Indigenous Art from Wood
Wood is also used as a form of expression in indigenous culture. Throughout Canada there are many examples of this including:
Talking Sticks - Talking sticks are usually made of wood. They are often elaborately carved in traditional northwest coast designs and decorated with abalone shell, ivory, silver, gold and copper. During ceremonial feasts and other festivities the person giving a speech held the talking stick and passed it on to the next speaker when finished.
Rattles - There are many kinds of rattles made by Northwest Coast Natives. West Coast Native Rattles are often made from wood, horn, deer hides, woven cedar bark, and shells. The elaborately carved and painted wooden rattles are usually hollowed out and small hard objects like pebbles or dried seeds are placed inside. A large variety of representative rattles were used by chiefs, shamans and ceremonial dancers.
Totem poles - The totem pole is the signboard, genealogical record and memorial of Northwest Coast Aboriginal people. Crests carved on poles, usually erected at potlaches, were lineage property and reflected the history of the lineage. Animals represented on the crests included the beaver, bear, wolf, shark, whale, raven, eagle, frog and mosquito; they were visual statements about group membership and identity. There were six principal types of poles: memorial or heraldic poles, grave figures, house posts, housefront or portal poles, welcoming poles and mortuary poles. Poles were skilfully carved of red cedar and were painted black, red, blue and sometimes white and yellow. They varied in size, but housefront poles could be over one metre in width at the base, reaching heights of over 15 m and generally facing the shores of rivers or the ocean. While totem poles may have been an established feature of pre-contact Aboriginal culture, most of the well-known poles found in parks and museums were carved after 1860. New poles have been commissioned since the 1950s for museums, parks and international exhibits, and since the late 1960s totem poles are once again being raised at potlatches (from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/totem-pole)
In addition, other forms of Indigenous art include:
Masks
Jewelry
Paddles
Sculptures
Carvings
Musical instruments
From http://www.spiritsofthewestcoast.com/