Northwest Tribal Art Research Paper

Elizabeth Johnson
Mrs. Galaviz
English 12
15 April 2015
Pacific Northwest Tribal Art
Primitive art. When you hear this, what does it make you think? Do you think of stick figure paintings? Does your mind wander to simplistic designs? Placing northwest coastal art into this received idea is an atrocity. Northwest tribal artists create beautiful, bold, and timeless works that you can find all over the world. It is found anywhere, from somebody’s home to famous museums. Northwest coastal tribal art has many distinguishing characteristics which can be recognized by people of all kinds.
“Northwest coast Indians have habitually decorated everything they possess, from their humblest housewares to their most sacred regalia, with stylized images of

Button blankets vary from tribe to tribe in things like design and color (See appendix F). However, they are all used for the same purpose. These unique blankets are used for dancing. They are worn around the dancer’s shoulders so that the design of the blanket is on the dancer’s back. This design is typically used to show what clan or tribe the wearer is from. All of the blankets have an outline covering both sides and the top of the blanket that is a different color from the base. These blankets are typically made from wool and are overlaid with many buttons. These buttons are typically made from abalone shells found along the coastline. The inner shell is very shiny and appealing to look at. Today, some dancers still wear the blankets that were made hundreds of years ago, passed down through many generations (Johnson). While most coastal tribes have always used button blankets, some have not. These tribes have most likely now created a style of button blanket for their own dancers so they can wear them at popular gatherings

Northwest Indian artists are best known for their abilities in basketry, wood-carving, and weavings (Northwest 1). They like to decorate all of their belongings with intricate black and red paintings, including their canoes and the plank houses in which they lived. Today, you can find tribal artists still using the original techniques and also using more innovative ways with today’s technology. The beauty of northwest tribal art is you can’t have one thing without the other. “If you have blankets, there has to be dancing. If you have dancing, there has to be music; and so on. It all ties together” (Johnson). There is nothing on this Earth quite like the beauty of Northwest coast tribal