Art of the American Indian

Art of the American Indian takes in a wide range ofand were used as trade regionally for thousands of
crafts and arts, some leaning to the more traditional,years. Most everyone has seen Native American
encompassing a style that you would expect to find inpieces of bead art, whether be in the form of beaded
the art form of the Native American from, pottery andjewelry, to belts, purses, watch bands and the like.
beadwork, to contemporary photography, refinedReplicas of Indian beadwork have been, and are being
paintings, and sculptures. There are several artmade in the orient, which has cost the American
auctions, offline and online that specialize in this type ofIndians millions of dollars competing with their high guilty
Indian Art.original beadwork.
In this discussion we will cover the relevant traditionBeads historically have been carved from antlers,
and history of one of the branches of Nativehooves, turtle shells and sea shells. They were often
American art which is bead work. The bead work ofused in rattles or noise makers for ceremonial dances.
American Indian tribes was decorative as much as itWolf or bear claws were joined with the beads and
was utilitarian as well symbolism.worn by hunters. These necklaces generally were an
The craft of the bead work as well as the productionindicator of how good the hunter was. In order to string
of the beads is a very old. Antler, stone, bone, shell,the beads or form shapes, the carved beads would
and semi precious mineral beads are made in thebe steamed to make them soft and pliable. American
same way as their ancient ancestors did. ModernIndians used sinew from animals to string beads, the
technology has had very little affect on the waysinew was spilt to make a very fine thread which was
beads are made, the method is virtually the same as itused to sew the beads onto clothing, at times but less
was thousands of years ago.often, plant fibers were used in place of sinew.
Shell bead items are some of the more popular pieces