Understanding Northwest Coast Art: A Guide to Crests, Beings and Symbols

By Cheryl Shearar

Book Overview

Understanding Northwest Coast Art is a handy, dictionary-style reference guide to identifying and understanding the symbols, crests, and beings depicted in Northwest Coast Native American works of art such as totem poles, masks, and prints.

The first section of the book features an alphabetical list of words relating to Northwest Coast art, with definitions, descriptions, and explanations and synopses of the major myths associated with them. As an aid to identification and understanding, many of the crests, beings, and symbols are illustrated in 70 reproductions of contemporary artworks and archival photos. The entries cover a wide range: crests such as Eagle, Dogfish, or Dragonfly; ancestral beings such as Creek Woman or Thunderbird; mythic beings such as Raven, the Chief of the Undersea, or Cedar Man; and supernatural beings such as Death-Bringer.

Understanding Northwest Coast Art also includes brief descriptions of the design conventions, design elements, and different art styles of Northwest Coast cultural groups, along with an overview of the interconnections between art, myth, and ceremony.

Easy to use and easy to read, this volume is an essential source for understanding and visually identifying the underlying themes and subjects of Northwest Coast Native American art.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0295979739
• ISBN13: 9780295979731
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.3" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Northwest Coast Art

A wonderful reference book for anyone interested in understanding the intricacies and symbolism of the art of Northwest Coast native peoples. Well illustrated.

Excellent, but somewhat mis-titled book

This is a very good book that fills a definite need. It is very easy to use, because it is organized like an encyclopedia (although nowhere near as large), with entries listed alphabetically. Each entry is between one paragraph and half a page in length.The book covers a nice range of topics. It covers the standard myths and legends in a very condensed way that gives you the gist of what you need to know so when someone says "this shows the Raven stealing the Sun" you'll know why that's important. The author also covers everyday items in a native's life, like clams and coppers, and tells why these things are important.The third type of entry is totally mythological beings, like Sisiyutl, and tells just enough to get a good sense of who each is and why it is important.The breadth of the book is excellent, as the author also covers things that are rarely covered in other books. For example, the Heron was not uncommonly used as a crest and in artwork, but it is almost never even mentioned in other books. This book has it.The title is somewhat misleading, however, because it does not really explain the meaning of Northwest Coast art, per se, but rather explains the meaning of the things that are depicted in the artwork.For example, the entry on Beaver goes for 8 paragraphs talking about why beaver is important to the people for its fur, along with some of the myths and legends and Beaver's place in the world of mythological creates. Right at the end of the entry, the author finally gives 3 sentences telling us the characteristics of a beaver as it is depicted in the art in order to help you identify a beaver carving or drawing. So you understand the meaning of the THING, but not of the ART. Some of the similar types of entries don't even tell how the thing is normally depicted. If your primary goal is to understand how the art is created, or how to identify the various creatures by looking at the artwork, or even how to draw it yourself, this is not the book for you. the few pages in the appendix are well done, but far too brief. Instead, get "Looking at Indian Art of the Northwest Coast" by Stewart, "Learning by Designing" by Gilbert and Clark, and "Northwest Coast Indian Art, an Analysis of Form" by Holm.If you want more extensive descriptions of myths and legends, there are a large number of books available. Also, this book has very little in the way of artwork or pictures. It is very text-oriented.Nonetheless, if you want a handy, easy-to-use, easy-to-read book that is more broad in its coverage than any I've found so far, and at the same time gets right to the point in each entry, this is the book for you. It is well worth having as part of your library.