Tag: Native American Art

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Daily Art Moment: Cherokee Mask

Sculpture depicting a straight-on view of a dark brown, painted wooden face of a buffalo with a long snout. Carving marks are visible over the entire head, especially on the snout, nose, and eyes. Prominent round nostrils in the rectangular nose end the broad snout. A row of six teeth are visible below the nose. Two small round eye holes, spaced close together, sit between two thick, pale tan horns tipped in black. These sit on either side of the eyes pointing inward. Dark, nearly black fur tops the head; the fur is longish and wiry, standing up in places from the head. Lighter brown fur is positioned just above the eye holes. Two patches of buffalo hide are positioned below the eyes just before where the snout begins.

“Some objects in our collection are a bit of a mystery because they were acquired with limited documentation. One of our challenges as curators is to determine if the information in our records is correct. This Cherokee mask is dated between 1850 and 1900 which is a broad range of dates during which there was…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Wendy Red Star

In this photo, a female figure stands at the left wearing an embellished gold tunic, leggings, and shoes, her hands on her hips, and a huge feather headdress that obscures the face. Her legs cross one in front of the other, toes pointing out in a dancer’s pose. Gold jingles in conical shapes hang in horizontal rows for the full length of the textured tunic. Full, puffy sleeves end at the elbow, continuing to the wrist in a fitted fashion. The headpiece features black-tipped, white feathers splaying out from the crown, allowing some feathers to be viewed end to end. The top half of the face is covered by the feathers, the lower half and neck is coated in gold glitter. Long black hair extends from the head dress to below the shoulders. Gold, smooth leggings and gold ballet slippers complete the outfit. In the background, oversized planets fill the space. At right, an enormous muted grayish green, rough textured planet with a bright orange ring dominates the picture. A bright white object peeks out from behind the large planet at its top left, shooting rays of white light outward. A faint red-orange circle surrounds the light object, overlapping the huge planet’s edge. At far left top, another planet, mostly in dark shadow fills the corner of the photo. Its color ranges from almost black in the shadow to rusty browns. Beyond the planets the sky is depicted in a deep inky black with a multitude of tiny white dots representing stars. The gold clad figure stands on a craggy stretch of rock that protrudes into the photo from the bottom left edge towards the center of the photo.

“As we face uncertainty about our lives in the wake of a pandemic, I find comfort in works by Native artists who create visions of a future where traditional knowledge and culture continue to thrive. Crow artist Wendy Red Star created a photography and fashion series, Thunder Up Above (2011) which imagines this presence in…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Dakota artist

Rectangular line drawing with no modeling on lined white ledger paper (light blue vertical lines). Two figures in profile facing one another stand to left. A large black horse faces the couple in profile, taking up the remaining two thirds of the drawing. The young woman, far left, wears a red-and-white patterned blanket over a red skirt with black leggings and white moccasins. Her black hair is in braids and she has a red circle on her cheek, a bone or shell necklace indicated by black grided lines, and hoop-style earring. The young man figure wears a black blanket with a white stripe at each side, over black leggings with red and white triangle designs, and red and white-striped moccasins. A red stripe is painted along his jawline and a black-tipped white feather is attached to the back of his hair. The horse wears a red bridle, a white double-horned saddle depicted as a rectangle with three rows of horizontal stripes, and a black-tipped feather on his mane and tail. There is no background and the edges of the paper are torn and stained.

“This tender drawing of a couple courting was created by a Dakota artist at the end of the nineteenth century, a time of great loss and conflict for Native people on the northern plains. Yet the artist chose to depict an intimate moment. We see a young man with his arms outstretched toward a young…  Read more

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Bury the Hatchet Walk-through

Inside gallery view with two buffalo skulls hung on the wall with looping projections of running buffalos. On the left wall, there are a series of six posters which are densely covered with colorful symbols and marks.

This Virtual Walk-Through of Bury the Hatchet: Prayer For My P’ah-Be is narrated by Kathleen Ash-Milby, the Curator of Native American Art, and artist John Hitchcock. This multisensory installation was created by Comanche and Kiowa artist John Hitchcock, who combines his interests in printmaking, rock ‘n’ roll, and his family’s tribal history in a retelling…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Virgil Ortiz

Stylized figure adorned with black-and-white triangular patterns. Details include reddish circular earrings similar to the shape of the lips, a long ponytail, and whip.

“This figurine has somehow become my unofficial mascot since I started this position in 2019. She is an example of a powerful woman who is also beautiful and stylish. You might not even notice she is holding a whip! She reminds me to be brave and confident as I face many new responsibilities and challenges,…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Dyani White Hawk

A cropped, straight-on view of a red dentalium shell dress abstracted as a flat plane of color with intricate linework for beading.

This week we debuted a daily art moment from the Portland Art Museum curators on Instagram and Facebook. Follow along as we share works from the collection that our curators have selected as a personal response to these unprecedented times. “This print is from a portfolio dedicated to the role of caretaking by Native Women. Right now we need…  Read more