Worn With Pride

Magazine Antiques, Oct, 2001 by Bill Mercer

Native American textiles and garments from the Northwest Coast

The rich wrap themselves up sometimes in white blankets, manufactured in the country, from the wool of the wild sheep, which b as soft and fine as the Spanish merino. These blankets are embroidered with square fringes, and figures with Mack and yellow tassels. Some of them are so curiously worked on one side with the fur of the sea otter, that they appear as if lined by it, and are very handsome. [1]

American Indian art of the Pacific Northwest Coast is renowned for the distinctive designs used to decorate a variety of mediums. It is a formal design system developed over the centuries, and although there are stylistic variations from one cultural group to another, there are also many shared characteristics. Among the constants are the use of U-shaped elements and ovoid forms as the basic design units, and the use of black to outline and define the major aspects of a design. Another feature in common, especially on two-dimensional objects, is the splitting of images into two halves so that the whole is bilaterally symmetrical. It is quite common for the design to completely fill the field, this being accomplished either by manipulating existing elements or adding filler motifs.

Much attention has been given to carved and painted objects such as masks and totem poles, but textiles and garments are no less significant culturally or artistically Traditionally no aspect of Northwest Coast Indian society was more important than the clan, so it was imperative that those attending ceremonial functions wore clothing decorated with crest designs that indicated their clan, thus affirming their status in society. The crest designs might be the totem of a clan, such as a killer whale, raven, eagle, wolf, frog, and so forth, or they might refer to real or mythical ancestors or other supernatural beings associated with the clan and its history. Given the important role of clothing it is understandable that many garments were passed on as heirlooms from one generation to the next.

The northern tribes on the Northwest Coast, such as the Tlingit, wove the most elaborate textiles. The women used vertical looms and the finely spun wool of mountain goats sometimes reinforced with cedar bark (see Pls. III and IV). The two styles of weaving are Raven's Tail and Chilkat. Raven's Tail is the older style practiced by the Tlingit and their neighbors the Haida and Tsimshian. It is characterized by an extensive use of black and white yarns woven into a geometric pattern using variations of two- and three-strand twining techniques. It was worked on the loom from top to bottom and in individual rows from left to right, resulting in a very regular finished appearance. This style of weaving was primanly used for making rectangular robes with a fringe, such as the one described at the beginning of this article. The Raven's Tail technique was discontinued shortly after 1800, and there are only eleven complete Raven's Tail robes still in existence. [2] However, there are also several transitional robes th at utilized both Raven's Tail and Chilkat weaving techniques. In the example shown in Plate m the Raven's Tail weaving is located in the top central part of the robe and is surrounded on both sides and at the bottom by Chilkat weaving.

Chilkat weaving is believed to have originated among the Tsimshian people of coastal British Columbia, and it spread to the neighboring Haida and Tlingit. [3] The name Chilkat refers to a Tlingit tribe known for this style of weaving. Similar to Raven's Tail, Chilkat weavings were produced on an upright loom with mountain goat wool spun into yarn and sometimes reinforced with cedar bark Commercial yarn was frequently used as it became available in the nineteenth century. The yarn spun from mountain goat wool was dyed first with natural and later with commercial dyes, with yellow, black, green, and blue being the preferred colors. The undyed warps were attached to the top of the loom and the ends were allowed to hang freely The weaving involves a variety of twining techniques to enable the weaver to create curvilinear designs. Rather than working back and forth one row at a time, the weaver worked on a single design element at a time, completely finishing it before moving on to the next.

Chilkat weavings generally follow the design system used throughout the Northwest Coast, and, although women did the weaving, the men created the designs, painting half the design on wooden planks called pattern boards (see Pl. VI). The weaver knew that she had to create the mirror image of the half design on the other half of her weaving. As Chilkat robes were made to be worn as dance regalia, the action of the fringe under varying light conditions would have heightened the visual impact of the design of these garments.

Chilkat-style weaving was used to make the shirt shown in Plate IV, which is documented as one of several of the same pattern woven by a Mrs. Benson, a Tlingit weaver from the village of Yakutat in Alaska. [4] According to George T. Emmons, an anthropologist who wrote extensively about Chilkat weaving, the design represents a brown bear. [5] The bear's head is located just below the neck of the shirt. The five small human faces across the chest are meant to represent the bear's mouth, while the three large vertical faces form the bear's body The forepaws are alongside the body, and the bind legs are near the hem. The face looking upward parallel to the hem represents a frog. The legs of the bear thus become the legs of the frog, and the three large faces form the frog's body. The shirt was trimmed with sea otter fur along the side gussets, the neck, and around the cuffs. The back of the shirt, like other Chilkat shirts and tunics, is much less elaborate, consisting of several wide horizontal bands with verti cal blue-and-yellow zigzags.