Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art

Most Native American peoples weave baskets using various forms of grasses and shrubs, everything from sea grass, used by Eskimos and Aleuts, to willow, bracket fern and redbud used in California and the Great Basin.  Fewer use materials derived from trees.  On the Northwest Coast, cedar tree bark and spruce root is the foremost material used for baskets.  Across the continent, in the Eastern United States, a number of peoples use strips of thin wood derived from the indigenous black ash to make both plain and decorated splint baskets.

A Splint Baskets

A painted pony.

Splendidly Dressed

Beautiful dresses and robes.

 Jewelry

Shoes

Winter wear

California Cultures & Great Basin Cultures

Chilkat Robe, 1850

Tlingit, Southeast  Alaska

Ancient Southwest Culture

Northwest Coast Cultures

Northwest Coast produced many great artists, especially master carving.

Woodland Cultures

The Woodland Indians of eastern North America ingeniously incorporated European goods such as glass beads, silk ribbons and cloth into their arts,.

The End to the Fenimore Museum.  I Loved It.