THE MEANING BEHIND NORTHWEST COAST ART
A comprehensive dive into the elements that make up the captivating art of the Pacific Northwest.
A comprehensive dive into the elements that make up the captivating art of the Pacific Northwest.
Many art connoisseurs find themselves drawn to the bold images, color patterns and styling done by the Northwest Coast artists, without knowing why they are nor understanding what it is they’re actually observing. In some ways, an air of mystery about a piece seems to add to its allure. But eventually, they want to know!
Because they are not a single people, approaching this art must be done in a generic fashion. There exists a minimum of 10 primary Peoples of the Northwest Coast, depending upon how scholars group them— linguistically, culturally or regionally.
Beginning at the top of Alaska’s Southeastern
Archipelago, then going down through the Western shores of Canada and reaching along the Pacific Coast side of Washington, these peoples have the oldest cultures in the Western Hemisphere. For instance, some scholars believe the Haida are believed to be a distinct group for the past 14,000 years, and the Tlingit for 10,000. Given such a commandingly deep history, the peoples see themselves as separate and unique.
However, living in such close proximity for so long inevitably leads to sharing. A similarity could be drawn between the Greeks and Romans. Those two unique peoples and cultures shared a great many things— philosophy, military perspectives, deities and certainly ideas about art and architecture. Such is the case among the Northwest Coast peoples.
Traditional Northwest Coast beliefs and subsequent artwork involve one of three things— natural beings, legendary or supernatural beings and deities. These exist in one of four realms, the sky, sea, on earth and the Other World. While the oral stories are not the same across the peoples, these groupings can account for the subject matter of the peoples’ works such as masks, rattles and totem poles. What we now call artwork, therefore, were and still are cultural objects that are part and parcel to the traditional beliefs and storytelling.
Most of the peoples created the same materials, but again, it was not universal. Some of the more common objects include masks, rattles, totem poles, bentwood boxes, hats, blankets that are worn as robes, bowls, paddles and canoes. The great cedar forests along the Northwest Coast provided infinite abundance for their
fiber based societies.
Shapes and color schemes follow guidelines that are mostly universal throughout the Northwest Coast. University of Washington professor emeritus and art historian Bill Holm’s 1965 book, Northwest Coast Indian Art, An Analysis of Form has long served as a sort of Rosetta Stone for coming to terms with the use of shapes, positive and negative space, and colors in these works. The term formline art is used as an essential descriptor for these peoples’ artistic conceptualizations. Though written by a Western scholar, this exposition is found in the possession of nearly every Northwest Coast artist.
The filling out of working area space with shapes is what typically drives the layout design. If a rectangular platform is used, be it wood or paper, then it will have the “outline” of the primary and secondary images filling it out to the edges. For instance, a bear face within this rectangle “canvas” becomes distorted based upon how elongated it needs to be in order “fill out” the space. The talent level of an artist is partially based
upon how aesthetically pleasing the space is worked and how remarkable the images subsequently appear.
These rules about what to depict and how to do it, in former times, limited the range of an artist’s muse. Truly unique images weren’t acceptable. More malleable, contemporary perspectives and approaches only began showing up in the last 30 years, and part of that might be attributed to the large-scale works produced by the art teams renowned Haida artist Bill Reid employed on his monumental works. These pieces contained multiple beings participating in the setting of a grand scene, and while their look and styling was classic Northwest Coast, the scene itself was not. Nonetheless, Reid’s artistic prowess and vision broke the traditional presentation mold of how to present the beliefs and stories.
Given that the Northwest Coast peoples have such deep histories, their sense of tradition is exceptionally strong. Initially, new looks or concepts were not welcome by older artists. Ridiculed or dismissed by the traditionalists, the contemporary movement found an audience, survived and eventually thrived because of a burgeoning art market centered in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1970s. The desire and demand for Northwest Coast art was great enough to support and maintain both the traditional and contemporary artists.
While the traditional and contemporary schism that occurred still exists among some today, most renown, older artists will say that as long as the new generation has truly studied and learned the traditional designs, styles and rules, then applying them in contemporary perspectives is acceptable as long as respect is maintained for the traditional foundations.
Ultimately, though, the talent of an artist determines if a work will appeal to a wide audience, whether made following traditional rules or created with contemporary concepts. Like any art anywhere, the amount of time and care given to detail, craftsmanship and competence of the design will either arouse an observer’s interest or elicit disregard, bold presentation notwithstanding.