Blogs

First Nations art

Curator's Corner

Native American Heritage Month: The Totem Tradition

Monday, November 20, 2023 | Karl Cole

Of all the material culture produced by First Nations peoples of the Pacific Northwest, the totem is likely the most easily recognizable. Totems are monuments created to represent and commem ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Native American Heritage Month: Zia Pueblo

Monday, November 28, 2022 | Karl Cole

Today I present a work that reflects the abundance of rich indigenous cultures that populated the U.S. long before European settlement. The Anasazi of the western and southwestern U.S. were an amazing ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Women's History Month 2022: Maria Martinez

Monday, March 7, 2022 | Karl Cole

I’m going to feature examples of outstanding women artists who played key roles in art history for Women’s History Month. Ceramic artist Maria Martinez was truly at the forefront of Pueblo ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Haida Artist George Dickson

Monday, November 29, 2021 | Karl Cole

Haida artists were traditionally renowned for the beauty of their carvings, particularly in wood. Because of the abundance of timber in their lands, Haida artists were able to create monumental works ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Native American Heritage Month: Ledger Art

Monday, November 22, 2021 | Karl Cole

Little is known of the Arapaho artists who created the drawings in the Henderson Ledger, referred to as Henderson Ledger Artists. The ledger was owned by Frank Henderson, and many of the drawings ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Native American Heritage Month: Marcus Amerman

Monday, November 15, 2021 | Karl Cole

The Choctaw band is descended from the Mississippian culture (Mound Builders), which had villages throughout the region of the Mississippi River across the Deep South. They are thought to have be ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Native American Heritage Month: Casas Grandes

Monday, November 8, 2021 | Karl Cole

Archeologists now believe that the earliest human settlements in the Americas occurred somewhere between 28,000 and 17,000 BCE, after migration across the Bering Strait land bridge, which disappeared ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Native American Heritage Month: Fritz Scholder

Monday, November 1, 2021 | Karl Cole

Artist Fritz Scholder was in the forefront of First Nations modernism starting in the mid- to late 1900s. The groundwork for the recognition of modern Native American art was laid by the Institute of ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

To Mask or Not to Mask

Monday, August 2, 2021 | Karl Cole

The word “mask” gets an emotional response from some folks in these days of pandemic. I wonder, if the masks we're asked to wear looked like these following examples from Davis Digital&rsq ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Women's (Art) History Month: Pablita Velarde, Barbara Crane, and Star of Bethlehem Quilts

Monday, March 30, 2020 | Karl Cole

I'm wrapping up Women’s History Month 2020 with a First Nations artist, a pioneering photographer, and an art form that was finally acknowledged as such in the late 1900s. ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Women's (Art) History Month: Françoise Duparc, Mary Moser, Skokomish

Monday, March 2, 2020 | Karl Cole

Since this year is the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted women the right to vote, it is especially fitting to observe Women’s History ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

What Was Happening in the 20s?

Monday, January 6, 2020 | Karl Cole

As a celebration of the new year, let’s look back at what was happening in the ‘20s of centuries past. ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month: Cadzi Cody and Edgar Heap of Birds

Monday, November 25, 2019 | Karl Cole

My series celebrating National Native American Heritage month concludes today. I have already shown you ancient architecture and ceramics and objects from the 1800s. Now I will show you two artists wh ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month: Zuni Pueblo, Abenaki, Chippewa

Thursday, November 21, 2019 | Karl Cole

On Monday I showed you ancient architecture and ceramics as part of my National Native American Heritage Month 2019 series. Today the series continues with a look at three objects from the 1800s.  ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month: Anasazi, Mississippian, Mogollon

Monday, November 18, 2019 | Karl Cole

The actual title is “National Native American Heritage Month.” There are so many outstanding examples of the artistic contributions First Nations cultures have made to the history of this ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Women's History Month 2017: Arapaho Quilling

Monday, March 20, 2017 | Karl Cole

Even unknown women artists deserve to be given the star treatment, especially during Women’s History Month! I may have learned as a child to carefully lay burnt matches side by side in glue on p ...

Read More

Always Stay in the Loop

Want to know what’s new from Davis? Subscribe to our mailing list for periodic updates on new products, contests, free stuff, and great content.

Back to top