2. AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
Also known as Native American Art
Includes Water, Oil and Sand Painting, Leather,
Wood, Pottery and Baskets.
Boundless and sacred.
Artistic expression has been a way to worship the
gods.
3. AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
Art for art's sake is not part of the
Indian psyche.
Their artistic designs have beauty and care
motivated by their love for nature.
Each native art object they made had a specific
purpose.
4. AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
Obvious appreciation for nature permeates their Indian
pottery, paintings, baskets, leather work, sand paintings,
crafts, moccasins and wood carving.
5. AMERICAN-INDIAN ART
Native Americans created many shapes and geometric
designs for their art and these were repeated and
became representative symbols that transcended
tribal language barriers.
7. HISTORY
American Indian art history has developed over
thousands of years and consists of several
distinctive styles from the distinguishing cultures of
diverse Indian tribes (From Navajo to Hopi to Plains
Indians).
8. HISTORY
Each tribe has a unique history, which consists of
many types of Native American Indian arts
including beadwork, jewelry, weaving, basketry,
pottery, carvings, kachinas, masks, totem poles,
drums, flutes, pipes, dolls and more.
9. HISTORY
Native American art history can be traced back to cave
painting, stonework and earthenware thousands of years
ago.
The types of materials used by Native Americans has
evolved from rocks and feathers to cloth, clay, turquoise,
silver, glass and fabric; each piece of art reveals
intricacies of the diverse indigenous people.
10. Important symbols in most Native American art
history include the sun, moon, bears, eagles or
people.
Pendants and statues were often created to symbolize
and honor Mother Nature.
11. HISTORY
Native American lifestyle can generally be divided into
two categories.
1) Sedentary farmers (include the Hopi, the Zuni, the
Yaqui and the Yuma).
2) Nomadic (including the Southwestern tribes such
as the Navajo and the Apache).
12. SEDENTARY FARMERS
These tribes grew crops like corn, beans and squash.
They lived in permanent settlements known as pueblos
that were built of stone and adobe that resembled
something like modern-day apartments.
At their centers, many of these villages also had large
ceremonial pit houses, or kivas
13. NOMADIC
Known as hunters and gatherers these tribes survived by
gathering and raiding their more established neighbors
for their crops.
Because these groups were always on the move, their
homes were much less permanent than the pueblos.
14. CULTURE AND BELIEFS
Sacred beliefs of American Indians hold
that everything living or inanimate shares
a place in the universe, and that no one
thing is above the other.
They were the
first ecologically aware people anywhere,
long before pollution became a serious
and popular issue.
15. CULTURE AND BELIEFS
Native Americans were also the first to
create implements with beauty, and each
native art object they made had a
specific purpose.
Animals they killed
were for clothing, tools and food, never
for sport.
16. CULTURE AND BELIEFS
Everything in Native American culture is considered to
contain a spirit.
Everything has ties to nature and is thought through and
carefully produced.
From native plants and animals to housing to the weather
became a part of the culture in Indian life.
17. Animals are revered as spirits and although they were hunted
and killed, their skins and hides are used as clothing and
drums, their meat is never wasted and their spirits live on in
the mind of the tribes.
Plants are cultivated and harvested, and used for various things
such as dyes for blankets.
18. CULTURE AND BELIEFS
The rain and sun are considered to be gods, giving a sign to the
Indians as the seasons change.
Totem poles, large wooden poles carved with various animals
are used to represent family members, loved ones who
passed away and spiritual beings.
People were assigned spirit animals and that are often reflected
in the totem pole.
Editor's Notes
Animals they killed were for clothing, tools and food, never for sport.