Pottery, clothing, and making baskets are just a portion of the great arts and crafts of the Southwest Native Americans.  Their art used symbols and signs to represent their ideas, beliefs, dreams, and visions.  Pottery was made for everyday use, including cooking, storage, bathing, and religious ceremonies.  They were painted and carved with designs that told a story.

The clothing they wore depended on what they did.  They lived in a warm climate so they wore little clothing.  They would dress in flowers and paint with feather headdresses.  They also used clothing to signify their fighting skills.

Kachina dolls were carved out wood by the Zuni and Hopi tribes.  They clothed them in masks and costumes to look like the men who dressed up as Kachina spirits.  They were given to children to teach them to identify the different parts of Kachina dolls, and the parts they play in tribal ceremonies.

The Navajo women wore earrings before marriage, and afterwards they attached them to bead necklaces until their own daughters are old enough to wear them.

Turquoise is mined by southwestern tribes, and is the stone of happiness, health, and good fortune.  They use turquoise to make jewelry.  The southwestern tribes also collected good luck objects called fetishes.  They kept them in bowls painted with crushed turquoise.  The Navajo are known for silverwork, which they learned from the Mexicans.  The Navajo Indians developed silver working techniques used for jewelry, and made belts from sterling silver.

The Southwest Indians were the most skilled in making baskets.  They would decorate the baskets with colors and patterns.  They could be very symbolic like the art they made.  The Hopi method of basket making has not changed for hundreds of years.

All of these items mentioned above were ways for the Southwestern Native Americans to communicate their dreams, visions, and beliefs to each other or to people today.

 

 

created on April 15, 1998

edited on April 22, 1998
by Pam Eck, IUPUI