Continuity and Change in the Native American Commerce
Ephemeral to Permanent Navajo Sandpaintings
Sand paintings play a central role in curing ceremonies held by the Navajo of the southwestern United States. 
Religious leaders called hataali -- meaning “singers” -- create life-sized sand paintings in the home of a sick individual. Common images that are drawn in sand include holy men, medicinal herbs, pairs of religious animal guardians, and rainbows. The sick person lays on the sand painting with their body parts matching parts of the drawn image. The singer’s chants attract supernatural powers, which remove the illness. The singer then destroys the drawings. While beautiful, the sand images are sacred to the Navajo and potentially dangerous if used improperly.
Young Navajo began making permanent sand paintings like the version to the right in the late 1960’s to take advantage of the growing market in Native American memorabilia. The inexpensive ones that tourists purchase to commemorate their travels tend to be small and simple in detail. Some people buy larger, more elaborate images for gifts or to decorate their home. In contrast, sand paintings that are considered fine art are large and intricately designed. Despite success in selling sand paintings, not all Navajo believe that permanent versions of curing ceremony drawings should be sold. Older Navajo, in particular, argue that this practice is sacrilegious, and that such images should not be shared with outsiders. Despite these objections, permanent sand paintings generate important supplemental income to many Navajo artisans.
Preserving Traditions in Argillite Totem Poles
The Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Islands along the coast of British Columbia make argillite totem poles that reveal continuity with the past as well as adaptation to modern economic realities. It is uncertain if argillite -- a black 
carbonaceous shale -- was worked prehistorically. Early in the 19th century, the Haida carved argillite pipes and portraits of sea captains for sale to non-natives.
In the late 19th century, missionaries tried to convince the Haida that their songs, dances, and ceremonies were pagan and evil. The Canadian government destroyed their totem poles, and declared ceremonies such as the potlatch illegal. The Haida could no longer openly display their family crests, which had been carved on totem poles and shown at potlatches.
They responded by making small poles on which they recorded traditional myths and crests for future generations. The designs on these 20th century argillite poles convey myths and tales of culture heroes. Carvers often depict stories about Raven, a Haida culture hero. The sale of these argillite versions also brought income to communities that suffered from depopulation and economic hardship.
Changing Beadwork on Menominee Clothing
This mid-20th century breechcloth is characteristic of clothing made on the Menominee Indian reservation in Wisconsin. Clothing decorated with fine beadwork is sold to tourists or worn during ceremonies to entertain visitors. Traditional breechcloths were made from animal skins. When worn for special occasions, they were probably decorated with porcupine quills. As trade with Europeans expanded, cloth and glass beads replaced skins and quills. Not only were cloth and beads more colorful, they were also easier materials to work with.
Designs on clothing soon after Native Americans acquired 
beads tended to be geometric and symmetrical. The designs were meant to symbolize objects in nature. As contact with Westerners increased, designs became curvilinear and realistic. Flowers became common, first as stylized patterns, then evolving into more naturalistic shapes. Embroidered vestments of early missionaries may have inspired this later flower style of decorative beadwork among the Menominee. This breechcloth is decorated with both realistic and stylized floral motifs. Joe Gauthier, a Menominee Indian who worked for Penn State, wore this breechcloth when he performed for local youth groups to teach them about Native Americans.
From Footwear to the Most Common Souvenir
Most Native Americans wore moccasins made of leather and sinew to protect their feet. Moccasins were often lined with fur and adorned with horse and buffalo hair; porcupine and 
eagle quills; or beads made from glass, shell and wood. The colors and designs of moccasins not only communicated a person’s tribal affiliation, they also reflected spiritual visions that came to the makers in their dreams.
Moccasins have been the most common Plains Indian collectible for a long time. During the 19th century, soldiers and other travelers purchased inexpensive moccasins to wear as slippers. Indeed, there are more moccasins in museums than any other type of object from Plains tribes. Native Americans have changed manufacturing techniques to meet the widespread demand for moccasins. Today, polyester thread coated with beeswax has replaced sinew and beads are more common than quills. Native Americans produce moccasins for sale as do non-native companies.
Based on the beaded rosette design, a 20th century Menominee Indian Wisconsin probably made the moccasin above left. The second moccasin (above right) has ankle flaps, a common attribute of footwear in the Plains and Great Lakes regions. Although it dates to the early 20th century, the simple design made with dyed thread suggests that it was not made for tourists. The third moccasin (below) is a modern souvenir. The design and lack of ankle flaps indicates that rather than 
the Great Plains. It appears to be made of sueded cowhide and polyester thread.
Pima and Papago baskets
Pima and Papago Indians of the desert Southwest manufactured these baskets in the early 20th century. These people have been weaving baskets for centuries. Baskets made with weaving techniques reminiscent of today’s Pima and Papago have been found in Hohokam archaeological sites dating back at least 1,000 years.
The Pima and Papago made baskets to collect and store food, salt and water. They cooked food in their baskets by stone boiling. Baskets were also used to carry wood and even babies. Upturned baskets served as drums. Trays were the most frequently used basket by both groups to prepare food and hold supplies. They are only employed as eating dishes on ceremonial occasions.
The Pima made baskets from a variety of plants. In March the Indians cut off and
peeled willow twigs. The twigs are split into strips of even thickness and coiled. Devil’s claw is gathered in autumn and soaked so they can be easily ripped and coiled. Tule and cattails are harvested in July. They are split, dried, and tied into bundles. Rims of older baskets were finished with cattail. After A.D. 1900 women began wrapping cattail around the rims in a false braid effect. Traditional basketry tools include awls and knives. The three major traditionaldesigns on Pima baskets are the fret, the equal armed cross, and the whorl. They also employ designs such as triangles, ‘coyote tracks,’ turtlebacks, squash flowers, and swastikas.
The Papago traditionally made their baskets with willow, bear grass, tule stems, and devil’s claw. Recently they have replaced willow with the more abundant yucca, while the Pima continue to use willow because it is more abundant in their territory. Yucca leaves gathered in the spring are bleached in the sun to produce a white fiber. If a green fiber is desired the leaves are dried in the shade. Yucca is often pounded to make stiffer baskets with flatter coils.
Today, the Papago are the most productive of all of the Southwestern basket-weaving tribes. The Papago have been successful in marketing their baskets, selling them in souvenir shops across the country. The Papago have begun making trinket boxes and wastebaskets to suite tourists’ tastes. Pima basketry nearly died out in the early 20th century. By 1962 they were no longer using their own baskets. Increased interest in Indian crafts instigated a revival in basketry among the Pima in the 1980s. The Pima, however, do not have as many commercial outlets as the Papago.
The Pima probably manufactured the small flat plaque (above right) with the sun-like pattern in the early 20th century, since the plaque had no use in traditional native society. Tourists hang them on the wall or use them as hot pads.
Sananguatavut: “from the real to the unreal”
The Inuit -- or Eskimo -- of Canada and Alaska are world-renowned for their art. Ironically, they had no word for art until they were encouraged by the Canadian government to produce objects for sale starting in the 1950s. They coined the word sananguatavut which means “from the real to the unreal; making a likeness”. The Inuit produce prints, drawings, and, more recently, pottery and textiles. They are best known for their carvings in stone, bone, ivory, horn, and driftwood. Carvers choose from a variety of stones, including steatite, siltstone, jade, and soapstone, depending on availability. International restrictions have led to a decline in ivory and whalebone use.
Carving skills are passed down from one generation to the next. Early tools used for carving included stone adzes, drills, reamers, and saws that were also used for building kayaks and fashioning harpoons. Today, the initial “roughing out” is accomplished with steel saws, axes, hammers, adzes, and chisels. Rasps, steel wool, files, and sandpaper are used to “finish” the object. The artist incises designs with penknives and nails.
Origins
Archaeologists have discovered carvings by Inuit ancestors dating back at least 3,000 years ago. From 800 B.C. to A.D. 1300, people were carving and incising small objects. Beginning about A.D. 900, they decorated on combs and gambling pieces, and carved human and animal figures. With the arrival of European whalers and traders in the nineteenth century, the Inuit began to carve miniatures to trade. Their carvings became popular collector’s items in Europe.
Rapid acculturation of the Inuit in the mid-twentieth century and government-enforced relocation into settlements led to a marked decline in their standard of living. Ontario artist James Houston began marketing art from three eastern Hudson Bay communities in the 1940s with the aid of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild. The success of this venture caught the attention of the government, which established Inuit art cooperatives beginning in the 1950s and helped market their product in Canada.
Is it “Authentic”?
Before promotion by Houston and the explosion of interest in Inuit art among collectors, the Inuit exclusively carved utilitarian or religious objects. Today, some art experts argue that their art is not authentic because of transformations in media, size, subject matter, and use that have resulted from participation in the marketplace. In fact, the Canadian government often dictated subject choices and style to ensure the economic success of the artists. What is perhaps more pertinent to a consideration of authenticity is the attitude of the Inuit themselves toward their art. Like all cultures, the Inuit are finding new ways to express their identity as well as meet their economic needs. Similar to Pueblo pottery or Navajo weaving, contemporary Inuit art reflects a blending of old and new cultural values and beliefs. 
Because they portray the Inuit view of the world, they naturally mirror the great changes in their way of life over the last few decades. To the Inuit, what is important is the ability to carve well, to skillfully work the media into a fitting image, and most importantly to “capture the likeness”.
