Assignment
For our discussion # 6, we will focus on the art of the Pacific Northwest created by the Alaskan Eskimo, Haida, Kwakiutl and Tlingit cultures.
For our discussion # 6, we will focus on the art of the Pacific Northwest created by the Alaskan Eskimo, Haida, Kwakiutl and Tlingit cultures. As you will have come to recognize from the readings and videos on this section, much of the subject matter of art created by these cultures centers on the depiction of animals. The functions of these images range from protective paintings on the kayaks of the Alaskan Inuit to the elaborate totemic emblems that maintained the social structure of the Tlingit, Haida and Kwakiutl peoples.
For our discussion, please start off by explaining the importance of animals to the economy, sustenance and ritual life of the Eskimo, Haida, Kwakiutl and Tlingit peoples. There is a good deal of information on the relationship between the environment and peoples of the Northwest in your readings, particularly Corbin.
After you have set the stage for the importance of animal representation in art, please select a work of art from the readings as you have done in your previous discussion posts. Explain the subject matter, function of the work of art as well as the materials used to create it. How would the work of art have been used or displayed? For example, Haida memorial poles displayed clan-crest images that would have identified the mythological clan ancestor of the deceased. The poles would have been placed in front of houses as markers of the individuals who resided there.
Answer preview for our discussion # 6, we will focus on the art of the Pacific Northwest created by the Alaskan Eskimo, Haida, Kwakiutl and Tlingit cultures.
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