Native North American Art


 
  1. Surrounded by Beauty North America was home to many Indian cultures. This web gallery teaches you the history and culture of five different regions in what is now the United States and Canada. There's lots of information about the daily life of the tribes and many interesting artworks.

  2. Cloth & Clay This is a special web exhibit, an exploration of art, culture and history through the ceramic and textile objects of the ancient and contemporary peoples of North and South America. There are four major sections: a. the artwork itself with information about the image and the culture; b. learn how the art was made; c. explore the landscapes and resources that shaped the artworks, and d. travel back in time to an ancient marketplace where many of the artworks would have been sold. Brought to you by the Textile Museum of Canada and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art

  3. Tracking The Buffalo Explore the role of the buffalo in the lives of the American Indians of the northern plains. Learn how and why a buffalo hide painting was created and meet a contemporary artist who still creates them. There are maps and origin stories of the Plains Indians at this site. You can even create your own buffalo hide painting.

  4. Indian Knoll The Metropolitan Museum's Timeline of Art History tells the fasinating story of Indian mounds and what was found just over 100 miles from Cincinnati. The two bannerstone carvings are beautiful.

  5. Hopewell Indian Mounds This is a sacred site in North America, just east of Cincinnati. The Hopewell built enormous earthworks in precise geometric shapes. Learn more here at this Metropolitan Museum of Art site.

  6. Carving at Skidegate If you've ever wondered how an Eskimo totem pole is designed and carved, this is the site for you. There are extensive photos as the team of artists carves the bear, killer whale and thunderbird that decorate this ceremonial artwork.

  7. Southwestern U. S. Rock Art This web gallery has artworks from 12 ancient sites in Utah. The images are fascinating and the colors are clear and beautiful.

  8. Jim Schoppert This web gallery is dedicated to the work of Tlingit Alaskan artist Jim Schoppert. He interpreted the traditional techniques and forms of his tribe in totally modern and unique artworks. There are beautiful paintings and sculptures in the show.

  9. The Lost World of the Hopewells This is a 34 slide Powerpoint Presentation about the many mysterious mounds built by the Hopewell Indians in Southern Ohio maybe 2000 years ago. There are interesting aerial photos and good information about spiritual sites just a few hours from Cincinnati.

  10. Totem Poles of the Northwest Indians This small web gallery gives a quick overview of the history and art of carving totem poles. There are new and old photos of totem poles and an interesting list tells you the six reasons totem poles were created.

  11. Campfire Stories with George Catlin: An Encounter of Two Cultures In the 1830's the artist George Catlin traveled west to document the vanishing Native North American cultures. He painted the chiefs, the villages and the surrounding plains and mountains. This incredible website produced by the Smithsonian Institute includes artwork, dramatic readings of Catlin's writings and fascinating stories about the Indians that he wanted the world to know.

  12. Chaco Canyon Over 1,100 years ago the Anasazi Indians built a complex of cities in Chaco Canyon. Here you can read about the people and their culture and see photopraphs of the site as it looks today.

  13. First American Art The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian created this web site to document a very special exhibit. The many beautiful artworks are organized by theme: integrity, emotion, movement, idea, composition and intimacy.

  14. Textiles of the Southwest Explore the weaving traditions of the American Indians and Hispanic residents of the North American Southwest. Over the past 2,000 years, weavers in this region have created a wide variety of textiles that express the changing circumstances of their lives and the extensive flow of ideas across cultural frontiers. The textiles demonstrate the skill and creativity of these weavers and their dynamic weaving traditions.

  15. Beauty, Honor and Tradition This exhibit will show you wonderful works of art from the American Plains Indians. Included are: Shirts of Power, Warrior As Artist, Power in Animals and more. There are even examples of traditional quill work.

 

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