Native American Arts and Crafts—Northwest Coast

Tribes affected: Bella Bella, Bella Coola, Haida, Haisla, Kitamat, Kwakiutl, Makah, Nitinat, Nootka, Tlingit, Tsimshian

Significance: The people of the Northwest Coast cultural area have one of the most recognizable art styles of the world and produced the most important monumental art of the indigenous North American groups

The people of the Northwest Coast are identified by their art, especially painted house facades, masks, and the monumentality of the totem poles. They are the outstanding wood carvers of North America, and their art treats the themes of cosmology and origins, social status and prestige, and shamanistic power. Both the Native American sculpture and painting of the Northwest Coast are characterized by strong colors and shapes.

Totem Poles

Totem poles stand in front of houses as a statement of the sacred history of the family. The vertical series of figures making up the pole traces the family to the time the lineage was founded in the mythic past. The origin story usually tells about the original ancestor encountering a spirit who gave him and his descendants a special power, as well as the image of the spirit as a heraldic crest for the family. Each family may possess more than one crest; crests are inherited by the children in each generation. Multiple crests may be represented on a pole, and common ones include the bear, mountain lion, eagle, frog, and wolf. The totem pole seems only to have developed during the nineteenth century, but similar poles were carved earlier as the crest poles of houses.

The totem poles were carved and erected as memorials to men of chiefly status who had died, and they were mnemonic devices to record the heritage of the family. The pole became a public proclamation of ancestry and the rights to positions of prestige along with their benefits, obligations, and supernatural characteristics. The carver of a totem pole was expected to be a relative of the man honored. If the man chosen to be the carver did not have the required skill, he could conceptualize the piece and name a skilled carver to execute it. The authorship of a pole was assigned to the one who conceptualized it. The poles were as much as 60 feet tall, and they were carved lying on the ground.

House Facades and Crest Poles

The house itself was the cosmos in a microcosm, with the hearth being the navel of the world; the house posts were the supports of the earth and sky, and the smoke hole was the connection between the earth and the heavenly world, forming a vertical cosmic axis. The facades of chiefly houses could be painted with the images of mythical animals who were the head of the lineage. In the nineteenth century and earlier, the crest poles of houses were carved, and sometimes a large entrance hole was cut into it, which served as the door for the house. The opening was frequently portrayed as the mouth or the vagina of the animal lineage head of the family, and going in and out of the house represented death and rebirth from the lineage totem. In some instances the door hole represented the hole of creation through which the original ancestor passed to enter this world. Another version interpreted it as the hole through which the original shaman passed back and forth to the other world to learn the sacred knowledge, ceremonies, and masks that characterized ritual.

Masks and Hats

Masks have been used by Native American tribes and have been the most common art form among the peoples of the Northwest Coast. Like the motifs of the totem poles, masks belong to families and were originally given to the founding ancestor because of a victory over an adversary. Masks and the accompanying costumes create a figure who was an actor in a myth; songs and dances are also inherited with the mask to dramatize the myth. Masks represent the shamanic power of transformation from the earthly present to the mythic past or to the supernatural world. In the ephemeral other world of the masks, the heroic exploits of the original people are acted out, and the myths reconfirm the fundamental principles of the cosmos. Masks may represent supernatural animal spirits, shamans, or important people. In addition to being carved, many are painted with strong primary colors. Some have movable parts.

The shaman’s quest for spiritual powers is also a common theme of mask-myth performances. The shamanic regalia included special masks, costumes, drums, and rattles. The rattles are especially striking because of their elaborate and complex carving. The basic figure shown in the rattle was frequently a water bird, and the shaman is shown on its back with other animals. The tongue of a goat or a frog may become a bridge through which the shaman transforms the power of that animal into his own.

Carved wooden hats and war helmets were traditionally important, and some are essentially variations on the idea of the masks. War helmets have not been made since the nineteenth century, but they represented ancestors or other effigy beings who could give strength to the warrior. Conical clan hats were also important, and they represent the animal of the family crest. Like masks, these hats sometimes had movable parts. These family crest hats are among the most dramatic pieces of Northwest Coast art, possessing abalone-shell inlays, stylized bodies, and polychrome painting.

Domestic Crafts

Native American weaving, basketry, and the carving of wooden household utensils were also common crafts. During historical periods woven tunics frequently included the family crest motifs, similar to the totem poles, masks, and hats. Spindle whorls for spinning the thread were elaborately carved in wood. Women were accomplished basket makers, and their twined work with grasses and other fibers were as fine as woven cloth.

Bibliography

Carlson, Roy L., ed. Indian Art Traditions of the Northwest Coast. Burnaby, B.C.: Archaeology Press, Simon Fraser University, 1982.

Furst, Peter T., and Jill L. Furst. North American Indian Art. New York: Rizzoli International, 1982.

Holm, Bill. Crooked Beak of Heaven: Masks and Other Ceremonial Art in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “The Dancing Headdress Frontlet: Aesthetic Context on the Northwest Coast.” In The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution, edited by Edwin L. Wade. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1986.

King, J. C. H. Portrait Masks from the Northwest Coast of North America. London: Thames & Hudson, 1979.

Suttles, Wayne, ed. Northwest Coast. Vol. 7 in Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990.