Here over 400 color photographs of old and recent artwork include totems, drums, rattles boxes, canoes, and many masks of traditional designs. Master carvers as well as younger artists are featured. The text guides readers to better understand the complex society, its artwork, and current values.

The people of the Klamath River region in Northwestern California possess one of the richest carving traditions in Native American art. Today this tradition is undergoing an exciting revival, reaching aesthetic heights not seen in a century. This volume includes a facisimile reprint of a 1930 essay by archaeologist Isabel Kelly, "The Carver's Art of the Indians of Northwestern Califrnia." An extensive introduction to the art by Ira Jacknis is the first substantial writing on this subject in over half a century. It is comprehensive and based on information from the makers and users of these objects, combining a summary of the scholarly literature, archival field notes, museum collections, and observations and interviews with contemporary artists. Photographs show the historic objects in use and a generous sampling of new work.

Through their own words and artwork, Ian Thom examines the careers, working methods, and philosophy of forty active Native American artists, all of whom he has interviewed. Featured here are their works, often combining new materials and old traditions, as well as extensive passages from conversations with these establishd and up-and-coming artists from the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Kofi Annan is the secretary-general of the United Nations.

The 50th anniversary edition of this classic work on the art of Northwest Coast Indians now offers color illustrations for a new generation of readers along with reflections from contemporary Northwest Coast artists about the impact of this book. The masterworks of Northwest Coast Native artists are admired today as among the great achievements of the world�s artists. The painted and carved wooden screens, chests and boxes, rattles, crest hats, and other artworks display the complex and sophisticated northern Northwest Coast style of art that is the visual language used to illustrate inherited crests and tell family stories. In the 1950s Bill Holm, a graduate student of Dr. Erna Gunther, former Director of the Burke Museum, began a systematic study of northern Northwest Coast art. In 1965, after studying hundreds of bentwood boxes and chests, he published Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form. This book is a foundational reference on northern Northwest Coast Native art. Through his careful studies, Bill Holm described this visual language using new terminology that has become part of the established vocabulary that allows us to talk about works like these and understand changes in style both through time and between individual artists� styles. Holm examines how these pieces, although varied in origin, material, size, and purpose, are related to a surprising degree in the organization and form of their two-dimensional surface decoration. The author presents an incisive analysis of the use of color, line, and texture; the organization of space; and such typical forms as ovoids, eyelids, U forms, and hands and feet. The evidence upon which he bases his conclusions constitutes a repository of valuable information for all succeeding researchers in the field. Replaces ISBN 9780295951027

Describes how Nisga'a artist Norman Tait designs and carves a totem pole, trains his relatives to carve, and participates in the pole raising ceremonies.

Superb guide to every aspect of the craft combines practical instruction with more than 1,000 photos and diagrams. Projects range from simple — boxes, chests, chairs — to complex — tables, cabinets, beds.