
Tlingit - Thunderbird

NW Coast - Hocker design

Haida - Orca

Kwakiutl - Raven

SW America - Swastika

Haida - Mythic Raven

Kwakiutl - Thunderbird

Kwakiutl - Killer Whale

Kwakiutl - Thunderbird

Haida - Thunderbird

Kwakiutl - Thunderbird

Kwakiutl - Raven

Kwakiutl - Beaver

Haida - Bear

Haida - Double Raven

Kwakiutl - Squash Blossom
[Although the designs themselves are traditional and (presumably) in the pubic domain, copyright over the actual images is claimed by the producer of these designs and the publisher: Maarten Hesselt van Dinter and HvD Publishing. The images are available here for so long as there is no objection: no response to emails from either party has been received in relation to obtaining permission to post the images here.]
I came across a couple of HvD books and the (essentially random) selection above constitutes about one tenth of the available designs from the combined dvd and text-less 2006 publication called: 'Native Designs from North America'. More from the other book (South America) in the next week or so.
Previous line drawing design entries: Celtic Designs ---- Indian Designs
These are wonderful. I like how some of them suggest entirely different creatures, and not just by embedding them; Kwakiutl (Thunderbird), for example, reminds me strongly of a crab, while Haida (Double Raven) is like a double toucan. And Kwakiutl (Raven) makes me think of Jim Woodring...
ReplyDeleteToucan! Exactly. I nearly put that in as a placeholder image title but then realised that toucans are at least a couple of thousand kilometres away from the tribal area.
ReplyDeleteThe modernity of these is startling, and yet they remain distinctly tribal. Can't wait for the second set.
ReplyDeleteVery well done, I have colored quite a few mandala's that are very similar to most of these. Being of Native American decent myself, I can say it is very nice to see some of this done on a blog. Thank you, great blog!
ReplyDelete