Mukluks

Label

Prior to the establishment of colonial trade networks, Indigenous women across North America ornamented clothing with highly valued goods such as paints, shell beads, elk teeth, porcupine quills, and other natural materials - obtained through wide-ranging intertribal trade networks.

As new materials became available through colonial trade, Indigenous women innovated further, creating masterful works of great beauty and personal expression.

Curvilinear designs have long been central to Woodlands material culture, and the introduction of new ready-to-use materials such as glass beads and silk ribbon further enabled this aesthetic to flourish. This Lenape shoulder bag is a masterpiece, both in the appliqué technique used to create the design and in the artist’s color selection and use of abstraction to reflect the ancestral landscape of Lenape homelands.

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World,  curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Prior to the establishment of colonial trade networks, Indigenous women across North America ornamented clothing with highly valued goods such as paints, shell beads, elk teeth, porcupine quills, and other natural materials obtained - through wide-ranging intertribal trade networks. As new materials became available through colonial trade, Indigenous women innovated further, creating masterful works of great beauty and personal expression.

Curvilinear designs have long been central to Anishinaabe material culture, and the introduction of new ready-to-use materials such as wool and glass beads further enabled this aesthetic to flourish. At the same time, the growing effort to Christianize the Americas simultaneously prohibited Indigenous people of the region from the practice and expression of their spiritual beliefs. The evolution of bandolier bags from the functional shot-pouch to the elegant accessory, like the one from White Earth Nation seen here, provided a canvas to express such forbidden ideology.

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World,  curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

Native American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 8, 2011-March 12, 2012.

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 5–July 22, 2022.

Provenance

Collected by Professor Trevor Lloyd (1906-1995), Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada, 1942; given to present collection, 1959.

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu

Subjects