![]() ![]() Tlingit twined basket tray, late 19th c., spruce root, American dunegrass, pigment, Cleveland Museum of Art 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. ![]() Northwest Coast artists are also notable for producing characteristic "bent-corner" or "bentwood" boxes, masks, and canoes. Totem poles are the most well-known artifacts produced using this style. ![]() The patterns depicted include natural forms such as bears, ravens, eagles, orcas, and humans legendary creatures such as thunderbirds and sisiutls and abstract forms made up of the characteristic Northwest Coast shapes. 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. Chilkat weaving applies formline designs to textiles. If paint is used, the most common colours are red and black, but yellow is also often used, particularly among Kwakwaka'wakw artists. Before European contact, the most common media were wood (often Western red cedar), stone, and copper since European contact, paper, canvas, glass, and precious metals have also been used. 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. The Thunderbird is believed to be an Ancestral Sky Being of the Namgis clan of the Kwakwaka'wakw, who say that when this bird ruffles its feathers, it causes thunder and when it blinks its eyes, lightning flashes. Namgis, Thunderbird Transformation Mask, 19th century. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |