![Totem RMBC 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Totem_RMBC_1.jpg)
Northwest Coast art is the term commonly applied to a style of art created primarily by artists from
Tlingit
The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ), ,
Haida
Haida may refer to:
Places
* Haida, an old name for Nový Bor
* Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands
* Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia
Ships
* , a 1 ...
,
Heiltsuk
The Heiltsuk or Haíɫzaqv , sometimes historically referred to as ''Bella Bella'', are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast region in British Columbia, centred on the island community of Bella Bella. The government of the Heiltsuk people ...
,
Nuxalk
The Nuxalk people ( Nuxalk: ''Nuxalkmc''; pronounced )'','' also referred to as the Bella Coola, Bellacoola or Bilchula, are an Indigenous First Nation of the Pacific Northwest Coast, centred in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Co ...
,
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terr ...
,
Kwakwaka'wakw,
Nuu-chah-nulth
The Nuu-chah-nulth (; Nuučaan̓uł: ), also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifte ...
and other
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
and
Native American tribes of the
Northwest Coast of North America, from pre-European-contact times up to the present.
Distinguishing characteristics
Two-dimensional Northwest Coast art is distinguished by the use of
formlines, and the use of characteristic shapes referred to as ''ovoids'', ''U forms'' and ''S forms''. Before European contact, the most common media were wood (often
Western red cedar
''Thuja plicata'' is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to western North America. Its common name is western redcedar (western red cedar in the UK), and it is also called Pacific redcedar, giant arborvitae ...
), stone, and copper; since European contact, paper, canvas, glass, and precious metals have also been used. If paint is used, the most common colours are red and black, but yellow is also often used, particularly among
Kwakwaka'wakw artists.
[Bill Holm, Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form. University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1965] Chilkat weaving
Chilkat weaving is a traditional form of weaving practiced by Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other Northwest Coast peoples of Alaska and British Columbia. Chilkat blankets are worn by high-ranking tribal members on civic or ceremonial occasions, ...
applies formline designs to textiles. Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian have traditionally produced Chilkat woven regalia, from wool and yellow cedar bark, that is important for civic and ceremonial events, including potlatches.
The patterns depicted include natural forms such as bears, ravens, eagles, orcas, and humans;
legendary creature
A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses ...
s such as
thunderbirds and
sisiutl
The sisiutl is a legendary creature found in many cultures of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, notably the Kwakwakaʼwakw people group. Typically, it is depicted as a double-headed sea serpent. Sometimes, the symbol feat ...
s; and abstract forms made up of the characteristic Northwest Coast shapes.
Totem poles
Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually m ...
are the most well-known artifacts produced using this style. Northwest Coast artists are also notable for producing characteristic "bent-corner" or "bentwood" boxes, masks, and canoes. Northwest Coast designs were also used to decorate traditional First Nations household items such as spoons, ladles, baskets, hats, and paddles; since European contact, the Northwest Coast art style has increasingly been used in gallery-oriented forms such as paintings, prints and sculptures.
![Mary Ebbets Hunt - Chilkat blanket](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Mary_Ebbets_Hunt_-_Chilkat_blanket.jpg)
Textile arts from the Northwest Coast include
Chilkat weaving
Chilkat weaving is a traditional form of weaving practiced by Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other Northwest Coast peoples of Alaska and British Columbia. Chilkat blankets are worn by high-ranking tribal members on civic or ceremonial occasions, ...
, Raven's Tail Weavings, Button Blankets, and elaborate ceremonial regalia using a range of materials. Three dimension art was created from many materials, notably wood.
History
Prior to contact with Europeans, First Nations on the Northwest coast evolved complex social and ceremonial institutions, including the
potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Science ...
system, hereditary systems of rank and descent, ceremonial societies, and permanent villages. Social organization involved groups of kin, reckoned variously matrilineally, patrilineally or bi-lineally. These groups hold various tangible and intangible rights and properties. Among them are origin stories. Many instances of Northwest coast art are visual references to these stories.
After European contact, in the late 18th century, the peoples who produced Northwest Coast art suffered huge population losses due to diseases such as smallpox, and cultural losses due to colonization and assimilation into European-North
American culture
The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...
. The production of their art dropped drastically as well.
Toward the end of the 19th century, Northwest Coast artists began producing work for commercial sale, such as small
argillite
:''"Argillite" may also refer to Argillite, Kentucky.''
Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts ...
carvings. The end of the 19th century also saw large-scale export of totem poles, masks and other
traditional art
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tra ...
objects from the region to museums and private collectors around the world. Some of this export was accompanied by financial compensation to people who had a right to sell the art, and some was not.
In the early 20th century, very few First Nations artists in the Northwest Coast region were producing art. A tenuous link to older traditions remained in artists such as Charles Gladstone, Henry Speck, Ellen Neel, Stanley George, and
Mungo Martin
Chief Mungo Martin or ''Nakapenkem'' (lit. ''Potlatch chief "ten times over"''), ''Datsa'' (lit. ''"grandfather"''), was an important figure in Northwest Coast Art, Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw Aboriginal peopl ...
. The mid-20th century saw a revival of interest and production of Northwest Coast art, due to the influence of artists and academics such as
Bill Reid
William Ronald Reid Jr. (12 January 1920 – 13 March 1998) ( Haida) was a Canadian artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is ...
(a grandson of Charles Gladstone) and
Bill Holm. A revival of traditional ceremonial ways also drove the increased production of traditional arts. This time also saw an increasing demand for the return of art objects that were illegally or immorally taken from First Nations communities. This demand continues to the present day. Today, there are numerous art schools teaching formal Northwest Coast art of various styles, and there is a growing market for new art in this style.
[Jonathan Meuli. Shadow House: Interpretations of Northwest Coast Art ]
The revival of ceremonial life, following the lifting of the potlatch ban, has also driven production of traditional clothing, painting and carving for use in ceremonies.
Cultural appropriateness
![Tommy joseph tlingit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Tommy_joseph_tlingit.jpg)
Although neighbouring peoples such as the
Coast Salish peoples
The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coa ...
also traditionally produced art which shares some characteristics of Northwest Coast art, these styles of art are not usually included in the term, since the patterns and artifacts produced are rather different. For example, Salish peoples traditionally created standing welcome figures not created by other Northwest Coast peoples, did not traditionally create totem poles, and did not traditionally use the form lines and shapes of other Northwest Coast peoples.
[Hilary Stewart. ''Looking at Totem Poles''. Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver/Toronto, 1993] One corollary of this fact is that — contrary to popular belief — other than some of the peoples of the
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...
, no
Native American nations of Washington and Oregon states produced totem poles and other characteristic, formline, Northwest Coast-style art objects before European contact.
[Hilary Stewart,''Looking at Indian Art of the Northwest Coast''. Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver/Toronto, 19795]
Traditionally, within a given community, some patterns and motifs could be used only by certain families and lineages, or with the agreement of those families and lineages. Today, in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, it is a point of contention whether only
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
artists of the appropriate nation have the moral right to produce art of given types and using given motifs, or whether only the intent of the person and the respect given to the respective peoples are significant. Likewise, in Ontario, similar controversies have arisen over whether non-Native artists have the moral right to make use of Native motifs and visual art styles. Some non-Native artists, such as John Livingston, have been adopted into First Nations and have thus formally acquired the right to produce such art.
In some nations, such as the Haida, adoptions are seen by some only as gestures, and production of work in their trademark style by outsiders may, in some contexts, be viewed as economic and cultural appropriation.
Notable artists
Notable Northwest Coast artists of the 19th century include- Albert Edward Edenshaw (Haida), Captain Carpenter (Heiltsuk),
Willie Seaweed
Willie Seaweed (1873–1967) was a Kwakwaka'wakw chief and wood carver from Canada. He was considered a master Pacific Northwest, Northwest Coast Indian artist who is remembered for his technical artistic style and protection of traditional native ...
(Kwakwak'wakw),
, who is widely acknowledged as a master whose art is in all the great collections around the world.
Also
Guujaaw
Gidansda Giindajin Haawasti Guujaaw, also known as Gary Edenshaw, is a singer, wood carver, traditional medicine practitioner, political activist and leader. He of Gakyaals Kiiqawaay, a Haida family of the Raven moiety. He has currently inherit ...
, another notable carver and builder who is also Haida political leader. Other notable Northwest Coast artists of the 20th and 21st centuries include Charlie James, Henry Speck, Doug Cranmer, Stanley George,
James Schoppert
Robert James "Jim" Schoppert (May 28, 1947 – September 2, 1992) was an Tlingit Alaska Native artist and educator. His work includes woodcarving, painting, poetry, and essays. He has been described as an innovator, whose works pushed the boundar ...
,
Bill Reid
William Ronald Reid Jr. (12 January 1920 – 13 March 1998) ( Haida) was a Canadian artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is ...
,
Mungo Martin
Chief Mungo Martin or ''Nakapenkem'' (lit. ''Potlatch chief "ten times over"''), ''Datsa'' (lit. ''"grandfather"''), was an important figure in Northwest Coast Art, Northwest Coast style art, specifically that of the Kwakwaka'wakw Aboriginal peopl ...
,
Ellen Neel
Ellen Neel (1916–1966) was a Kwakwakaʼwakw artist woodcarver and is the first woman known to have professionally carved totem poles.Priya, 10 She came from Alert Bay, British Columbia, and her work is in public collections throughout the world.
...
,
Robert Davidson,
Beau Dick
Beau Dick (November 23, 1955 – March 27, 2017) was a Kwakwaka'wakw Northwest Coast artist and Chief who lived and worked in Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada. He was a contemporary artist, activist and hereditary Chief from the Namgis First ...
,
Willie Seaweed
Willie Seaweed (1873–1967) was a Kwakwaka'wakw chief and wood carver from Canada. He was considered a master Pacific Northwest, Northwest Coast Indian artist who is remembered for his technical artistic style and protection of traditional native ...
,
Roy Henry Vickers
Roy Henry Vickers, (born June 1946 in Laxgalts'ap (now known as Greenville), British Columbia) is a Grammy Award nominated Canadian First Nations artist. He owns and operates a gallery in Tofino, British Columbia.
Biography
Vickers was born on ...
,
Don Yeomans
Don Yeomans (born 1958) is a Haida artist from Prince Rupert, British Columbia best known for his silkscreen art. His art is in the collection of Museum of Anthropology at UBC and on permanent display at the Canadian Museum of History.
Early li ...
,
Jay Simeon
Jay Simeon (born July 27, 1976) is a Canadians, Canadian artist of Haida people, Haida heritage on his father's side. He was born into the Kaawaas branch of the Sdast’a.aas Eagle clan. His crests are Eagle, Supernatural Killer Whale, Frog, Beave ...
, Amos Wallace, Lyle Wilson, Sam (Sammy) Robinson, Ron Hamilton, Art Thompson, Joe David,
Reginald Peterson
Reginald is a masculine given name in the English language.
Etymology and history
The meaning of Reginald is “King". The name is derived from the Latin ''Reginaldus'', which has been influenced by the Latin word ''regina'', meaning "queen". Th ...
,
Freda Diesing
Freda Diesing (2 June 1925 – 4 December 2002) was a Haida woman of the Sadsugohilanes Clan, one of very few female carvers of Northwest Coast totem poles and a member of the Council of the Haida Nation of British Columbia, Canada. Her Haid ...
,
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, and
Tony Hunt.
Notable art historians and thinkers
Notable academics and publishers of northwest Northwest Coast include
Bill Holm,
Bill Reid
William Ronald Reid Jr. (12 January 1920 – 13 March 1998) ( Haida) was a Canadian artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is ...
,
Hilary Stewart
Hilary Stewart (3 November 1924 – 5 June 2014) was a Saint Lucia- born Canadian writer known for her books about the Northwest Coast First Nations people. She illustrated other writers' books and published eleven of her own.
Life
Stewart was bo ...
, Bill McLennan,
Martha Black
Martha Louise Munger Black OBE (February 24, 1866 – October 31, 1957) was a Canadian politician. Black was the second woman elected to the House of Commons of Canada.
Biography
Martha was born in on February 24, 1866 in Chicago, Illinois ...
, and
George F. MacDonald
George F. MacDonald (July 4, 1938 - January 22, 2020) was a Canadian anthropologist and museum director who pioneered archaeological and ethnohistorical research on the Tsimshian and Gitksan and was the director of the Canadian Museum of Civilizati ...
.
Doreen Jensen and Polly Sargent's book ''Robes of Power'' (1986) deals with ceremonial robes - called
Button blanket
A button blanket is wool blanket embellished with mother-of-pearl buttons, created by Northwest Coastal tribes, that is worn for ceremonial purposes.
''Ceremonial robes and their associated regalia have been among the most spectacular creatio ...
- and their history and forms. Cheryl Samuel and her book ''The Raven's Tail'' (1987) describes northern weaving style known as Raven's Tail - used to make ceremonial robes and other regalia.
Emily Carr
Emily Carr (or M. Emily Carr as she sometimes signed her work) (December 13, 1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist and writer who was inspired by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the painters in Canada to ado ...
, though she did not formally adopt the techniques, commonly used native art as the motif of many of her early paintings.
See also
*
Alaska Native art
Alaska Native cultures are rich and diverse, and their art forms are representations of their history, skills, tradition, adaptation, and nearly twenty thousand years of continuous life in some of the most remote places on earth. These art forms a ...
*
Button blanket
A button blanket is wool blanket embellished with mother-of-pearl buttons, created by Northwest Coastal tribes, that is worn for ceremonial purposes.
''Ceremonial robes and their associated regalia have been among the most spectacular creatio ...
*
Chilkat weaving
Chilkat weaving is a traditional form of weaving practiced by Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other Northwest Coast peoples of Alaska and British Columbia. Chilkat blankets are worn by high-ranking tribal members on civic or ceremonial occasions, ...
*
Coast Salish art
Coast Salish art is an art unique to the Pacific Northwest Coast among the Coast Salish peoples. Coast Salish are peoples from the Pacific Northwest Coast made up of many different languages and cultural characteristics. Coast Salish territory co ...
*
Formline art
*
Haida argillite carvings
Haida argillite carvings are a sculptural tradition among the Haida indigenous nation of the Northwest Coast of North America. It first became a widespread art form in the early 19th century, and continues today.
Background
Argillite becam ...
*
Kwakwaka'wakw art
*
Native American art
Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which includes C ...
*
Potlatch
A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Science ...
*
Totem pole
Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually m ...
*
Transformation mask
A transformation mask, also known as an opening mask, is a type of mask used by indigenous people of the Northwest Coast and Alaska in ritual dances. These masks usually depict an outer, animal visage, which the performer can open by pulling a s ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Coast Artat the
Burke Museum
The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Burke Museum) is a natural history museum in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. Established in 1899 as the Washington State Museum, it traces its origins to a high school naturalist club fo ...
Reciprocal Research Network
{{Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas
Indigenous art in Canada
Native American art
Art in Washington (state)