From the giant cedar of the rainforest came a wealth of raw materials vital to the way of life, art and culture of the early First Nations people of the Northwest Coast. All parts of the cedar tree had many uses. From the wood, skilled men made ocean-going canoes, massive post-and- beam houses, monumental carved poles that declared history, rights and lineage, and powerful dance masks. Women dextrously wove the inner bark into mats and baskets, plied it into ocordage and netting or processed it into soft, warn, water ...
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From the giant cedar of the rainforest came a wealth of raw materials vital to the way of life, art and culture of the early First Nations people of the Northwest Coast. All parts of the cedar tree had many uses. From the wood, skilled men made ocean-going canoes, massive post-and- beam houses, monumental carved poles that declared history, rights and lineage, and powerful dance masks. Women dextrously wove the inner bark into mats and baskets, plied it into ocordage and netting or processed it into soft, warn, water-repellent clothing. They also made the strong withes into heavy-duty rope and wove the roots into watertight baskets. Hilary Stewart explains, through her vivid descriptions, 550 detailed drawings and 50 photographs, the tools and techniques used, as well as the superbly crafted objects and their uses--all in the context of daily and ceremonial life. Anecdotes, oral history and the accounts of early explorers, traders, missionaries and native elders highlight the text.
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Add this copy of Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians to cart. $19.47, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 1995 by University of Washington Press.
i buy the cedar book every chance i get! i give as gifts and donate to the indian school and the makah museum. this book is excellent if you work with cedar or a weaver. hillary stewarts books are awesome!!! a must have!!!
gretchensmall
Feb 4, 2010
excellent detail
As someone who lives in the Pacific Northwest coastal rainforest, I was excited to see this book. It is readable, covers, in detail, the many aspects of cedar in the culture and lives of the native peoples here. It is useful for understanding the cultural richness of the area. But what I wanted it for was explaining how the people actually made everything from houses to clothing from cedar, and this book is outstanding as a craft book.