Native American Art Research Paper

Additionally, another piece of art that stood out in the Native American art were Human Effigy Bottle

The Creek Indian Tribe created art by using items they found in nature. They used it to tell a story or represent history. Each item that was made had a purpose and was put to use. Many of the items were created just before the Green Corn Festival.

The Woodlands Man Shirt is a garment made by the Native Americans from the great lakes region in the 18th century. This piece was traded to early French explorers in New France which extended from Louisiana to Canada. This shirt was worn by high status Native Americans made from antelope which has some form of early tattoo work done to it. The interlocking designed tattoos represent the sacred Thunderbird who is an important traditional being to Indian spirituality. Some principles of design used in this piece are rhythm and symmetrical balance and some elements of design to note are shape, visual and actual texture, and pattern. I chose these principles to analysis this piece because they are the ones that apply the most to this sculpture and can help to apply context. This also shirt has elements from Woodlands, Great Lakes, and Plains regions, and the complex designs may have been inspired by tattooing. The materials used in this shirt are both functional and ceremonial to the Native Americans but more specifically the Dakota tribe. This shirt is unique because it is only one of 35 remaining from the early 1700s making this piece really rare and hard to compare to because of how few there are available.

Native Americans are the indigenous people of the North American continent and the cultural traditions and art forms are unique to these regional groups. The people in these groups have several names and the first adopted name Indian by Spanish explorers proved erroneous, however, now accepted names include either American Indian or Native American. I will refer to these groups as Native Americans or by their tribal affiliation. There are diverse tribal groups original to North America who lived on the Great Plains, in the Woodlands, on the Northwest coast, and in the Southeast or the Southwest regions. Various Native American tribes created art forms such as the Apache, Cherokee, Pueblo, and Hopi communities. In my research, I found that the Navajo also contributed in many ways to Native American art through making jewelry, beading, drawing, painting, sculpting, carving, and weaving. These art works provided their tribe notoriety with countless “years of experience through their creativity and sense of design”, lending to an “astonishing volume and variety of artwork which has created a lasting legacy”, per NativeAmerican-Art.com (2010). Understandably, art comes in various forms and from various cultures, but the Native American Navajo tribe contributed vastly and merits mention for its beautiful contributions. Therefore, I

Native American art has changed as the world around the tribes has evolved. The pieces of art are as distinctive as the tribes that they originate from. The art always has some relationship to the earth. Many times stories can be told by looking at a single piece. As an artist Duane Linklater changed the information presented. He took Native American pieces and made 3D models in white plastic for his exhibit Salt 11: Duane Linklater at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. The 3D sculptures seemed to lack detail. The colors and materials of Native American Art had been stripped. The stories they could have told were impossible to see. Linklater did this to express the theme of information being lost over time.

When the Europeans arrived in North America, they brought several new materials and items that the Native Americans were not accustomed to. Things such as beads and glass became common components of Native American artwork. Before the Europeans, the Natives relied on everyday perishable items like wood and fiber. They would also use hides from animals and quills as well. The later artworks of the Indians had a "daily life" theme to a degree. They would implement their art into things like baskets, clothing, headdresses and tools. The sky, underworld and earth all had great meaning to the Native Americans and all three were very evident in most of their works. Many of the headdresses could only be worn by proven warriors and they were

In Nancy Marie Mithlos essay, “No Word For Art in Our Language”. Mithlo explores the various reasons as to why American Indigenous art lacks an infrastructure and theoretical basis. Mithlo theorizes the reason Indigenous art lacks these necessary supports is due to three strategies used by the Native art community. Mithlos first theory discusses that the phrase “ No word for art in our language” perpetuates harmful behaviour within the Native community in the discussion of arts and stereotyping of Native art. Mithlos first example of why this is harmful is the original beginnings of the phrase from Jamake Highwater’s book “The Primal mind” wherein Jamake expresses his belief that because expression and experience is so ingrained in the native

Walking into the Antelope Valley Museum for the first time was breathtaking. I felt as though I had just walked into the home of a true Native American Indian. I could literally smell the history in the air, it smelled of dust and clay. With my first step through the door I immediately looked up at the ceiling and noticed the most wonderful decorative paintings. I experienced many different native paintings, handmade artifacts, and spiritual clothing. The walls were covered with information regarding many different tribes and their many artifacts. Outside, I was lucky enough to take part in an annual celebration with Native Peoples of many different tribes and backgrounds. I observed and participated in cultural dances and storytelling by the hosts of the celebration. I especially enjoyed these dances because I had gone to Elementary school with one

Native American art is not easy classified. Depictions of Native peoples shed light on the narrative Indigenous people have played in America and still fall into. The imagery used to depict Indigenous people are often romanticized by artist. Joseph Henry Sharp was a prominent painter of Native American people, most notable for his work with the Taos Pueblo Indians in New Mexico. Although Joseph Henry Sharp wished to depict what he and his contemporaries saw as a vanishing race, his work lacks cultural understanding and world perspective.

     When we look at art through the eyes of the Native American we should see a functional and usable art. Art was not for aesthetic reasons; it had real purpose. The folk art that came from these cultures were for religious and moral reasons. Everything that these people had had a necessity in their group. The Kachina is one of these necessities.

The space between sections, the gallery provides, allows viewers time to reflect on Aguilar’s three sections of the exhibition. He captures his extended California Indian family in a romanticized and melodramatic light. There is unity, the feeling of harmony, between all parts of Agular’s way of honoring his California Indian community. When walking from left to back, the first series is titled, From the Heart of California Native Existence. Aguilar illustrates how he blends ancestral manners and beliefs into today’s California Indian People with black and white portraits of veterans and a buck. The following area is named, Ancestral Design with Nature as the Medium narrates the art of basket weaving. Lastly, In Song and Dance We Embody the Dreams of Our Ancestors honors the Native American Indians in the photographs. Their community is withstanding strong, along with ceremonial

As with most Native American art, there were originally multiple distinct traditions that involved baskets in North America. Basket-weaving is one of the oldest known Native American crafts. It varies for different tribes because they used different materials, weaving techniques, basket shapes, and characteristic patterns. Some wonder how these baskets were crafted so precisely with the materials gathered from nature, and as we learn to appreciate Native American art more; we start asking ourselves what was the purpose or meaning of these works of art?

My name is Scott Castruita and I live in Gilroy and I am 26 years old. Being an art student, I have learned that artist reflect certain aspects of their community while preparing any artistic product. This trend has been in existence for a long time ever since the discovery of art in ancient communities. However, I must admit that most of us in the modern communities do not appreciate art to the extent that it deserves. In order to understand and appreciate art, people must have knowledge of its place in time. As such, I took an initiative of unraveling the Mayan Mural Painter at Bonampak by investigating various aspects of the Maya community in order to understand their art.

Australian Indigenous art is the oldest ongoing tradition of art in the world. Initial forms of artistic Aboriginal expression were rock carvings, body painting and ground designs, which date back more than 30,000 years. The quality and variety of Australian Indigenous art produced today reflects the richness and diversity of Indifenous culture and distinct differences between tribes, languages, dialects and geographic landscapes. Art has always been an important of Aboriginal life, connection past and present, the people and the land, and the supernatural and reality.

To many, Northwestern First Nations art appears primitive and simple, however, that understanding is narrow-minded and incorrect. In fact, First Nations art is powerful, bold, creative, and a tool to pass on the traditions, customs, legends, and histories of the First Nations people. Art is not just an abstract idea but is ingrained into their way of life.