Native Arts

• Discusses all parts of the cedar (western) tree and its uses
• Incredibly detailed drawings (museum quality)
• Vividly describes tools and techniques used
• Does not give complete how-to for any particular art or craft

Shows you absolutely everything that was, and can be, made from a cedar tree: canoes, bent-wood boxes, ropes, raincoats, fire kits, quivers, arrows, fish hooks, cradles, canoe paddles, totem poles, plank houses, bent bark containers, intricate baskets, rain-hats, masks and on and on (hundreds of items). Truly astounding what you can make with this one tree, and how detailed her drawings are. Her drawings emphasize the tools and techniques used to make each item and how it is constructed. She shows dimensional qualities that most photos would miss. She also discusses the native cultures (northwest coast) that these items were used in and their context. Many of these skills and tools are applicable to other trees and bio-regions. There is no blow-by-blow how-to, so you need to have some familiarity with the various skills to replicate anything. If only we could get Hilary to write a book on every Native American skill!

• Discusses fishing methods and tools of the Northwest Coast Indians
• Immensely detailed drawings
• Gives graphic example of how tools were used in everyday life

Another incredibly rich and detailed book by Hilary Stewart. This one covers all aspects of Indian fishing from customs and taboos to butchering and preserving. Her drawings explicitly portray hooks, lines, sinkers, lures, floats, clubs, spears, nets, traps, weirs, harpoons and more. Not only does she show the tools but she shows dozens of different ones and for every kind of fish and fishing situation, from ocean fishing for Halibut (or whale), to collecting roe (fish eggs) in the seaweed, to trapping and spearing fish as they make their way up rivers, bays, tidal estuaries and on and on. Most of these tools and skills are applicable to other areas. Super highly recommended for anyone interested in old ways of fishing, living off the land, or Northwest Coast material culture. Again, if you want to actually make this stuff, you've got very detailed, technical drawings to work from, but you're otherwise on yor own.

• How the Northwest Coast Indians used stones, bones, antlers and shells
• Over 1000 illustrations of archaeological artifacts
• Sequential drawings depict the way these items were made and used

Hilary Stewart uses her incredibly detailed drawings and text to show you how to make: stone mauls, adzes, hammers, scrapers, sinkers, anchors, clubs,slate arrowheads, spear heads, knives, cooking rocks, hand-drills, burins, bark-shredders, mortar and pestles, pigment pots, beads, nose-rings, pipes, (do you get the picture? and those are just examples of stone objects, not to mention the shell, bone and antler items). This book is mostly drawings, with some explanatory text. Once again, these skill and tools are derived from the Northwest Coast, but they are almost universally applicable.

• Depicts the Paiute material culture (a high-desert people from eastern Oregon, Nevada, and SE California)
• Elders are interviewed and photographed as they do various old skills
• Not really meant to be a how-to book (and thus leaves out important details)

An excellent book about the traditional life and arts of the Paiute people. Skills covered include duck decoys, rabbit skin blankets, tule huts and boats, fishing, brain-tanning, sagebark clothes and more. Also shows how these items were used in everyday life. There is enough detail to set you on your way with these various projects, but not enough to really guide your hands through the process. The author has a very pleasant familiarity with the elders she is interviewing, rather than the overly dry anthropological approach, or hero worshipping of similar books.

• A view of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology's subartic collection
• Reflects both past and present craftmanship, though the majority of the collection is dated from 1888-1897
• Wonderful pieces with floral and geometric designs
• Not a how-to book

This collection derives from the Metis and various tribes of the North American continent. The book covers everyday tools and garments, plus discusses some of the history of the makers. Lots of moccasins, mukluks, birch bark work, snowshoes, beadwork, moose-hair embroidary, buckskin jackets and bags, and rabbit-skin jackets. My favorite part of the book is the floral motifs these folks used to decorate their everyday goods. They're beautiful! Out of the North also discusses regional differences in design style and colors. Recommended for anyone interested in subartic material culture, history and floral designs

• Museum quality, color and black & white, photos of Plains and Southwest Indian art and artifacts
• Photos capture details impeccably and when necessary, show both sides of item
• Text provides interesting facts about the history related to each item
• Not a how-to book

This book documents actual artifacts (bags, clothes, tools etc.) that were used by Native Americans during the early period of white contact. The photos are outstanding in detail, and help you see how things were put together, colors etc. (I copied a knife sheath design from this book that is much more practical than any I had previously tried). The only drawback is that these pictures are so enticing, that you'll wish you could really get your hands on these items, to see the exact details of how they're made. The author has clearly done alot of research on each item, and shares many stories that relate to the items use and context (i.e. the origins of scalping or how a good green color is made).