Portland Art Museum & Northwest Film Center at home.
With the school year beginning, I began to think about children and how objects such as dolls are so universal. This Nez Perce doll was surely made for children in the image of women in her community. The clothing is composed of the same materials her relatives wore: soft hide for the dress, leggings, and… Read more
The Native American art collection of the Portland Art Museum contains a number of surprising objects that have fascinating but little-known histories behind them. This set of Apache Playing Cards is a rare example of a playing card tradition among the Apache with very little published research. There is some documentation that suggests playing cards… Read more
It has been more than one year since Write Around Portland and the Portland Art Museum began collaborating on weekly, art-inspired writing prompts to sustain our souls and our sense of connection during the pandemic. Write Around Portland staff and writing workshop facilitators have created over 60 writing prompts inspired by works in the Portland… Read more
The jingle is a symbol of Native North American women. This blouse with matching skirt, a possible precursor to the jingle dress, is an example of the ingenuity of Native design. This type of dress adornment and dance was first developed to heal and has continued to be a symbol of healing and female empowerment.… Read more
Alison Bremner’s sculptural work, Two Dollars, slyly plays on the concepts of money and exchange. This small work, only 2 × 1.5 inches, emulates the shape of large copper shields which served as status objects among the Tlingit and other Northwest coast communities, displayed during potlatches to demonstrate wealth. (View an example on our website).… Read more
Plateau basketry traditions encompass several techniques including coiling which we see with this delightful Cowlitz basket. The vibrant design of this sturdy and well-balanced basket is a wonderful example of the decorative use of imbrication. This process transformed a basket of plain appearance (as seen on the inside) with the addition of different colors of… Read more
![[Image description: Cheyenne artist, Blanket, 73 ¾ x 55 ½ inches, wool, glass beads. A rectangular, leaf green blanket with a narrow strip of beading running lengthwise along the middle. The blanket shows some discoloration where the fabric has faded and its edges are frayed where the stitched binding has come away. Stretching across the work, a narrow strip of white beading is punctuated by five blue beaded squares that are flanked on either side by slim yellow and red stripes and rows of blue beaded triangle shapes. Four round white beaded circles with blue crosses are interspersed between the squares. Pairs of long beige cords emanate from the circle centers, some lay stretched across the beading, some are coiled.]](https://nwfc.pam.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Cheyenne-Blanket-1200x884.jpg)
Green is a color infrequently seen in most collections of Plains material, which makes this beaded trade blanket all the more striking. The wool blanket, probably received from a trader in exchange for other goods, was embellished in the same manner as a tanned animal hide: a long, beaded strip was attached along the middle,… Read more
Ravens hold special significance and symbolism in many cultures and traditions, and especially in the Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest, as seen here in Shaun Peterson’s Circling Ravens II. These birds are woven into art, into storytelling, into deep personal and cultural connections. Peterson, whose Native name is Qwalsius, uses the phrase “traditional… Read more
On this episode, Kathleen Ash-Milby and John P. Lukavic are joined by multi-hyphenate Native artist, Virgil Ortiz. With his work in subversive clay sculptures, futuristic fashion design, and a years-long science-fiction film & museum exhibition project about the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, Virgil Ortiz is breaking boundaries and using his platform to educate and inspire awe. This… Read more
Shan Goshorn was a respected Cherokee artist who initially became known for her deeply personal work in the 1990s as a photographer and mixed media artist. She became best known for her paper baskets which combined historical imagery and text with traditional Cherokee basket-weaving techniques. Chief Antoine Moise is part of a series of works… Read more