The art featured at Tribes Gallery is not only beautiful, it serves to illustrate the vastly different ways of life our world has to offer. Each artwork demonstrates the values and aesthetics of the people who crafted it. The purpose of this page is to educate you about the origins of the art we feature at Tribes Gallery. Below is some information we've put together about the Central and South American tribes we deal with, and we'll be putting together more comprehensive information soon. Please e-mail us if you have any questions.
The Huichol Tribe
Tribes Gallery is proud to feature many beautiful works by the artists of the Huichol Culture in Central Mexico, including their fantastic yarn paintings, beaded masks, human and animal figures and beaded gourds.
Until as recently as 1890, the Huichol culture had not been touched by European influences. Tucked back in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico, they were blissfully unaware of the "outside world," their culture intact and resplendant with their long-held traditions and customs.
The Huichol have no written language and no word for “God,” but spirituality is evident in their work. Crafting beautiful figures with beads on wooden forms (usually in the shape of animals) and yarn paintings ranging in size from six inches across to several feet wide, they communicate clearly their individual dreamscapes.
Much of Huichol society is based on the “magic cactus” peyote, a common Native American spiritual catalyst. The visions that come under its influence are recorded on the yarn paintings by tribe Shaman. To the Huichol, everything is sacred and divine, and the beauty of the world and their natural surroundings flows through their minds, their hands and their art.
Only 8,000 to 10,000 of the Huichol remain, preserving their Pre-Columbian culture much as they did hundreds of years ago. Trade has brought vital wealth to the Huichol, who are some ways at odds with the people around them in the modern society of Mexico. These deeply spiritual people still live as close to the earth as they possibly can, recording what they see, feel and sense. Buying a Huichol art is not only a way to own a beautiful piece of decoration, it also means owning a part of the Huichol’s culture and heritage.
Mama Mono
Mama Mono is known for her Pre-Columbian style vases, which blend the style of the old with the beautiful materials of the modern. As well as being "Mother of the Idols," Mama Mono is the mother of 18 children (some of whom now help craft these pieces) in her native Jalisco, Mexico. Making ceramic scupltures based on pictures in collectors catalogs and museum photographs, she and her family have recently begun incorporating the iguana, a symbol of abundance and fertility, into their work. After they finish crafting each individual vase, the vases are sent to the Huichol Indians to be completed with fine European beads.
Mama Mono vases are quickly becoming known and prized among collectors of fine art, and represent a vital link between the past and present cultures of Mexico
Shipibo Pottery
The Shipibo is a tribe of Indians who live in the tropical forest of the Amazon region of eastern Peru . They are very primitive, and have had only limited contact with modern civilization.
It is tradition that only Shipibo women make pottery. Clay which may require a few days journey in a dugout canoe to obtain is mixed with ashes from the bark of local trees to improve its quality. Each piece is made by hand without the use of a potter's wheel. The sides are made as thin as possible resulting in pottery that is extremely light. A resin obtained from the sap of various Amazon trees give the appearance of a ceramic glaze.
The principal decorative theme is the cross and serpent repeated in geometric form. Although the geometric pattern is characteristic and easily recognizable, its execution and design is different in each case. As these patterns are also used for decoration of the face and body during special occasions in the tribal life, it is believed that they are magical-religious expressions. However, their exact meaning has not been determined.
The only way for the Shipibo to obtain money, and the modem items which it can buy, is through the sale of their pottery. To reach the market place, however, a long hazardous journey which may take over two months to complete is required. First, up the Amazon River in a dugout canoe (there are no roads in the Amazon Jungle!). Then, packed in straw and carried on the backs of Llamas, it must cross on narrow foot trails one of the most rugged and dangerous mountain ranges in the world -- the Andes . Finally, over very rough bumpy dirt roads, it is taken by truck to the capital city of Peru , Lima , where it is then sent by ship to the United States . It is a marvel, considering what it takes to reach market, that arty Shipibo pottery is available.
Embera and Wounaan
The Embera and Wounaan Indians of Panama’s Darién Rainforest are a beautiful, warm-hearted and talented people living mainly in small villages along rivers isolated from the cosmopolitan city bearing its country's name. About 6,000 Wounaan deal daily with the effects of a rapidly encroaching modern world, yet actively maintain their cultural identity.
These weavers of world-class, magical and spiritually inspired baskets, which rival the finest produced anywhere, are patient artisans whose spectacular decorative and collectible masterpieces may take over a year to complete.
Bundled fibers from the nahuala bush form the coils around which are sewn threadlike strands of sun-bleached "chunga," fiber from the black palm, boiled - sometimes for days with plant dyes (leaves, flowers, fruits, or roots) to achieve an array of natural colors. Twenty-two have been documented to date, and weavers continuously experiment to find new and deeper colors.
Wounaan and neighboring Embera baskets are literally sewn with a needle, not woven in the traditional sense, allowing for exceptionally fine and tight construction. (from www.rainforestbaskets.com) |
We're no ordinary Art Gallery, and certainly not your typical store. We work with craftspeople, importers and consigners to bring you collectible, unique art from all over the world. From jewelry to Middle Eastern Rugs to gorgeous bead and yarn art, we have something for every taste.We're passionate about the art we sell and knowledgeable about the people who produce it.