Traditional Colors
Northwest Coast artforms have retained the original characteristics of those used thousands of years ago so it is not surprising that the colors used more than 4,000 years ago are still those of ancient works in spite of all outside events, inventions, fads and influences.
While ancient knowledge has been lost, the use of some of the same for basic colors: black, blue, green and red, has remained an mainstay of traditional style NW Coast work. This color scheme is so deeply embedded in NW Coast cultures that the use of charcoal, red ochre, vivianite and celadonite dates back at least 4,000 years. When we look at universal color use we find NW Coast people to be idiosyncratic in their persistent use of an ancient color scheme even with the availability of the infinite array of colors today. Typically, throughout history when a new color becomes available it has quickly been adapted into palettes. With Indigenous cultures this is not always the practice. The colors used by Indigenous people have ancient and powerful significance, often related to their world views, cosmology and belief systems. The materials used to make color are often significant in their own right with pigment deposits holding potent spiritual power. Pigment deposits usually have stories associated with them and over centuries the people that used them developed deep personal connections with these places. The loss of these places, the stories and bonds due to colonization and removal from traditional lands has contributed to the loss of information necessary to the revitalization and continued evolution of these cultures.
Northwest Coast artforms have retained the original characteristics of those used thousands of years ago so it is not surprising that the colors used more than 4,000 years ago are still those of ancient works in spite of all outside events, inventions, fads and influences.
While ancient knowledge has been lost, the use of some of the same for basic colors: black, blue, green and red, has remained an mainstay of traditional style NW Coast work. This color scheme is so deeply embedded in NW Coast cultures that the use of charcoal, red ochre, vivianite and celadonite dates back at least 4,000 years. When we look at universal color use we find NW Coast people to be idiosyncratic in their persistent use of an ancient color scheme even with the availability of the infinite array of colors today. Typically, throughout history when a new color becomes available it has quickly been adapted into palettes. With Indigenous cultures this is not always the practice. The colors used by Indigenous people have ancient and powerful significance, often related to their world views, cosmology and belief systems. The materials used to make color are often significant in their own right with pigment deposits holding potent spiritual power. Pigment deposits usually have stories associated with them and over centuries the people that used them developed deep personal connections with these places. The loss of these places, the stories and bonds due to colonization and removal from traditional lands has contributed to the loss of information necessary to the revitalization and continued evolution of these cultures.
