Boston MFA -- Raven's Many Gifts: Native Art of the Northwest Coast

Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Docent Research Guide

Raven's Many Gifts:  Native Art of the Northwest Coast

Bella Bella, Mask, Carved wood, painted with a pegmouth grip. BC Canada. Photo: courtesy of PEM.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts will be hosting the traveling exhibit, Raven's Many Gifts: Native Art of the Northwest Coast, this upcoming summer, from June – September 2016. This exhibit was curated by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and it showcases some of the museum’s collections on Native Art in a variety of formats including works on paper, wood carvings, textiles, films, music, and jewelry from the 19^th century to the present. The exhibit both celebrates and explores the ongoing artistic legacy of the Pacific Northwestern Native American people and their artists. The artifacts within the collection are meant to examine the ever changing relationships between humans, their ancestors, animals, and supernatural beings found in the culture of the Native American tribes of the Pacific West Coast. Special attention is paid to artistic influences traced back to Raven, a Native American trickster God. The curator of the exhibit, Karen Kamer extolls "Raven [is] an iconic trickster and culture hero who appears in countless Northwest Coast origin stories, is credited with carrying light into the world in his beak [and] despite profound cultural changes over the past 200 years, oral histories such as the story of Raven continue to inspire a rich and diverse array of creative expression in tribal communities along the Northwest Coast."

We here at the MFA are greatly excited not only to host this exhibit, but also to utilize it as an avenue to both publicize and showcase our own Native Art collection. As a member of our Docent Program, the research guide below has been provided to you in order to prepare you with the knowledge necessary to provide a guided tour through this exhibit and field any questions our patrons might have. The resources below can be found within either of our two museum libraries, William Morris Hunt Memorial Library or the W. Van Alan Clark Jr. Library, or the greater network of Fenway Libraries Online (FLO). Additionally, through the FLO you can access the Commonwealth Catalogue where some of the resources listed below are found. Resources available though either of our two museum libraries will be on reserve for one month prior to the start of the exhibition. Within each category the resources are listed alphabetically, but any resource that has deemed a ‘must-read’ is noted.

Exhibition Catalogues—

These catalogues represent some of the most up-to-date scholarly literature
on the subject of Native Art, and as such will provide a wealth of information.

From the Forest to the Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia

            Edited by Sarah Milroy and Ian Dejardin 

Location: MassArt Main

            Call Number: ND249.C3 A4 2014

            This was an international touring exhibit featuring the work of Emily Carr, an artist known for her paintings primarily inspired by the Native Art of the Canadian Pacific West Coast. Featured with the paintings are numerous native artifacts to highlight the dialogue between Carr’s work and that of native artwork. This catalogue features essays from leading art scholars, native artists, and anthropologists who help to interpret the native influences in Carr’s art. As our exhibit features not only current native and native influenced artwork, this book will help you discover the dialogue between the pieces for yourself.

            Additional Resource:

            Here is a URL to a YouTube video that introduces the exhibit at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quSq9_rlPmA

Gifts of the Spirit: Works by Nineteenth century & Contemporary Native American Artists

            Foreword by Dan L. Monroe; exhibition curators, Dan L. Monroe ... [et al.]

Location:  MFA Main Library, Horticultural Hall

            Call Number: F72.E7 E81 v.132

            While this is a dated exhibition catalogue, it is from a past exhibit of the Peabody Essex Museum, and as such has good representation of their collection of Native Art. A good deal of the artifacts featured in this catalogue will also be in the current touring exhibit. It is recommend that you familiarize yourself with the artifacts within this catalogue.

Indigenous Beauty: Masterworks of American Indian Art from the Diker Collection

            By David W. Penney

Location: FLO – Mass Art Main

            Call Number:  E98.A7 P34 2015

            This is a currently touring exhibition of Native Art presently hosted at the American Federation of Arts in New York. This exhibition of about 120 pieces showcases a variety of native artifacts and artwork of the Pacific Northwest. It contains basketry, pottery, sculpture, ivories, kachina dolls, regalia, and pictographic art pieces. Since most of this collection has been temporarily gifted from private collectors, the exhibit is a treasure trove of extemporary pieces not normally seen by the public or scholars. With an introduction by David Penney, renowned scholar of Native Art and other essays by other prominent scholars, this book offers some of the most compelling and up-to-date information in the field of Native Art.

Lines on the Horizon: Native American Art from the Weisel Family Collection

            By Matthew A. Robb and Jill D'Alessandro.

Location: MFA Main Library, Horticultural Hall

            Call Number: E78.S7 R58 2014

            This is a current exhibition at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. It features Native Art provided by the Weisel Family. While some of the artifacts displayed in the exhibit date from over a thousand years ago, the majority of the exhibit is from the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Some of the artifacts in this exhibit are from tribes from the American Southwest, so please be selective in the information you take from this exhibit.

Native American Art: MFA Highlights

By Gerald W. R. Ward, Pamela A. Parmal, Michael Suing, Heather Hole, and
            Jennifer Swope

Location: MFA Main Library, Horticultural Hall

            Call Number: E98.A7 M87 2010

            This book catalogues over 100 of our Museum’s finest, and yet rarely displayed pieces of Native Art and is a must read for every docent. In conjunction with the exhibit, our curators will most likely be displaying some of the MFA’s pieces from our own collection. At this time, the final choice of artifacts has not been determined. We will provide a list of artifacts and information about them as soon as possible.

Literature—

Arts & Crafts of the Native American Tribes

By Michael Johnson & Bill Yenne

Location: Commonwealth Catalogue –Multiple Locations

            Call Number: See Catalogue Record for specific call number.

            This is an illustrated reference guide to various native arts and crafts. It gives an overview of styles, sorted both by region and time, as well as provides an analysis of individual native crafts such as pottery, basket weaving, spinning, metalwork, and decorative art. When able, the book provides step-by-step instructions as to how the item was created. It will help you to understand how some of the artifacts in the exhibition were created so that you can pass that knowledge onto our patrons. 

Atlas of Indian Nations

By Anton Treuer

Location: Commonwealth Catalogue –Brooks Library, Harwich

            Call Number: Adult 970.004 TRE

            This book provides a comprehensive guide to Native American history and culture. Featuring maps, photos, art, and archival cartography, this book is an illustrated atlas and reference guide to native beliefs, culture, and history. As it is organized by region, it is easy to focus solely on those tribes in the Pacific Northwest in order for you to build a good foundation of knowledge about the native peoples who created the art on exhibit.   

Conversations with Remarkable Native Americans

By Joëlle Rostkowski

Location: Electronic Resource, can access through MFA

Call Number: N/A

This book contains a series of compelling transcribed interviews with leading Native Americans of today from a variety of disciplines. Covering the major developments of the last thirty years, these interviews showcase the trials and tabulations these individuals have overcome, from discrimination to the tensions between cultures. The interviewees are native writers, artists, journalists, activists, lawyers, and museum administrators. These interviews will hopefully provide some perspective to the exhibit, in particular the modern pieces created by current native artists.

Indians on Display: Global Commodification of Native America in Performance, Art, and Museums

By Norman K. Denzin

Location: Electronic Resource, can access through MFA

Call Number: N/A

Hollywood and literature, both current and past, are riddled with stereotypical views and ideas about America’s colonial expansion and the indigenous people that colonists encountered. This book explores the commodification of those people and provides a cultural critique to the effects colonialism had on both the native people and America as a whole. As some of our patrons might still subscribe to these stereotypical viewpoints, this book will allow you to both recognize and hopefully educate these guests.

Museums and Restitution: New Practices, New Approaches

            Edited by Louise Tythacott and Kostas Arvanitis

Location: Electronic Resource, can access through MFA

Call Number: N/A

At any exhibit on Native American Art, you are likely to field some questions regarding the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). This book explores the ways in which museums are approached for restitution and how museums across the nation have dealt with such requests. Additionally, the book studies the idea of ‘ownership’ and the benefits and drawbacks to NAGPRA.

Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism

            By Nancy Mithlo and Wil Wilson

Location: FLO – Emmanuel Main Stacks

            Call Number: N6538.A4 M88 2011

This book contains 60 essays from over 20 different curators, historians, anthropologists, and scholars that provide not only a complete survey of Native Art from antiquity to modern times, but also an overview of the numerous complex issues surrounding Native Art and artifacts from the last 20 years. This includes both the realm of art scholarship and the variety of different Federal and State laws that have had an impact on both the native tribes of America and the field of Native Art. The topics covered in this book will help you field many of the questions our patrons will have about Native Art.

Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form

By Bill Holm and Burke Museum

Location: Commonwealth Catalogue –BPL

            Call Number: E78.N78 H6 2015

            This is the 50^th anniversary edition of this book. The MFA does have a copy of the original edition on reserve, however it is recommended that you get the newer version as some updates have been made including a new preface as well as color images, instead of the original black and white, of the artifacts used as examples have been added. Since it was first published fifty years ago, this book has been hailed as an invaluable foundational resource for Native Art of the Pacific West Coast. It provides an extensive analysis of the use of color, line, and texture in Northwest Native Art as well as an analysis of the organization of space with in the art. This is a must-read for all docents so that they understand the fundamentals of artwork featured in this exhibit.

           

The Totem Pole: An Intercultural History

By Aldona Jonaitis and Aaron Glass

Location: Commonwealth Catalogue – Acton Memorial Library & Newton Free Library

            Call Number: ACTON/Adult 970.49 J76 & NEWTON/Adult 979.5 J69T 2010

This book reconstructs the history of the totem pole and traces the influences of European culture on the depictions from the 18^th century to current times.  As the totem pole is one of the most iconic pieces of Native Art from the Pacific Northwest coastal tribes, there is little doubt the topic will come up at some point during your tours.

Raven-Who-Sets-Things-Right: Indian tales of the Northwest Coast

By Fran Martin and pictures Dorothy McEntee

Location: Wheelock Floor 2M

            Call Number: J 398.2 M36r

This book showcases nine different tales of Raven, the trickster God of several native tribes of the Pacific Northwest coast. As one of the main elements of this exhibit are the depictions of Raven seen in Native Art, this is a must-read for all docents.

Robert Davidson: Abstract Impulse

By Barbara Brotherton, Robert Davidson and Sheila Farr

Location: FLO – Mass Art Main

            Call Number: N6549.D39 A4 2013

            Published by the Seattle Art Museum in 2013, this book contains a series of essays by Barbara Brotherton, Sheila Farr, and John Haworth about the artist Robert Davidson. Davidson is one of the most pivotal figures in contemporary Native Art. Descended from the Haida people, sometimes spelled Hydah, a tribe from the Pacific Northwest, he balances traditional Native Art with contemporary influences. His work is in a variety of mediums, from wood sculpture to ceremonial arts, jewelry, and prints. The essays explore the complex fusion of traditional Native techniques and ideals with their more modern views. As the touring exhibit showcases both traditional and modern Native Art, this is a good resource for exploring the complexity of current Native Art.

Understanding Northwest Coast Art: A Guide to Crests, Beings and Symbols

By Cheryl Shearar

Location: Commonwealth Catalogue –BPL

            Call Number: E78.N78 S446 2000

While almost 15 years old, this resources is a must-have for its dictionary-style reference guide. This book will help you to not only readily identify the symbols, crests, and beings depicted in Northwest Coast Native works of art but also help you to understand them and place them within a larger cultural construct. This is a good resource to have on hand while reading any of the other resources on this list.

Internet Resources—

A Time of Visions

            URL: http://www.britesites.com/native_artist_interviews/main.htm

This site contains a collection of interviews by Larry Abbott with contemporary native artists. The goal of this initiative is to help dismiss some of the misconceptions and stereotypes associated with Native Art and artists. One of the main points that arises again and again in these interviews is that the art created by these artist cannot be divorced from the greater complex culture from which these works of art were inspired. This idea is one that is also represented in our exhibit and these interviews will serve to give you a greater contextual background on the issue.

Reciprocal Research Network: First Nations items from the Northwest Coast

            URL: https://www.rrncommunity.org

            This is a database that brings together the resources of 26 institutions. It allows you to search through their collections as well as create a “project” that will allow you to have a discussion with other members. This is a great resource for those docents that like to explore the topics of this exhibition  further on their own.

Virtual Library - American Indians

            URL: http://www.hanksville.org/NAresources/

While this site does look extremely dated, it is actually still active, and is being updated frequently. This is a great resource for a wealth of information on American Indians and can serve as a general resource for any questions you might have.

Video Resources—

The Exploration of Northwest Coast Indian Art

URL: http://www.uwtv.org/watch/Bsk9H-JhQTQ/

A lecture by Bill Holm (Professor Emeritus, Burke Museum, University of Washington) that was a part of a greater lecture series entitled “Contemporary Issues in Northwest Coast Native American Art,” that was sponsored by the Burke Museum. In this lecture, Bill Holm analyzes how Native Art has changed over time and through generations of native people. He uses over 100 photographs of Native Artwork to exemplify his points.  This lecture is a great companion to Bill Holm’s book, Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form, found earlier in this research guide under Literature.

Northwest Coast Art Into the Future

URL: https://vimeo.com/147909707

This is a recent discussion panel sponsored by the Sealaska Heritage Institute
and the University of Alaska Southeast and was part of a series of panels held in celebration of Native American Heritage Month. The panelists are artists Alison Bremner, David R. Boxley, Rico Worl, and Nick Galanin and it is moderated by Lance Twitchell. As the name implies, this video discusses several current topics such as education in Native Art, and the future of Native Art in general. Artist Nick Galanin will be featured in our exhibit with his performance art piece Tsu Heidei Shugaxtutaan (We Will Again Open This Container of Wisdom That Has Been Left in Our Care) Part I & Part II. Those performance videos are on YouTube, if wanted to look at them in advance of the exhibit.

URL Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue30aKV1LF8
URL Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg2c1jtm59o

This research guide is meant to give you a broad overview of the topics found within our upcoming exhibition, Raven's Many Gifts:  Native Art of the Northwest Coast. If you require any additional resources or have specific questions regarding the exhibition please contact our head Art Librarian, Donna Marchessault.

-- Boston Museum of Fine Arts

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