ON THE COVER
Woodcarver David Draper (Diné) draws from a rich tapestry of influences, from Michelangelo to the late, legendary sculptor Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache). But his most powerful ideas come from his home in the Chuska Mountains on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.

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Abbe Museum
The Mocotaugan, or crooked knife, was an essential tool for Native people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Early European explorers described the knife as “peculiar” because of the angle of the blade to the wooden handle. Originally made using flint instead of steel, the Mocotaugan had a wide range of uses, including building canoes and wigwams, cutting strips to use in basket weaving, and making bows and arrows.

ON THE COVER
Few Americans have ever matched the dignity, courage and wisdom possessed by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce people of Idaho, as seen in this image taken in 1877.

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ON THE COVER
Q’orianka Kilcher (Quechua/Huachipaeri, of Peruvian heritage) portrays the young Pocahontas in the film The New World, about the founding of the Jamestown, Virginia colony in 1607. Photo by Merie Wallace, SMPSP/New Line Productions.

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For many Native artisans, it was the memory of a grandmother’s deftly moving fingers, or a grandfather’s quiet words, that stirred up a powerful desire to learn and carry on an ancient skill perhaps in danger of being lost to the modern world. In some cases, the effort of a single artist—who taught someone else, who then taught someone else—has revived and preserved important ancient Native crafts.

There was no alphabet. No written language. No metal for tools. No clay for pots. No wheels. Yet these prehistoric Pacific islanders voyaged across great oceans, created a sophisticated society and left a cultural heritage that still flourishes in the Hawaiian Islands.

Some of the earliest Native expressions of prayer, self-identity, adornment and beauty were created in three-dimensional form from materials freely provided by the earth. Walrus ivory figures carried by hunters in the Arctic north, amulets carved in bone or wood or shaped from clay, totems reaching skyward-over the centuries, experienced hands have passed on their understanding and tools to younger hands.

On August 29, 2001, under blazing-hot sunshine, several hundred invited guests gathered on the grounds of the Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle, Washington to witness the raising of a very special totem pole commissioned to celebrate the roles that artist Dale Chihuly and benefactors John Hauberg and Anne Gould Hauberg played in the founding of this renowned institution. The unique totem pole is the first to combine traditional red cedar with cast, etched and blown glass components, as well the subtle use of neon lighting.