Cultural Continuation

This type of basket is traditionally made in the field near the source of huckleberries. A basket maker will locate a grove of cedar trees near the berry camp and remove rectangular pieces of bark to fashion containers to harvest the berry crop. An oval is scribed across the center of the bark and the two sides folded up towards each other, with the engraved portion of the bark forming the bottom of the basket. Leather is used to lace up the sides of the bark and as reinforcement around the rim. Multiple baskets are usually made on site to allow the family to complete the berry harvest.

This axe is a reproduction of an axe found at Oklahoma’s Spiro Mounds. Fashioned in the shape of an Alligator Gar fish, the axe was used in ceremony and not war. Similar ceremonial axes are found in Central America emphasizing the shared religious beliefs of Indigenous peoples through North and South America.

The Moccasin game is an important Navajo gambling pastime. The game starts between nocturnal and daytime animals to determine whether daylight or darkness prevails. It also is played as a social game. A pointer, ball and yucca counters are used and the side that eventually ends up holding all the counters is the winner.

Gift of Mary Ann and Ken Fergeson

Jane Osti is a Cherokee National Treasure and is responsible for teaching many, if not most, active Cherokee potters the art of working in clay. Although larger than traditional Cherokee pottery, Osti utilizes traditional designs and incising techniques with the vase.

Warren Coriz is the son-in-law of one of Santo Domingo’s most famous families, the late Hilda and Arthur Coriz. He learned his potting techniques from famed potter Robert Tenorio and continues to study under Robert today. Warren makes all his pottery in the traditional manner; hand dug clay and slips, hand coiling, painting with natural slips, and outdoor firing. Warren is known for making classic Santo Domingo food bowls. These are polychrome pieces with traditional pueblo bird designs painted in black with various red slips.

Gift of Odelia V. Copeland

Traditionally, the wedding basket is used in a variety of ceremonies. During the ceremonies, the “pathway,” or break in the band design (red with black triangles), is pointed to the east. In a Navajo wedding a small container of water, and a wedding basket containing ceremonial gruel or mush are set out by the bride’s father. As part of the ceremony, the father draws lines with pollen across the gruel – first from the east to the west with white pollen and then from the south to the north with yellow pollen. After dipping water from the water bottle over each other’s hand, the bride and groom eat the gruel from the east, south, west, north and center of the wedding basket, with remaining portions eaten by the guests.

Cowboys, ranching, and rodeo are aspects that non-Native people commonly do not associate with Native American culture. However, it is a major part of many different western tribes, particularly the Navajo. One of the largest Native American rodeo and livestock fairs is held annually on the Navajo Nation. They also have their own professional rodeo association and hold several sanctioned rodeos throughout the 17-million-acre reservation land.

Gift of Jasper Ackerman

Four Madonnas, facing inward, symbolize the Christian denominations from the four corners of the earth, and they have agreed on “one earth, one heaven, and one God.” Their heads support a four-pronged cross, the strength of that union. From the center of the cross four flames spring upward representing the light of the world, surrounding a newborn infant and joining above him into the hands representing fervent common prayer. The infant is a symbol of the world-wide belief for the sake of God and humanity.   –  Williard Stone

Vivian Harrison, “Stuyat”, is a member of the Yakama Nation. She is a tribal historian, storyteller and artist who teaches American Indian Cultural Art at the Heritage University in Toppenish, Washington. She also holds classes in different techniques of beading and basket weaving. The basket on display is a reproduction of the old container type of storage basket used to store cha’ lay, a salmon flour or sugar. Traditionally made from Tulsi or bulrush plants, they were disposable containers lined with salmon skins and packed with cha’ lay. The salmon could be stored in this way for long periods of time and were commonly used as a trade item. Tulsi grow in marshy wetlands and is harvested from the end of May until September.

This belt illustrates the merging of old and new traditions. The floral beadwork design with blue is typical of old-style Plateau floral beadwork with its bilateral symmetry. The large, beaded belt buckle is an adaptation of twentieth-century western wear.

A typical Teec Nos Pas weaving usually incorporates very complex zigzag patterns and design motifs. By the 1930s Navajo weavers were producing rugs with unique, non-traditional images made specifically for the growing tourist market. The imagery found on such weaving includes stylized animals, words, copies of paintings and romantic Plains warriors in full feathered headdresses. The Santa weaving illustrates the broad source of traditional as well as non­ traditional inspiration for many of the contemporary weavers.

The encounter between Christian missionaries and Native people marked a long and sometimes confrontational shared existence between two distinctly different sacred worlds. This exchange brought about difficult changes and entirely new lifeways for both Native and non-Native people. Jesuit and Catholic missionary involvement with people of the Plateau region dates to the early 1800s. It is not uncommon to find beadwork that combines elements of Catholicism with traditional floral motifs. This beaded handbag displays the “Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

Roberta Bobbie Conner stated that “Culture brings us together. Culture reflects our values. It’s what we hold closest to our hearts and cling to in times of need” She was the honored recipient of the 2007 Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award for her work representing the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation as a community and national leader, museum director, curator, speaker and author. She is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes, and her ancestry is Umatilla, Cayuse and Nez Perce. Connor’s piece reflects traditional Plateau style flat bag unique to the Plateau region with typical floral beadwork pattern.

The Uktena, or “Horned Serpent,” is a mythological creature that dwells in the below realm.

Those who know say the Uktena is a great snake, as large as a tree trunk, with horns on its head, and a bright blazing crest like a diamond on its forehead, and scales glowing like sparks of fire. It has rings or spots of color along its whole length and cannot be wounded except by shooting in the seventh spot from the head, because under this spot is its heart and its life. The blazing diamond is called Ulun’suti—”Transparent”—and he who can win it may become the greatest wonder worker of the tribe. But it is worth a man’s life to attempt it, for whoever is seen by the Uktena is so dazed by the bright light that he runs toward the snake instead of trying to escape. As if this were not enough, the breath of the Uktena is so pestilential, that no living creature can survive should they inhale the tiniest bit of the foul air expelled by the Uktena. Even to see the Uktena asleep is death, not to the hunter himself, but to his family.  – Anthropologist James Mooney

Arthur and Shifra Silberman Collection

Bruce Caesar is the son of the late Southern Plains silversmith Julius Caesar. Many of the symbols used by Bruce relate to the Native American Chuch. On each side of the center circle is the “water bird” which is a symbol of renewal of life. As Bruce has stated, “symbols mean nothing to the viewer unless their meanings are conveyed through the interpretations of those who use them.”

Gift of Odelia V. Copeland

One of the most characteristic and well-known traditions of Southwest jewelry is the squash blossom necklace. The principal part of the necklace is the crescent-shaped “naja”. These necklaces are the cornerstone of most Native American jewelry collections. Pueblo and Navajo silversmiths adopted the crescent-shaped “naja” of the Spanish into their own artwork. Early squash blossom necklaces were made of silver only.

The now-familiar turquoise inlay patterns were a Zuni innovation in the nineteenth century. The squash blossom necklace serves as a reminder of the close interaction between the Pueblo and Navajo people since the mid-l 800s. The necklace itself is Navajo, adopted by the Zuni. As the incorporation of turquoise on each of the blossoms is an advent of the Zuni, later adopted by the Navajo, it can be said that the squash blossom originates not just from one tribe, but from many.

The Zuni developed a technique of setting a decorative pattern of stones known as “channel inlay” silver. This consists of gluing precut stones into small cloisonnés (defined areas of color separated by metal) and grinding the stones until flush with the surface. The silver dividers that hold the stone in place become part of the pattern.

Blanket strips were sown horizontally to the middle of a bison robe or trade blanket. Blankets were worn in a variety of ways including wrapped around a person’s waist, folded and worn over one shoulder in “bandolier” style, or folded and draped around the neck and down the front.

Blankets and bison robes embellished with painted motifs, beadwork or quillwork often were given to special guests and honorees within and outside the tribe during celebrations, ceremonies and other occasions as part of gift giving or giveaways.

Gift of Greg Campbell

Two Gray Hills weavings are characterized by the use of undyed black, gray, tan and white colors often laid out in a diamond or saw-tooth pattern. The designation originated at the trading post on the Navajo Reservation by the same name. The basic elements of the Two Gray Hill style were established around 1920, The weavers are especially known for their well carded wool and the highest thread count per inch on the reservation.

In addition to channel inlay, the Zuni Pueblo artists invented another lapidary technique known as mosaic inlay. Small pieces of turquoise, abalone shell, red spiny oyster and black cannel coal are arranged in a pattern of a silver backing.

During the mid-twentieth century, Pueblo and Navajo artists began to push the boundaries of traditional Southwest jewelry. New techniques combined with complex styles and design elements. Distinctive styles of silverwork continue to be associated with particular Southwest tribes. The Zuni, for instance, are known for their superb lapidary skills in setting multiple stones. Known as a lapidary artist, Bobby Concho follows this new tradition of inlay jewelry makers.

Robert Patricio is from Acoma Pueblo and frequently collaborates on the pottery with his wife, Melody. Robert learned traditional pottery making when he was eight years old by watching potters work at Acoma. He and his wife specialize in traditional hand coiled and hand painted pottery. He gathers his clays, slips, and natural vegetation to begin constructing his masterpieces. Robert cleans his own clay of impurities, hand mixes with water and begins constructing pottery vessels from snake-like coils. He sets the pottery out to dry and then sands it for a smooth finish before he hand-paints his designs using natural colors from plants and various flowers. The designs on his pottery are re-created from ancient pottery shards found within the Acoma Pueblo. The final step is firing his pottery outdoors in the traditional way.

Joel Queen is a member of the Eastern Band Cherokee and a graduate of Western Carolina University with both a BFA and MFA. His contemporary pottery reflects ancient techniques and the contemporary traditions and spiritual values of the Cherokee people. His pottery is made with hand-dug clay. It is then sifted, kneaded and coiled by hand. The last step is stamping with hand­ carved wooden paddles, then firing in a traditional pit fire. Queen’s pottery is created with consistent thickness and fired at a precise temperature vitrifying the clay body. This process renders the pot waterproof.

Native American have adopted the design of various European and American symbols and used them for their own artistic expression. The reason behind the earliest usage of flag motifs may be attributed to several factors. Perhaps most importantly, many of the early tribes perceived the European and American flags as symbols of power and courage. This bag incorporates the bald eagle, an animal long held in highest respect and honor by Native Americans, with the traditional American flag and the flag in shield form. While the exact significance of this particular bag is unknown, one can speculate that it was intended as a display of honor and respect.

During the 1960s art students at the Institute of American Indian Art and elsewhere changed beadwork into a new art form. Contemporary beadworkers sometimes appropriate the iconic and whimsical images of popular culture for their own artistic expressions, as illustrated by the “tweedy bird” motif on the handbag.

Contemporary beadworkers have moved well past traditional abstract and geometric forms in their beadwork. The incorporation of wolfs is a very popular design motif that is seen on necklaces, blankets, and is utilized on the Darth Vader beaded helmet by Huichol artist Álvaro Ortiz López—Puwari from Mexico.

Acquisition Fund Courtesy of Olga Pella

Both Eastern Woodlands and Southeastern tribes had a long tradition of making and wearing large pouches with carrying straps, often elaborately decorated. These bags were originally utilitarian in nature and served as containers for hunting and traveling. It is believed that such bandolier bags were derived from the haversacks pouches carried by eighteenth-century British soldiers. Jay McGirt has followed the traditional Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole shoulder bag in both style and beadwork design.

Arthur and Shifra Silberman Collection

Claude Medford was a Choctaw artist and craftsman. He learned to weave cane-splint baskets in traditional styles at an early age by his Choctaw grandfather, a medicine man. Medford earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology and art history at the University of New Mexico. He later traveled throughout the Southeast, visiting numerous tribes including the Alabama, Tunica-Biloxi, Coushatta, Pamunkey, Caddo, Delaware, and Yuchi, and researching the heritage of the Choctaw people. Medford learned each tribe’s style of basketry, which was important to him because of his grandfather’s influence. He taught classes and workshops at the American Indian Archaeological Institute in Washington, Connecticut, and the Clifton Choctaw Indian community west of Alexandria, Louisiana.

Gift courtesy of Mrs. Freda Hambrick

Of all Navajo silverwork, the bracelet is one of the best-know pieces of jewelry, being the most numerous and varied in design. The full potential of Navajo bracelet design was not realized

until the late nineteenth century, when turquoise was introduced into silverwork. However, it was not until the 1920s and 1930s, when the semi-precious stone became more accessible to the Navajo artists, that this form of jewelry took it current appearance. Stones were acquired from mines in Colorado and Arizona at a much lower cost than those purchased during the late nineteenth century.

Gift courtesy of Mrs. Freda Hambrick

Around 1880, silver necklaces made by the Navajo consisted of plain beads hung with a pendant in “naja” form. Early necklaces have the largest beads placed in the middle of the strand. Like the pendant, graduation of the beads serves to define the center, both visually and by weight. Each bead is fashioned from two pieces of domed silver, made by hammering on a wooden mold with a smooth round punch. The halves are soldered together and the bead is then buffed and polished.