The Southwest Culture Area is a culturally diverse area. Geographically it covers all of Arizona and New Mexico and includes parts of Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and Texas as well as parts of the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua. Much of this area is semi-arid; part of it is true desert (southern Arizona); and part … Continued
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
The Pueblos are the village agriculturists of New Mexico and Northern Arizona. While the Pueblos are usually lumped together in both the anthropological and historical writings as though they are a single cultural group, they are linguistically and culturally divergent. The Pueblos speak six mutually unintelligible languages and occupy more than 30 villages in a … Continued
The Artic Culture Area includes the Aleutian Islands, most of the Alaska Coast, the Canadian Artic, and parts of Greenland. It is an area which can be described as a “cold” desert. Geographer W. Gillies Ross, in his chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 3: A Continent Comprehended, writes: “The North American Arctic is usually … Continued
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
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
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
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
Situated on a bluff high above the Columbia River near Goldendale, Washington, the Maryhill Museum of Art has an outstanding collection of American Indian art and artifacts which are displayed in a series of galleries. In addition, the Museum has displays of recent acquisitions of Native American art displayed in another gallery. Shown below are … Continued
The Underwood family of Underwood, Washington, is descended from the marriage of the daughter of Cascade chief Chenowuth with a U.S. Army officer. At an annual event, known as the Underwood Fair, the family would display their extensive collection of Indian art. Mary Underwood Lane gave many of the Underwood artifacts to the Maryhill Museum. … Continued
