Evening star., 1939-10-15
Indian Arts
And Crafts
Encouraged
Quality Maintained
In Government
Project Here
By Florence S. Bergman.

One does not have to travel to New
Mexico and Arizona, California and
other distance places in order to
see and acquire American Indian
arts and crafts of the best quality.
In the new United States Depart
ment of the Interior Building there
is an Indian arts and crafts shop, a
non-profit enterprise run by the
Welfare and Recreational Associa-
ton, which operates on Government
property. 1t was opened only l3
months ago, so the association has
no statistics as yet concerning an
average months turnover and SINH
lar matters.
Two outstanding points about the
various arts shown at Indian Arts
and Crafts are their authenticity
and fine quality. There is no ad-
mittance to machine-made in1ita-
tions of Indian handicrafts, which,
one regrets to say deceive many q
tourist in the West and elsewhere.
Furthermore, Of the many things
which may be indubitably authentic,
certain proportion has to be re-
turned, because they fail to meas
ure up to the standard of quality
maintained by Indian Arts and
Crafts.
Indians all over the United States
and in Alaska send their finest work
here. The young woman in charge
said that handicrafts are coming
in every week from all the Indian
schools and from many tribes, Nav
ajo, Hopi, Pueblo, Zuni, Blackfeet,
Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Papago,
Pima, Cherokee and Alaskan. Pre-
sumably, every tribe that produces
craftwork of some type occasionally
sends examples.
Have Federal Tests.
Each Navajo rug on view, in COL
lection of many designs and colors,
is guaranteed by a United States De-
partment of the Interior certificate
of genuineness, stating that it is all
wool, grown on tribal flocks, carded,
dyed, etc, by Indian craftsmen and
woven on Indian handlooms. The
wearing qualities of these rugs are
now undergoing rigorous test in
! various locations of the Interior De-
partment. One strip in the cafeteria
was observed to be nearly black
from the daily tread of thousands
of feet but it showed no signs Of
| wear. However, the test is still on,
and no conclusions have been an
| nounced.
Silver jewelry here is generally
Government-stamped. 1t will be re-
called that Senator Ashurst Of Ari-
zona has from time to time en-
deavored to have identifying marks
required on all imitation Indian Jew
elry. But although to date it has not
been possible to stop all deceptions,
there is no possibility of anything
but genuine Indian work being
shown at Indian Arts and Crafts.
Although the Navajos seem to be
the major producers of rugs and
| jeWelry, quite number of tribes
make pottery and baskets. Yet so
varied are the techniques, ma
terials and motifs, that one does not
have to be a connoisseur to dis
tinguiSh between them. Glistening
black jars and vases with mat dec
Grafton of the same color have the
classic simplicity of Greek pottery.
There are other types of a light
pinkish tan color, with earth-red or
dark brown decorations. Baskets
vary even more noticeably to the
lay observer. California Indian bas-
kets, for instance, are small and
very fine in texture tsome are said
to be water-tight), the woven strips
being only minute fraction of an
inch in width. Hopi baskets are
coarser in materials, woven with an
unusual coil technique. There are
"black- baskets which are
made from fiberS entirely in their
natural colors. the black being from
tough desert growth known as
devils claw.
Carved by Alaskans.
Ensnaring little polar bears, rein.
deer and other animals carved by
Alaskan Indians from walrus tusks
share interest with dolls in real fur
'parkahs. Dolls of other tribes are
dressed in beaded gowns of soft
hides, or wrapped in blankets. These
dolls have approximately natural
istic Indian faces of cloth or carved
wood. The strange ceremonial fig
ures known as Katchina dolls have
geometric features.
Little boys could "play Indian"
here very realistically, as there are
feathered war bonnets, drums and
bows and arrows, to say nothing OF
beautifully beaded moccasins and
soft leather jackets, also beaded and
fringed in contrasting colors.
An arresting feature of the dis.
play IS the work of Cherokee In
dians, who, it will be recalled, live
in the Great Smoky Mountain re-
gion. Many kinds of Cherokee work
were included in the exhibition Of
handicrafts of the Southern high
lands, held at the Corcoran Gallery
five or six years ago under auspices
of the American Federation of Arts.
Presumably these Indians, after
long association, have been in
f1uenced by the work of their white
neighbors, for their weavings now at
Indian Arts and Crafts have the
color schemes and even the motifs
OF Southern mountaineers of Euro
pean ancestry, the chariot wheel.
Whig rose, etc,