NWC Indians

Northwest Coast Indians
Southern Alaska to the Columbia River
1.
Slide List
Tribal Map of Northwest Coast
Northwest Coast Indian tribes lived from the southern part of Alaska to the northern border of Oregon. The six tribes and the areas where they lived are shown on the map. There
were smaller sub- or family groups within each tribe, and each group’s art had its own distinctive style.
2.
Tlingits at a Potlatch, 1904, Sitka, Alaska
Because food was plentiful in the Northwest Coast area, natives were free to spend the
long winters making beautiful articles for ceremonies known as potlatches. Indians of this
region had a very complex religious life, which included ceremonies to celebrate every
event: the birth of a new baby, the success of a hunt, the passage to manhood, and funeral ceremonies. Those who attended such feasts often traveled long distances. For these
ceremonies, artists created masks and costumes which often included additional items
such as rattles, drums, whistles and staffs.
Totem Poles
The totem pole is a unique creation of the Northwest Coast culture. It has become the bestknown single image of this art. Totems represent on a monumental scale the Indians’ concern with status and ancestry. The poles are one of the many ways to display ownership
of specific crests. Totem poles told family histories and how certain crests came to be
owned through encounters with supernatural beings. Sometimes they also included references to successful competitions over rival chiefs. So totem poles are really a kind of signboard, which is read from the bottom up. In the absence of written language, they are an
important tool used for recording and transmitting history and events.
How can you tell
these people are
attending a potlatch?
Briefly, there are six main types of totem poles or posts. House pillars seem to have been
the earliest totem made. They served as supports for the building beams, but also told a
story that started on one pole and continued to another pole all around the building. The
mortuary or funeral pole, raised in respect to the dead, was a tomb marker with the dead
person’s cremated ashes placed in a box on the top of the pole. The memorial pole was the
most important and thereby the tallest of all the totems. This pole had a number of special
uses, all focusing on the role and importance of chiefs, dead or alive. The heraldic or family pole, which was placed in front of a dwelling, told of the great importance of the people who lived there. The welcoming pole served to greet guests at the waterfront and mark
off a section of the beach for a chief. Finally, the shame pole was used mainly by chiefs
to force the payment of debts. With the story of failure carved for all to see, debts were
often paid promptly.
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Northwest Coast Indians
Southern Alaska to the Columbia River
Slide List
Totem poles were carved mainly of western red cedar, a large, fragrant, and rot resistant
wood. Search parties were sent out to locate the best trees possible. Ideally they were
found near water where they could be dragged and floated to the nearby village.
3.
Kwakiutl Totem pole, thunderbird form
photograph from Alert Bay, British Columbia
The Kwakiutl are known for their extravagant and complex masks, and their flamboyant
totem poles topped with thunderbirds. (They even created the tallest totem pole in the
world). Their designs are full of movement, small elements and decorative effects. The
stylized animals in the totem pole were important to the family’s mythology. The thunderbird is on top with its distinctive wings spread out to each side. On the bottom is a bear,
which is usually recognized by his large mouth and his feet with the claws turned inward.
Note how the use of color is limited to black, blue and white. The decorative filler shapes
which repeat on the wings and in the faces of the two animals are distributed very symmetrically to maintain perfect balance in the design.
Why do we call these
animals stylized?
4.
Tlingit Clan House, reproduction
Totem Bight State Park, Ketchikan, Alaska
Traditional Northwest coast houses were large rectangular buildings made with posts,
beams, and planks of weather resistant red cedar. They were built so that the planks could
be removed for seasonal relocation. The fronts of wealthier homes were sometimes decorated with relief carvings or painted designs. Doors were purposely small to keep out
inclement weather and to put unwelcome visitors at a disadvantage. Larger houses could
accommodate many guests and had sunken areas where dances were performed.
What kinds of shapes
decorate the house?
5.
detail of Tlingit Totem pole
Totem Bight State Park, Ketchikan, Alaska
This detail of a totem pole, located in front of the Clan House, shows how Northwest
Coast Indians used symbolic elements to create stylized designs which represent particular animals. The face of the creature looks human, yet the fangs and claws define it as a
bear. Notice the oversized eyes, which are typical of Indian art. This totem face is symmetrically balanced, as each shape present on one side is repeated on the other.
Which parts of this totem
look human and which
look like an animal?
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Northwest Coast Indians
Southern Alaska to the Columbia River
6.
Slide List
Interior of Chilkat Whale House
Klukwan, Alaska, c. 1895
This is representative of the interior of a house in many of the native villages. A house this
size could have accommodated 30-50 people. It has one large room with a central fireplace surrounded by a planked platform. Housewares and blankets were stored under the
removable floor boards. Notice the carved totem house posts supporting the beams. Tribes
would hold winter ceremonial feasts in these houses, celebrating a successful season of
gathering and preserving food.
Is this room balanced?
7.
Haida Food Storage Box
c.1895, bent cedar and paint, 23” high, Canadian Museum of Civilization
Gatineau, Quebec
Certain woodworking techniques were highly developed and distinctive to the Northwest
Coast. They are evident in this bent wood box--a common item used for storage of ceremonial materials, to serve food, and as a cooking vessel. Manipulation of the wood around
square corners followed by pegging and sewing together was a specialized achievement
of these craftsmen. The storage boxes have heavy covers which may be inlaid, but are
never carved or painted. The designs follow a structured format, with the upper half of the
box portraying a large head, with ears in the corners; the body fills the center sections with
the front legs (or arms and hands) at each side. Since this design features an abstract creature rather than a crest, which could only be displayed by its owner, this food box could
be traded along the coast.
This storage box was made to stand vertically. Its stylized design was painted with red and
black colors. The bold and abstract animal shape symbolizes the image of the Konankada
(Supreme Chief of the Undersea World) who was responsible for all the other sea creatures that the Haida used for food. He has fins as well as human hands. The face has double-eye forms (2 salmon heads joined at the nose). The head on Haida creatures often
occupies nearly half of the length of the figure, as it does here, and is painted in the classical colors of red and black. The creature is “split” down the middle, and the two resulting sides are made to face each other in symmetrical balance. This is often misread as
being two creatures instead of one. Although the designs follow a very rigid structure, no
two boxes are ever exactly the same.
Revised 8/09
What shapes are repeated in this design?
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Northwest Coast Indians
Southern Alaska to the Columbia River
Slide List
Textiles
Unlike many other Indian cultures of North America, the Indians of the Northwest Coast
did not grow fiber-producing plants like cotton or domesticate wool-producing animals.
Instead they wove together materials they found in nature to make ceremonial robes and
blankets. The warp (vertical strands) of their textiles was made of the inner bark of the
cedar tree, finely shredded and twisted into a string-like form. This was then wrapped in
mountain goat wool, and the weft (horizontal strands) was spun entirely of mountain goat
wool. Both men and women participated in the creation of textiles. Men hunted the wild
mountain goats, constructed the frame on which the blanket would be woven and painted
the blanket’s design on a pattern board for the weaver to follow. Women spun the yarn,
dyed the fibers with plant and mineral dyes, and did the actual weaving.
Because the design shapes are rounded and ovoid, the entire textile could not be woven
all at once on a standard loom, which would only produce angular forms. Each part of the
design had to be made separately and then embroidered together to form an overall pattern. This process took from six months to a year to complete.
8.
Salish Spindle Whorl
Carved wood and paint
A whorl is the weighted part of a spindle used to spin wool to make yarn for weaving.
Finished yarn would be wrapped around a dowel fitted through the hole in the whorl. Most
Salish yarn was spun to a large diameter requiring a long spindle and a large whorl. Salish
spindles average approximately 8” in diameter, although some can be as large as 12” in
diameter. Carvings on whorls often included a stylized human figure flanked by animals
or more humans. The shapes are both symmetrically balanced and arranged to fill the
space of the circular whorl. The symmetrical repetition of the shapes and lines, coupled
with the splitting of the central figure are characteristic features of Northwest Coastal art.
9.
What makes this
design fit so well
within a circle ?
Chilkat Blanket
Tlingit, 1880, Mountain goat hair and cedar bark
The weavers of the Tlingit tribe specialized in dancing blankets, (the Chilkat were a sub
group of the Tlingit). These garments were worn over the shoulder by nobility and other
high ranking people during important social occasions. It has the characteristic five sided
shape, and rich fringes that move beautifully as the wearer moves or dances. The abstract
design is an example of a distributive composition in which the design covers the entire
surface. The blanket is decorated with totem animal forms, but they are difficult to recognize because they are so abstracted and stylized. The shapes symbolize the animal ancestors (totems) from which a particular family believed they had descended. This blanket is
very characteristic of Northwest Indian art in its symmetry, rhythmic repetition, and use
of formline to create the design. The colors of these textiles were limited to black, blue,
and yellow-brown. The technical skill needed to create these blankets is remarkable, as
the medium of weaving does not easily lend itself to the use of curved lines.
Revised 8/09
Can you see animals in
this design?
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Northwest Coast Indians
Southern Alaska to the Columbia River
10.
Slide List
Chilkat Tunic
Tlingit, 1875, Mountain goat hair and cedar bark
The weaving of a Chilkat tunic was a very long process and one the weaver took very seriously. She was expected to be respectful, disciplined, patient and spiritual, and those qualities would be expressed in the article she wove. While she wove, the woman would fast,
so she would be a pure vessel for the energy and spirit of the weaving to flow through her.
Chilkat tunics were woven in privacy and kept covered during the weaving process. The
beautiful textile was thought to benefit the clan as a whole -- not merely the one who wore
it to dance. The woven tunics were considered a union of the forest and the mountains,
because of the materials used: cedar bark and mountain goat hair. They represented the
balance with the environment which meant the life and death of the clan. The tunics were
brought out at times of ceremony: naming, dedications, funerals, and rites of passage.
11.
How many faces
can you see?
Chief’s Raven Rattle
(Tsimshian) Wood, 13 1/2” in length, Portland Art Museum
Musical accompaniment was an important part of Northwest Coast ceremonies. Shamans
used rattles during ceremonies to cure the sick or seek assistance from spirit helpers. This
rattle is shaped like a raven with a reclining human figure. The raven is an important
mythological character and the most common animal in rattles used by chiefs. He was a
supernatural being who could transform himself into any form. He is the mythic hero who
stole daylight from the Chief of Heaven and brought order and light to the world. This rattle is named after the main figure, and combines many aspects of Northwest Coastal art:
sculpture, painting, relief carving, secular display and references to supernatural power.
The raven rattle is a traditional part of the paraphernalia of a dancing chief. The S-shaped
rattle is designed to represent a bird. On his back is a human figure symbolizing a medicine man getting poison from a frog through his protruding tongue. Behind these figures
is a stylized and abbreviated kingfisher who is recognized by his short, heavy beak and
his stiff little tail. The shapes are all carved to conform to the shape of the rattle and fill
the space completely. The shapes are stylized and abstracted with only the ovoid shapes
being readily identified on the body of the rattle. The repetition of these ovoids across the
rattle and the outlining of the shapes with formlines is typical of this art form. The design
has the same elements on each side. The symmetry (balance) of this piece and the primary color scheme are both common features of Northwest Coastal art, as is the mysterious complex of man, bird and frog shapes.
How would you
describe the colors
used in this rattle ?
NOTE: PowerPoint image is not the rattle found at PAM, but one very similar.
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Northwest Coast Indians
Southern Alaska to the Columbia River
Slide List
Masks
Northwest Indian masks vary in form, size, complexity, and purpose from one part of the
coast to another. Yet they are all a means by which the supernatural world is made visual.
They are worn at potlatches, initiation ceremonies and shaman rituals. Often their exact
significance has been lost because such information was only known by those who owned
and used them. Masks come in the following forms: a simple face covering, a visor mask
which was worn on the forehead, a helmet which completely covered the head, or a hat.
They are carved to represent a wide variety of animals and supernatural spirits.
There are three types of masks: 1) Narrative masks have stories or songs associated with
them to document historical or personal events. The ownership of the masks--whether by
individuals, families, or clans--carries the ceremonial responsibility to continue to dance
their dances, tell their stories, and sing their songs. 2) Crest masks tell stories of how the
rights to crests, names, songs and other privileges were obtained. The display of clan and
crest masks at ceremonies confirms ownership of them. 3) Shaman and transformation
masks depict the ability to change shape or journey to and from the trance state. Often
these are carved and painted asymmetrically, and the transformation is subtly revealed as
the mask is slowly rotated from the head-on view to profile. Other transformation masks
consist of an external mask that can be split open to reveal a different form inside.
12.
Kwakiutl Mask
wood and pigment
Among the Kwakiutl, the Walasahakw dance was a group dance in which the dancers
wore forehead or visor masks such as this one. The wolf appeared in this dance as an
ancestral myth figure (totem), which makes this a narrative mask. The visor mask was
held on either by a framework helmet made of twigs or, if they had very long muzzles,
braced at the back by a stick. The distinctive features of the wolf are his erect ears and
tongue which curls upward, if it is shown at all. This mask has the distinctive erect ears,
and the characteristic ovoid shape of the eyes and muzzle. The colors are primarily gray,
white, black and red, which is typical of Northwest Coastal art. Although we can only see
one side of the mask, we can assume that the shapes we see are repeated on the other side
to create the symmetrical balance for which these artists are known.
13.
What makes the wolf’s
eye stand out?
Shaman Masks
wood with pigment
The major concentration of a shaman’s spirit power resided in his masks. The masks symbolize the spirit whose aid he is seeking in his work, but they may also show the faces of
dead people. Tlingit shamans’ masks were generally without eyeholes, as the shaman
often worked in a small area, and in direct contact with his patient. Each shaman possessed his own personal set of masks. Masks, usually carved out of wood, may exhibit a
combination of stylized human and animal features, and traditionally use the colors red,
black and blue. As with most depictions of faces, the compositions are balanced by
repeated shapes and colors.
Revised 8/09
How are these two
masks the same and
how are they different?
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Northwest Coast Indians
Southern Alaska to the Columbia River
14.
Slide List
Haida Whale and Seagull Transformation Mask (closed)
c. 1860-80, wood, paint, copper
A Transformation mask is an impressive feat of engineering, with hinges, levers and pull
cords that open and change the mask from one being into another. The mask shown is in
the closed position and in the form of a whale with a seagull above. Transformation masks
make vivid the many incidents of shape-changing recounted in the stories Northwest
Coast families tell to explain the origin of their clans and their representation by particular supernatural beings. Note the characteristic color scheme and symmetrical balance of
the mask.
Does this mask remind
you of another type of
Indian art?
15.
Haida Whale and Seagull Transformation Mask (open)
c. 1860-80, wood, paint, copper
The whale face opens to reveal the human face inside.
What shapes are
repeated?
Extra: Tsimshian Mask
(Kispiox) Birch, 9-1/2”x8-1/2” , Portland Art Museum
The area around the eyes is painted in a color contrasting the remainder of the face. Here
the blue band around the eyes contrasts with the white and red painting of the other features. The eyes are carved separately and mounted so that they can be turned downward
by pulling strings (hidden on this slide). Although the shapes of the red features at the top
of the mask are not perfectly symmetrical, the remainder of the shapes on the mask are
repeated in such a way that the mask is symmetrically balanced.
In this humanoid face mask, the exact significance of the mask is shrouded. The
Tsimshian have always been regarded as carvers of sensitive masks which were used by
secret societies and shamans. There are more masks of human faces than animals among
these, though some of the faces have noses that could be interpreted as the beaks of birds.
Tsimshian masks have two characteristics which distinguish them from others, especially
from the Tlingit. The mouth is usually a straight line and is often drawn towards the sides,
giving a feeling of tension to the face.
NOTE: This slide is included because the mask is in PAM, it’s not in the PowerPoint.
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