southwest, a farming people (though less settled than the pueblo dwellers), became renowned for their artistry, including stylized sand paintings, blankets with geometric designs, Kachina masks and dolls (representing supernatural beings), and silver and turquoise jewellery.

Other agricultural peoples included the Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippians, who dominated the Midwest and Southeast in turn between 700 BC and AD 1500. The Adena and Hopewell built great ceremonial earthen mounds, such as the Serpent Mound in Ohio, and made copper jewellery and cut-foil motifs; the more technically-proficient Hopewell also made human effigies and sleek animal carvings in stone. The Mississippians built city complexes, and produced shell-carving and trophy-head vessels.

Many American Indians followed the religion of shamanism, whose core belief is the existence of two worlds, the spiritual and the material. Their art was full of religious symbolism, reflecting a need to contact, control, and appease the good and evil spirits of the spirit world. The Iroquois of the northeast created dramatic masks for their shamanistic ‘false face’ ceremonies. With the influx of Europeans, missionaries converted many Indians to Christianity.

Plains Indian art
The Great Plains stretches east–west from the Mississippi and Missouri valleys to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and north–south from the Saskatchewan River in Canada to the Rio Grande in Mexico. The Plains Indians, such as the Sioux, Crow, Blackfeet, Arapaho, Hidatsa, Comanche, Kiowa, Osage, Cheyenne, and Pawnee, were mostly nomadic hunting peoples, who depended on the buffalo for survival. Some, such as the Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Arapaho, were originally farming peoples, who had moved onto the Great Plains after the Europeans introduced horses to the continent. The Wichita and Osage peoples practised some farming on the Plains. The art produced by individual groups changed and altered as new peoples moved onto the Plains, either through choice or forced by European settlement, and introduced new cultural traditions. The introduction of horses also influenced and altered the art of some peoples. The art of the Plains Indians also influenced Indian cultures in other regions.

Hunting and warfare were a major part of Plains Indian culture. The need to follow the buffalo herds meant that pottery or stationary art was rarely produced. Instead, they created portable items, such as small, carved pipes, beadwork, fetishes (objects of worship or charm), pictures painted on soft leather that could be rolled up, and quillwork (using porcupine quills) in highly stylized designs. Many objects, such as shields, tepees, robes of bison skin, and shirts, had pictographic designs painted on them – symbols that were understood by peoples from all over the region. Designs could be inspired by nature, spiritual belief (protective symbols, or physical manifestations of the spirit world), or history, such as the Crow tepee lining showing cowboys fighting Indians (19th century; Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC). Many of the images used came from vision quests (attempts to contact a spirit guide, often by achieving a trance-like state). The colours used for painting ranged from bright red to natural tones, using earth and plant pigments. Other decorative media included ‘pony beads’ (opaque glass beads in black, red, white, and blue, obtained from the European settlers), porcupine quills, and feathers. Quillwork was often used in weaving and braiding. Featherwork was used for ornamentation, ceremonial costume and objects, and military dress, such as feathered headdresses, or warbonnets, an example being the Sioux Warrior's Headdress (1890; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute). Other decorated artefacts included carved stone pipes, such as the ceremonial peace pipes, parfleches (painted rawhide containers used as carrying cases), cradleboards (a device for carrying infants on the mother's back), and war clubs. In the 19th century, when the Plains Indians were relocated to Indian reservations, they began to use paper and pencils, producing a new art form known as ‘ledger art’ (the drawings often being made in a notebook). Many American Indian artists, such as Howling Wolf, the son of a Cheyenne chief, became well known for their drawings, and their art was collected by European settlers.

The Sioux moved to the Plains from the upper Mississippi in the 16th century following warfare with the Cree. They were known for their elaborately decorated pipes and metal work, including chest decorations and ornaments in the form of totemic animals (personal or clan emblems, such as a bear claw, that signified spiritual kinship with an animal). The Sioux also brought with them a tradition of quillwork. Beadwork and quillwork were thought to be sacred and was usually done only by women; during the 1820s a group of Lakota Sioux women started a beadworkers' guild. Designs are said to have come to the women in dreams and were passed from generation to generation, and beadwork remains a strong artistic tradition. Sioux beadwork is generally heavy and laid in a geometric design or in blocks of colour, although there are regional variations.

The Cheyenne created shields that were believed to have magical properties – they offered no defence against arrows or bullets, and were constructed from lacing rather than stretching rawhide. Designs on the shields were usually taken from visions. The Cheyenne commonly used geometric patterns in their beadworking.

The Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sioux, and Kiowa all created Ghost Dance costumes, worn in the Ghost Dance religious ceremonies of the 1890s. The ceremonies aimed to restore the buffalo and the old ways, and make the white people disappear. Shirts and dresses, such as the Arapho buckskin ‘Ghost Dance’ dress (Museum of the American Indian, New York), were painted with animals and symbols believed to defend the wearer from bullets. The turtle was commonly featured, as its hard shell was thought a good defence.

Southwest Indian art
The Southwest, including New Mexico, Arizona, southern Colorado, and parts of northern Mexico, was first inhabited in about 1000 BC. The geography of the area varies between snow-capped mountains and harsh desert lands. Despite European expansion, many groups have been able to remain on their traditional homelands, and have managed to maintain their ancient customs and forms of creative expression. As a result of their long settled history and the wide range of environmental conditions, the cultures of the Southwest have very distinctive artistic and creative histories. Today the main cultures are the pueblo peoples (such as the Pueblo, Hopi and Zuni), the Navajo, the Pima, and the Apache.

The prehistoric Southwest was distinguished by hunters and gatherers. As the climate grew warmer (8000–300 BC), people began grow their own food and as a result became settled, their sedentary lifestyle being reflected in their artwork. The Anasazi (ancestors of the modern pueblo peoples) developed agricultural and basketry techniques around 100 AD, and started to make pottery around 500 AD; they began to live in adobe houses (built from sun-dried bricks) rather than caves in about 700 AD. Multi-storey adobe cliff-dwellings, such as Mesa Verde, appeared from 1050–1300. Anasazi pottery was often decorated with geometric forms, animals, or mythological creatures.

By the 14th century the cliff complexes were giving way to pueblo (village) life. Pueblo culture consists of around 25 different groups, including the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico (such as the Acoma, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, San Juan, and Taos pueblos), the Hopi (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico), and Zuni (Arizona, New Mexico) – the Anasazi declined after 1600 with the arrival of the Spanish. Although they do not all share the same language, they are connected by their lifestyle, all living in permanent villages made of stone or adobe, built on levels or as single houses. Pueblo dwellers are mainly agriculturalists, but nowadays many earn their livelihood from their arts and crafts.

Pottery-making is highly developed in most pueblo cultures. Advances in the use of slip (liquid clay), decorative techniques, and firing processes have all led to the creation of some of the most collected pottery in the world. Jewellery, silverwork, and various ornamentation, all with roots in prehistoric culture, are sold worldwide today. The use of turquoise, shells, and inlaid stones are characteristic of pueblo jewellery. Objects for rituals, religious purposes, and ceremonies demonstrate some of the pueblo people's greatest artistic achievements. Hopi Kachina masks and dolls (representing supernatural beings) are the most notable of the culture's religious artefacts; for example, the Hopi Kachina Doll (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute). Murals from kivas (underground ceremonial rooms) are also characteristic of pueblo culture.

The Hopi people have a rich tradition of art dating back to prehistoric times. They are noted for their mottled, cream-coloured pottery, often painted with red, black, and white designs. As well as being renowned for their Kachina dolls, they are also the biggest producers of textiles among the pueblo cultures. The Zuni are known for their painted pottery, showing animals with heart lines – arrows drawn from the mouth of the animal to the heart. They also create jewellery, particularly silver work with inlaid polished stones. The Pueblo peoples of New Mexico all produce interesting and inventive pottery. Many of the designs are based on prehistoric ideas and pottery traditions that have been passed down for centuries. Pueblos noted for their artistic communities include Acoma Pueblo (notably potter Lucy Lewis), Santa Clara Pueblo (producers of blackware pottery), San Ildefonso Pueblo (home to the potter Maria Martinez), and San Juan Pueblo. The Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has a fine collection of artefacts from the pueblo cultures.

The Navajo and Pima of Arizona and New Mexico were less settled than the pueblo peoples, but both developed agriculture and thriving artistic traditions. The Pima, known for their basketry, settled in southwestern Arizona and along the Colorado River. The Navajo (related to the Apache of the region) were originally a nomadic people, but were farming maize by the time of the Spanish, and acquired sheep with their arrival. Sheep herding remains an important part of their livelihood. Their silver work, textiles, and sand painting have achieved world renown.

The Navajo learned to work with silver during the 19th century. Common items of Navajo silver work include the concha belt (silver disks fastened to a strip of leather) and jewellery inlaid with stones. The Navajo also make silver pendants in traditional symbols and designs – the squash-blossom, a symbol of fertility, is frequently used. The pendants are worn by both men and women. The Navajo are also known for their blanket-weaving, an art originally learned from the pueblo peoples. Over the centuries, Navajo weavers have developed complex, often geometrical, designs and elaborate symbolism, making authentic Navajo blankets one of the most treasured textiles produced in the USA. Ceremonial sand paintings are also an art form perfected by the Navajos. Made with coloured natural pigments on a bed of sand, the works range in size from 0.3–6 m/1–20 ft. Sand paintings, such as Ceremonial dry painting, Navajo (1952; Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe), continue to be used in Navajo healing ceremonies today. The shaman, or medicine man, sprinkles coloured pigments onto a sand-covered floor, creating a design that has usually been passed down through custom. The work has to be completed between dawn and dusk, and the sick person sits in the middle of it to be restored to good health. The painting is then destroyed, taking the illness away with it.

The art of the hunter-gatherer Apache, like that of the Plains Indians, reflected their nomadic lifestyle and warrior culture and consisted mainly of portable items.

Plateau Indian art
The Plateau lies between the Rocky Mountains and the coastal mountains. It is home to a number of American Indian peoples, including the Nez Percé, the Flathead, the Shuswap, and the Walla Walla. The people of the Plateau made little pottery, but perfected the art of basketry, in particular coiled baskets made from cornhusks. The Nez Percé developed a speciality in cornhusk bags. Flat and flexible, the bags were made without the use of a loom and were a trade item of the Nez Percé for many years. Most of the bags were decorated in geometric designs for aesthetic purposes only, the patterns having no symbolic meaning. The designs were applied by an inventive method called ‘false embroidery’, the decoration being sewn onto the surface, usually in bear grass, as the bag is created. Beadwork designs of the Plateau region were geometric until the early 20th century, and some groups carved totem poles for use at gravesites. The art of the Plateau was heavily influenced by the neighbouring peoples of the Great Plains.

Great Basin Indian art
The Great Basin area lies between the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California on the west and the Wasatch Mountains on the east, and mainly comprises the states of Nevada and Utah. The American Indian peoples of the Great Basin include the Ute, Washo, Shoshone, and the Paiute. Life in the region was very hard, as it lacked natural resources. Wild plants, roots, seeds, and small game, such as the prong-horned antelope, were the major food sources. Pottery was not made, but twined basketry, in the form of hats, containers, cradles, conical gathering baskets, and sandals, were common. The Washo people were proficient at beadwork, in particular netted beadwork collars. The Plains Indians influenced much of the art made in the area.

California Indian art
From the Sierra Nevada to the Pacific Ocean, California's changing landscape was and still remains home to many American Indian peoples, including the Pomo, the Hupa, Maidu, and the Wintun. The artistic traditions of the various groups differ depending on the area of settlement; some are sea cultures, while others resemble mountain cultures.

In general the Californian peoples were hunter-gatherers, depending heavily upon acorn, root, and seed gathering, and in many places hunting and fishing. They produced little pottery, but excelled in basketry, which was often created by knotting and netting local fibres. Shells and other ornamentation were often knotted into the baskets. The Pomo were particularly known for their baskets, which are often called ‘jewelled baskets’ and given as gifts. Made from willow, sedge and bullrush roots, and redbud bark, they often incorporated geometric, symbolic designs in red or black. Some were decorated with tiny feathers, to give a velvet-like finish. Different shapes, techniques, and designs were employed depending on the intended function of the basket. Although the craft largely died out in the 20th century, the tradition was continued by some Pomoan artists, such as Laura Somersal. Peoples in southern California produced coiled baskets, sometimes with rattlesnake designs. They were also influenced by Navajo sand painting. The art of the peoples of central California was influenced by that of the Northwest Coast, and common artefacts included canoes and basket hats. The Chumash of the Santa Barbara region were known for their rock and cave painting, usually created during religious ceremonies. Some American Indian peoples of the California region were not affected by European contact until the mid-19th century, and the California gold rush, and as a result maintained their artistic traditions for centuries.

Southeast Indian art
The Southeast region includes the semi-tropical area north of the Gulf of Mexico to the southern tip of Florida, and extends from the Atlantic coast to the middle of Texas. It generally covers the entire coastal plain boarding the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Before European contact in the 16th century, the peoples and cultures of the Southeast thrived for thousands of years. However, the Europeans brought with them diseases, namely smallpox, that devastated the American Indian peoples in the region. Disease killed many of the chiefs, shamans, and older members of the population, and with them went the ancient customs and artistic traditions. However, some clues remain as to the lifestyles and cultures of the American Indians that inhabited the region before European settlement. Fairly comprehensive documentation also exists for the last 200 years.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the people of the Southeast were known as the Moundbuilders, or Mound culture. The region was dominated first by the Adena people, and then by the Hopewell culture. Both built great earthen mounds, such as the Serpent Mound in Ohio, for ceremonial purposes, and developed a distinct artistic tradition. Jewellery was made in copper and motifs in cut foil. The Hopewell culture was more technically advanced than the Adena and made human effigies in pottery and animal carvings in stone.

Between 600 and 1500 AD, the area was dominated by the Mississippi culture, an agrarian society (living off the land) that built large city complexes similar to those of Central America (see pre-Columbian art. Towns had large public spaces and huge earth mounds that supported temples. The people created works of art in clay, stone, and copper. They made pendants that were attached to garments, and trophy-head vessels, such as the Trophy Head Vessel, Mound II (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute). Shells were also a common art medium. Designs, usually the same as those painted onto pottery, were engraved onto the shell surface. Common designs included the cross (representing the four directions), the sun, birds, or, most importantly, the serpent, which played a major role in the myths and religion of the Southeast cultures. In other parts of the region, shells took on a special meaning; the further the shell travelled, the more valuable it became. Shells were used for jewellery, as burial offerings, and in ceremonies.

As Europeans began to explore the Southeast region in the 16th century, many groups were wiped out, along with their artistic traditions. American Indians that have inhabited the region at one time or another include the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and the Seminole; these five were known as the Five Civilized Tribes because their lifestyles and organization resembled European society. Other peoples included the Hopewell and the Natchez.

Although known mainly for their building achievements, the peoples of the Southeast cultures also had a highly-developed tradition of creative and aesthetic expression. After European contact Southeast art was distinguished by yarn belts often woven with beads and designs. Pottery painting and engraving frequently featured geometric designs, as did basket-weaving. Although the Five Civilized Tribes assimilated many European customs, they did not adopt the floral decorations of the Europeans, but continued with abstract patterns. In pipe carving, as well as in sculpture, there was a tradition of realism; human figures carved in stone or wood have been found.

The Natchez was one of the most proficient moundbuilding cultures. They were almost wiped out in the 18th century following wars with the French settlers in the region, and many of the Natchez joined Chickasaw and Cherokee groups, moving to Oklahoma with them during the forced relocations of the 1830s. The Cherokee created some of the finest ‘splint cane’ woven basketware in the Southeast. They used splints of different widths and colours to produce beautiful baskets such as Cherokee Splint Basket (19th century; National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute). The Seminole were introduced to ribbon as a media by the Europeans, and became known for their ribbon appliqué. At first patterns of ribbons were used as borders, but later designs covered entire garments. The Seminole also created a type of patchwork decoration. With the introduction to the sewing machine in the early 20th century they began to make jackets and dresses along with numerous other artefacts. Their textile art is still produced and worn today.

Northeast Woodlands Indian art
The Northeast Woodlands cover the area from the Atlantic Ocean to Minnesota and Ontario, and south to North Carolina. The American Indian peoples living in the region varied from period to period because of European contact, environmental conditions, and expansion. Some peoples that travelled west to the Great Plains, such as the Sioux, influenced the artistic development of the existing cultures in the regions they passed through. The changing populations of the Northeast make it difficult to obtain a clear artistic history, although some groups have been able to remain on their ancestral lands and carry on artistic traditions. The two dominant cultures who settled in the Northeast Woodlands were the Iroquois and the Algonquian-speaking peoples.

Early members of the Iroquois confederation, or Iroquois Nation, formed about 1570 by the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca, were proficient at pottery. They developed a method whereby they would spread thin amounts of clay evenly into an inverted jar, which acted as mould. After contact with the Europeans, the pottery was traded for metal utensils. From 1722 the confederation was joined by the Tuscarora, and became known as the Six Nations. Other Iroquois-speaking peoples include the Huron, the Erie, and the Susquehannock. The Iroquois culture excelled in decorative beadwork and quillwork. Wampum belts, originally made from purple and white shell beads that were also used as money, were later crafted from coloured glass beads traded by the Europeans. Contact with the Europeans encouraged the adoption of metalworking skills, and the Six Nations became renowned for their silver brooches and ornaments. The peoples of the Northeast Woodlands were also known for their mask-making techniques. The masks were made from cornhusks and were often worn by women. Another type of mask was the Iroquois ‘false face’ mask, which was worn during false-face shaman ceremonies to cure the sick. It was believed that the person who wore the mask would be transformed into the spirit of the mask.

The Algonquian-speaking peoples include the Chippewa, Ottawa, Sac, Fox, Illinois, and the Shawnee (all inhabitants of the Great Lakes area); and the Micmac and Powhatan (inhabitants of the eastern part of the region). They lived a more settled life, allowing time for creative expression. They were known for their ribbon appliqué in both floral and geometric designs, and for their metalwork. Metal ornaments were made as well as jewellery and household objects. The Algonquian-speaking peoples were also skilled quillworkers, taking the art of quillworking to new levels before their influence was seen on the Plains. The peoples of the Great Lakes also worked with birch bark, either scratching out symbols on scrolls of the bark or creating beautiful boxes. Their beadwork designs varied between geometric patterns, often made on a loom, and floral designs that were usually made by hand. Many peoples in the area followed the religion of Midewiwin (‘Grand Medicine Society’), and a form of pictography was developed to help its members remember the words to the songs. Basketware and rawhide boxes were characteristic of the region, and the woodland environment led to some of the finest woodcarving in the continent.

Northwest Coast Indian art
American Indians have inhabited the coastal and island zone stretching from British Columbia to Oregon since about 3000 BC. The region includes various cultures, such as the Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit of the north, the Kwakiutl of the central coast, and the Nootka of the south.

Family ties were extremely important to all groups in the region. Emphasis was placed on extended families and rank was often inherited. People lived in communal houses, up to 150 m/500 ft long, which would shelter the entire extended family. The wealth of natural resources, the mild climate, and the importance of family across the entire region is reflected in their distinctive artistic expression and the abundance of different artefacts, such as canoes, ceremonial rattles, whistles, masks, and, most characteristically, the totem pole. The favourable environment also enabled the development of a rich spiritual life and elaborate ceremonial rituals. A long oral history exists in the region, and many artistic traditions have been passed down for centuries.

The peoples of the Northwest Coast excelled in carving, predominately in wood. Totem poles, which stood in front of houses to represent a family's history or depict family emblems, were the most prized artistic accomplishment. They were usually carved by professionals, and the finished poles would be erected during a ceremony. The ceremonies were often followed by a potlatch, which concerned the distribution of wealth. To enhance social status, items such as ‘chilkat’ blankets were accumulated, often over years, and then competitively given away as gifts at an enormous celebration that might last for days. In some cases treasures, such as vast shield-like ‘coppers’, were thrown into the sea. Christian missionaries eventually destroyed many totem poles.

Woodcarving was also used for mask-making. The manufacture of masks was very important along the Northwest Coast. Some masks were used in warfare, while others were used display family emblems, or in ceremonies and rituals. Many of the masks had movable parts or inner masks, or a combination of the two. ‘Frontlets’, smaller masks worn on the forehead, were also popular. The masks were often decorated using various unconventional media such as human hair. Elaborate ceremonial rattles were also carved in wood. Carvings of animals were very popular, and highly-stylized animal motifs decorate both wooden and woven artefacts. A fine example of blanket-weaving is the Tlingit chilkat blanket Blanket with bear designs (Museum of Natural History, New York). The animals depicted often came from mythology, or were made up of one or more parts of different animals. Oval forms are found throughout the designs, and forms sometimes emerge from within other forms. Although woodcarving was the most common art form, people of the Northwest Coast also mined gold and silver, and created some beautiful jewellery and ornaments.

The Northwest Coast cultures have a distinct artistic style, but there are also regional stylistic differences. Northern totem poles follow the shape of the tree, with figures and designs wrapping themselves around the form, whereas southern poles have added parts that stick out from the surface. Peoples from the north created twine baskets, weavings, quillwork, and beadwork in floral designs. The work of American Indians of the central coast, such as the Kwakiutl, can be identified by its bolder more colourful carvings. Art produced by southern cultures, such as the Nootka, can be distinguished by its less refined carving style, and includes basketry hats, as well as emblems (such as the whale) and objects (such as the canoe) specific to their lifestyle.

The tradition of woodcarving continues among the American Indians of the Northwest Coast; the work of sculptors such as Nathan Jackson, Henry Hunt, and Bill Reid is considered some of the finest in the world.

Arctic and sub-Arctic Indian art
The Arctic region includes the inhabited coastal and island regions of the Arctic from northeast Siberia to Alaska, Labrador, and Newfoundland, and the ice-free coasts of Greenland. The sub-Arctic region lies below the ‘treeline’ or the area of permafrost.

Peoples of the sub-Arctic include the Cree (the southernmost of the groups), the Chipewyan (west of Hudson Bay), and Hare (Great Bear Lake and Mackenzie Territory). The climate over the entire area is generally uniform, but the terrain varies. Peoples of the region place great emphasis on harmony and self-reliance, and as a result have become skilled at creating objects for survival, that also show artistic creativity. Much of their art consists of decorated fur clothing, masks, bead and leatherwork, netting, and carving.

American Indians of the Arctic include the Inuit and the Aleut. Although living conditions are particularly hard, their culture is rich in carvings, particularly of bone and walrus ivory. Inuit art traditionally includes shaman masks and decorated sealskin for clothes, tents, and canoes. Pipes and other carved items are characteristic of this area. Art was produced for both ceremonial and decorative purposes, and the long Arctic nights offered the people of this region plenty of time to pursue creative activities.