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Listening To Our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life Along the North Pacific Coast

Presented by the National Museum of the American Indian, this Web exhibit focuses on ceremonial and everyday objects created and used by 11 Native communities that have lived in the Pacific Northwest: Coast Salish, Gitxsan, Haida, Heiltsuk, Kwakwaka'wakw, Makah, Nisga'a, Nuu-chah-nulth, Nuxalk, Tlingit, and Tsimshian. The Credits section of the site provides complete information about how information and materials were gathered from each community. For each community, visitors to the site can read commentary by community curators and view objects that were used for a variety of purposes. The theme of the Coast Salish gallery is "Everything is connected", and curator Marilyn G. Jones notes, "The items weren't made for art, they were made for use." Examples include baskets and mats, canoes, and weaving items such as whorls (parts of a spindle, used for spinning fiber into thread by hand), which, despite Jones' disclaimer, are exquisitely decorated. On the other hand, the Tlingit gallery starts with the statement "These are our treasures" and includes art - sculptures of a Raven and a pipe in the shape of an eagle; body ornaments - for hair, bracelets and earrings; and a treasure chest.
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