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Some Plateau Beaded Bags (Art Diary)

As Grandmother Taught: Women, Tradition and Plateau Art was a special exhibit at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington. The Plateau Culture Area is basically the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. The Columbia River Plateau is shown above. According to the Museum display: “Women have been the … Continued

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Oregon Coast Indian Baskets (Photo Diary)

The North Lincoln County Historical Museum in Lincoln City, Oregon has two floors of displays relating to local history. The region was originally the homeland for the Siletz and Alesa Indians and the museum has a small display of American Indian basketry. For thousands of years prior to the European invasion, American Indians occupied the … Continued

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On the Icy Edges of Trump’s Empire: Standing Rock and Hoth

Entrance to the Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock It’s Cannonball, North Dakota but with the temperature hovering around -25 degrees Fahrenheit with windchill factored in it feels like the planet Hoth in “The Empire Strikes Back.” The whiteness of the landscape and the intense cold brings such comparisons to mind. The NoDAPL camp, which … Continued

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The Northwest Coast Culture Area

In providing a broad overview of the hundreds of distinct American Indian cultures found in North America, it is common for museums, historians, archaeologists, and ethnologists to use a culture area model. This model is based on the observation that different groups of people living in the same geographic area often share many cultural features. … Continued

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The Soboba Indian Reservation

The traditional homeland of the Luiseño was in the area of the San Luis Rey River and their name, given to them by the Spanish, comes from the San Luis Rey de Francia mission which was established in their territory in 1798. The aboriginal name for the Luiseño is presently unknown. In her entry on … Continued

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Makah and Clallam Baskets (Photo Diary)

The northern part of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington was originally the homeland for two different American Indian nations: the Makah on the west and the Clallam (S’Klallam, Klallam) on the east. The Olympic Peninsula is located in the Northwest Coast culture area which is characterized by aboriginal subsistence patterns that relied on fishing and … Continued

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The Arctic Culture Area

In providing a broad overview of the hundreds of distinct American Indian cultures found in North America, it is common for museums, historians, archaeologists, and ethnologists to use a culture area model. This model is based on the observation that different groups of people living in the same geographic area often share many cultural features. … Continued

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Modern American Indian Art (Photo Diary)

The Portland Art Museum’s Center for Contemporary Native Art recently brought together two Cherokee artists, Brenda Mallory (Cherokee Nation) and Luzene Hill (Eastern Band Cherokee), for an exhibit called Connecting Lines. According to the museum display: “Art is powerful. It has the ability to take an idea, a concept, and mold it into an object. … Continued