Five examples of Northwest Coast Indian basketry photographed against the natural scenery of their places of origin.

In this volume, noted illustrator Madeleine Orban-Szontagh renders designs produced by the Indians of the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and the western coast of Canada: Nootka, Kwakiutl, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other groups. More than 270 original designs include stylized plants, birds and animals, abstract borders and repeating patterns, totemic images and symbols, and a host of other decorative elements. These arresting and beautiful Native American images lend themselves to use in a wide range of Indian-related graphic art and craft projects, as well as providing a rich source of design inspiration.

Explore the stunning diversity of North American Indian and Eskimo baskets, from little-known native basketry to the more common forms. This colorful book combines manufacturing techniques, raw materials, forms, and decorations with information on native lifestyles. More than 175 regional and tribal styles are documented in an easy-to-use and beautifully illustrated format, with a newly updated value guide. Readers will be able to identify their own Indian baskets using this guide's standardized terminology, identification keys, glossary, maps, and bibliographies. Hundreds of baskets were photographed for this volume, many from the famous and unparalleled collection of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University where the authors began their basketry research in the 1970s.

From the mighty cedar of the rainforest came a wealth of raw materials vital to the early Northwest Coast Indian way of life, its art and culture. For thousands of years these people developed the tools and technologies to fell the giant cedars that grew in profusion. They used the rot-resistant wood for graceful dugout canoes to travel the coastal waters, massive post-and-beam houses in which to live, steam bent boxes for storage, monumental carved poles to declare their lineage and dramatic dance masks to evoke the spirit world. Every part of the cedar had a use. The versatile inner bark they wove into intricately patterned mats and baskets, plied into rope and processed to make the soft, warm, yet water-repellent clothing so well suited to the raincoast. Tough but flexible withes made lashing and heavy-duty rope. The roots they wove into watertight baskets embellished with strong designs. For all these gifts, the Northwest Coast peoples held the cedar and its spirit in high regard, believing deeply in its healing and spiritual powers. Respectfully, they addressed the cedar as Long Life Maker, Life Giver and Healing Woman. Photographs, drawings, anecdotes, oral history, accounts of early explorers, traders and missionaries highlight the text.

Five examples of Northwest Coast Indian basketry photographed against the natural scenery of their places of origin.

Based on more than 40 years association with Native American weavers, including 16 years in residence on Northwest Indian reservations, Schlick presents the artistic but also utilitarian baskets made by the people of the mid-Columbia River in the context of the lives of the people who created and used them. She also writes authoritatively about the gathering and processing of materials, and basketry techniques. Including 191 illustrations, 56 in color, this lovely volume is both a sourcebook for basket weavers and a reference for scholars, curators, and collectors. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR