AMERICAN-INDIAN ART

AMERICAN-INDIAN ART

Also known as Native American Art

Includes Water, Oil and Sand Painting,

Leather, Wood, Pottery and Baskets.

Boundless and sacred.

Artistic expression has been a way to

worship the gods.

AMERICAN-INDIAN ART

Art for art's sake is not part of the

Indian psyche.

Their artistic designs have beauty and

care motivated by their love for nature.

Each native art object they made had

a specific purpose.

AMERICAN-INDIAN ART

Obvious appreciation for nature permeates their

Indian pottery, paintings, baskets, leather work,

sand paintings, crafts, moccasins and wood

carving.

AMERICAN-INDIAN ART

Native Americans created many shapes and

geometric designs for their art and these

were repeated and became representative

symbols that transcended tribal language

barriers.

HISTORY

HISTORY

American Indian art history has developed

over thousands of years and consists of

several distinctive styles from the

distinguishing cultures of diverse Indian

tribes (From Navajo to Hopi to Plains

Indians).

HISTORY

Each tribe has a unique history, which

consists of many types of Native

American Indian arts including

beadwork, jewelry, weaving, basketry,

pottery, carvings, kachinas, masks,

totem poles, drums, flutes, pipes, dolls

and more.

HISTORY

Native American art history can be traced back to

cave painting, stonework and earthenware

thousands of years ago.

The types of materials used by Native Americans

has evolved from rocks and feathers to cloth,

clay, turquoise, silver, glass and fabric; each

piece of art reveals intricacies of the diverse

indigenous people.

Important symbols in most Native American

art history include the sun, moon, bears,

eagles or people.

Pendants and statues were often created to

symbolize and honor Mother Nature.

HISTORY

Native American lifestyle can generally be

divided into two categories.

1) Sedentary farmers (include the Hopi, the

Zuni, the Yaqui and the Yuma).

2) Nomadic (including the Southwestern tribes

such as the Navajo and the Apache).

SEDENTARY FARMERS

These tribes grew crops like corn, beans and

squash.

They lived in permanent settlements known as

pueblos that were built of stone and adobe that

resembled something like modern-day

apartments.

At their centers, many of these villages also had

large ceremonial pit houses, or kivas

NOMADIC

Known as hunters and gatherers these tribes

survived by gathering and raiding their more

established neighbors for their crops.

Because these groups were always on the move,

their homes were much less permanent than the

pueblos.

CULTURE AND BELIEFS

Sacred beliefs of American Indians hold

that everything living or inanimate shares

a place in the universe, and that no one

thing is above the other.

They were the

first ecologically aware people anywhere,

long before pollution became a serious

and popular issue.

CULTURE AND BELIEFS

Native Americans were also the first to

create implements with beauty, and each

native art object they made had a 

specific purpose.

Animals they killed 

were for clothing, tools and food, never 

for sport.

CULTURE AND BELIEFS

Everything in Native American culture is considered

to contain a spirit.

Everything has ties to nature and is thought

through and carefully produced.

From native plants and animals to housing to the

weather became a part of the culture in Indian

life.

Animals are revered as spirits and although they were

hunted and killed, their skins and hides are used as

clothing and drums, their meat is never wasted and

their spirits live on in the mind of the tribes.

Plants are cultivated and harvested, and used for various

things such as dyes for blankets.

CULTURE AND BELIEFS

The rain and sun are considered to be gods, giving a sign

to the Indians as the seasons change.

Totem poles, large wooden poles carved with various

animals are used to represent family members, loved

ones who passed away and spiritual beings.

People were assigned spirit animals and that are often

reflected in the totem pole.