Daily Life

Arthur and Shifra Silberman Collection

Often referred to as “corn pounders,” mortars and pedestals were commonly used to pound or grind dried corn into a fine powder. It was then baked to make bread or soaked or cooked to create softkey or grits.

Gift of Mrs. Doane Farr

The use of painted rawhide containers was common before European contact. They are a characteristic art form of the Plains and Plateau regions. The termed applied to these containers dates back to the 1700s and originated with French traders impressed with their hard surfaces. In French, parfleche means “to parry an arrow.”

Gift from the Collection of Richard Walker

Birchbark was used by the Anishinaabe in a multitude of ways and was incorporated into canoes, scrolls for writing, and basketry for storage. The size of the basket, and the design, would dictate the nature of what was storge inside. This design, and the materials used to construct the basket, are old and predate European migration into the Americas.

Gift from the Collection of Richard Walker

Utilitarian baskets were used for collecting berries, roots, and shellfish. To create the basket, women would collect the root of the Sitka Spruce in the spring, peel the bark from the root, and leave it to dry over the summer. The bark would then be woven to create the basket. Dyed bark could be woven around the weft of the basket to produce a geometric design.

Gift of David B.H. Seacat

Traditionally, baskets are made using locally harvested materials. For Cherokee baskets this is usually river cane, white oak, and honeysuckle. To produce the darker colors, which offset the natural lighter color, the cane was boiled using black walnut or bloodroot.

Gift of Forrest Bratley

Originally, strength and durability were the key factors in constructing water jars, bottles, or baskets. Ground juniper leaves and red ochre are rubbed into the basket and then melted pinyon pitch is smeared over the surface for waterproofing.

Joe Grandee Collection

Native artists and crafts people are great recyclers. It is a common practice to rework an item when it is worn or even to use parts of an object to produce something else needed. The beaded panels on these bags have been married with a top flap and newer canvas backing.

Gift from the Collection of Richard Walker

Bentwood boxes had different functions. Their use depended on how they were constructed, what designs they held, and who owned them. Many boxes were created for trade, but others held food items, ritual regalia, and were often symbols of rank and prestige.

Anonymous gift

This cradle is made in the traditional prairie plains style which was likely adapted by the Osage when they moved westward from the Ohio Valley.  It incorporates the Catholic cross motif at the top between older moon and star designs. The Christianization of Indigenous people began in earnest in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries with the introduction of reservations and boarding schools.

Historically, in the Kiowa tribe, two identically crafted cradleboards were produced for an expectant mother. One was used for the child and the other given to the child as a toy.

Joe Grandee Collection

Like most examples, Apache cradleboards are lightweight and extremely easy to handle. They provide excellent protection for infants and a safe way to transport them, particularly over long distances. Objects such as small brass bells are often placed on the hood of the cradle to entertain and pacify the infant.

Like the Salish cradle, Nez Perce, and other Plateau tribes along the east side of the Columbia River have a unique style of cradleboard with a large elongated, U-shaped flat board covered in leather or cloth and finished in beadwork. The floral pattern above the hood exemplifies the symmetrical style that was popular in this region prior to 1900.

Gift courtesy of Mrs. Doane Farr

The Kiowa are credited with developing the lattice-style cradle which spread to other tribes on the Southern and Central Plains, including the Cheyenne, Comanche, and the Dakota. The cradle is built on two primary wooden slats that extend above the top of the pouch and are held in place by two wooden cross pieces near the head and at the bottom. The pouch is formed of rawhide covered in leather or cloth. The wooden slats along with the rawhide pouch provided extra protection for the infant.

Gift courtesy of Carl E. Fisher

Commercial cotton string was used to loop around the rods in twin half-hitches holding the cradle together. Other materials like jute was also a popular cordage string used on Pomo cradles. It was readily available in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the Pomo Indians who worked in the local hop fields. If a Pomo mother was working in the fields, the cradle, with the infant safely secured inside, would be set upright in a small hole that kept the rounded base from rolling over. Pomo cradles are also “sitting” cradles with the child’s legs extending over the bottom edge. The cotton strap was worn around the mother’s forehead and the cradle extended down her back.

Gift courtesy of Carl E. Fisher

The various Salish tribes of the Plateau region are well known for their skill and craftsmanship in basketry. They have achieved distinction in their creation of large hamper-type lidded baskets having an elaborately designed, imbricated weaving technique.

Gift courtesy of Carl E. Fisher

It was customary among the Havasupai for an infant to be placed in a cradleboard at about the age of two weeks. They then spent much of their first year of life in the cradle. After the first year, the child gradually transitioned to playing with others while learning to walk.

Arthur and Shifra Silberman Collection

Perhaps one of the best known of the modem Acoma potters, Lucy Lewis is noted for her versatility in controlling style and form. Like many of the Southwest potters, Lewis’ work follows a long tradition of exquisite complex vessels dating back thousands of years. Acoma potters like Lucy Lewis and others are well known for their polychrome on white ceramics incorporating complex geometric patterns and zoomorphic images. Lewis passed away in March 1992 at the age of 93.

Navajo cradles consisted of two flat pieces of split cedar wood lashed together with leather straps. A small board was lashed at the bottom to fo1m a footrest, and the bowed wooden piece at head level had a leather or cloth drape as a cover and protection from the sun. Bark was used as an absorbent material and animal fur was added for padding.

These types of vessels with horned toads, tadpoles, frogs, or mythological creatures such as the Kolowisi or plumed serpents are referred to as pseudo-ceremonial bowls because they were often made for the emerging tourist trade during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, they are rooted in earlier authentic ceremonial vessels. The black-on-white design motif was often painted after firing­-rather than in the traditional way of applying the paint before firing.

It is not uncommon for storage baskets made by Western Apache to measure three feet in height and take over a year to weave. Design patterns range from very simple geometric motifs to highly complex arrangements. Since the late 1800s, Apache basket makers have favored naturalistic design motifs such as horses, deer, people, dogs, and birds.