Native American Indian Art Wood Carvings of the Pacific Northwest

 Native American Indian art in the American southwest is
dominated by the magnificent pottery and jewelry in the region.
When it comes to the Pacific Northwest region which covers the
states of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia (Canada) and the
southern part of Alaska, the Native American art here is mostly
wood carvings. This is not surprising since unlike the southwest
desert, the Pacific Northwest is abundant with forests which
have provided the wood as raw material for the region’s Native
American Indian art.

The wood carvings of the Pacific Northwest Native American art
come in many different forms. The huge totem poles which are
carved on entire tree trunks are probably the most famous.
Certainly the most common form of contemporary Pacific Northwest
Native American art is the plaque wood carving. The entire range
of Pacific Northwest Native American Indian art subjects
including eagles, ravens, thunderbirds, bears, killer whales and
salmons are carved as plaques to be hung on the wall. A more
complex project and usually higher priced would be the masks
which are also carved out of wood. The Pacific Northwest Native
American artists make some of the most striking aboriginal masks
in the world.

Creative artists and carvers from this region have also used
wood to carve out bowls, paddles, rattles and boxes which are
all expertly decorated with Pacific Northwest Native American
Indian designs. Some carvers have even carved more day to day
objects such as letter openers out of wood again decorated with
the region’s Native motifs. Although not restricting themselves
to just wood, the Pacific Northwest Native American artists also
do art prints, paintings and precious metal jewelry but overall
wood is still the most common material used in their artwork.

The Pacific Northwest style of Native American Indian art is
still unknown to many parts of North America and the rest of the
world but this will definitely change as the 2010 winter
Olympics in British Columbia approaches. The world will see
British Columbia and as visitors to this Canadian province have
already noticed, there are fine examples of Pacific Northwest
Native American Indian art everywhere one goes in the west coast
of Canada.