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Native American Art

History

Tens of thousands of years before the first English, Spanish or Portuguese explorers set foot in America, the land from coast to coast was inhabited with thousands of tribes of Native Americans.

While most of the recorded history (by Europeans and Euro-Americans) of Native Americans began with the influx of European settlers and explorers, anthropologists have unearthed evidence across the country that provides insight to the longevity of existence of Native Americans.

For example, tribes such as the Abenaki are known to have existed in Northern New England for over ten thousand years.

Early Native Americans were no different than any other early man, spending most of their existence preoccupied with tasks that would ensure their continued existence.

The essentials of survival focused on hunting, harvesting food, procuring drinking water and building or finding adequate shelter to protect themselves from dangers in their environment and the unpredictable weather elements they might encounter.

History shows us that necessity, the mother of invention, had its roots long before the industrial revolution. Early Native Americans learned to develop tools of a practical nature that would make their day-to-day tasks easier to accomplish.

Items such as hunting tools, fishing tools, pottery and cooking apparatuses were early objects adorned with decorations. Perhaps out of superstition, for personalization, for individual expression or for a combination of these, as Native Americans honed the skills and efficiency they used to manufacture these utilitarian objects, they also honed the skills they used to decorate and embellish them.

Ornamentation of functional items led to the decoration of personal items such as breechcloth and hair ties and to the creation of decorative necklaces and pendants.

Eventually, decoration took on more than aesthetic appeal. It became a way to record and transfer cultural imagery between tribal members and future generations. It encompassed and enhanced ceremonial rituals, and it produced the important symbols of spirituality and superstition.

Thus, Native American Art was born.

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