Tangible Visions Northwest Coast Indian Shamanism and Its Art

Northwest Indian art is famous for its totem poles, house posts, feast dishes,oxes and painted house fronts that served to announce the privileges of theowerful chiefs and families who owned them. A less well known but equallymportant aspect of this is the art that was made for use by shamans. Thistudy brings attention to a body of Northwest coast art which, until now, hasot received much attention. This is an attempt to study and illustrate thearious forms of painted and carved objects that were carried and worn byhamans as they fulfilled their spiritual duties.;In order to form alliancesith animal spirits, the shamans deprived themselves of food, water and sleepuring long vigils in the wilderness. The spirits that came to them in dreamsnd visions at such times could then be summoned by shamans to assist them ashey performed their healing and divinatory seances. Much of their ceremonialaraphernalia represents the helping spirits in a shaman's service. Certainxamples, which show complex juxtapositions of many animals and human figures,epict the dreams or trance experiences which the shaman had undergone at

Allen Wardwell was formerly the curator of primitive art at the Art Institute of Chicago.