What Is Native American Art?
Native American art encompasses the visual, functional, and symbolic creations of Indigenous peoples across North America. These works include everything from traditional carvings and textiles to modern installations and paintings, each rooted in a long history of cultural expression.
Terms like “American Indian art,” “Native art,” and “American Indian artwork” are often used interchangeably. But all refer to artistic traditions that are deeply intertwined with Indigenous identities, stories, and lifeways.
Historically, these pieces were not viewed as “art” in the Western sense. They were expressions of community, spirituality, survival, and ceremony. A woven basket might have held sacred items. A carved figure might have represented ancestral spirits. Native American artwork was, and still is, a living part of culture, not a separate fine art tradition.
Traditional Native American Art Forms
From coast to coast, Indigenous communities developed unique and regionally specific forms of art that served ceremonial, spiritual, and everyday purposes. So, what are the traditional Native American arts?
Some of the most widely recognized include:
- Beadwork: Often used to decorate clothing, regalia, and ceremonial items.
- Quillwork: A pre-contact decorative art using dyed porcupine quills.
- Basketry: Woven with local plant materials and often used for food gathering or storage.
- Pottery: Including the intricate geometric designs of Pueblo pottery.
- Carvings and effigies: Such as Zuni fetishes or Hopi kachinas.
- Weaving and textiles: Including Navajo weaving and finger-woven sashes.
Many art forms are closely tied to specific regions. Northwest Coast totem poles, for example, serve as visual histories of clans and families. Pueblo pottery reflects both beauty and function, often used for food preparation or ritual.
As noted in the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design article, Native creations are better understood as “visual culture.” These works are not just artistic; they are inseparable from ceremony, identity, land, and tradition.
Native American Art Through Time
Native American art spans thousands of years, serving as a record of cultural knowledge, spiritual practice, and personal expression. From ancient carvings to digital media, Indigenous art reflects resilience, identity, and historical memory.
So, what are the four types of Indigenous art? While the categories often overlap, Native artistic traditions are commonly grouped into:
- Visual Art
- Ceremonial Art
- Functional Craft
- Digital and Contemporary Forms
Long before colonization, Indigenous peoples created complex artistic traditions. Ancient cultures such as the Mound Builders produced carvings, pottery, and effigies with ceremonial and symbolic meaning. As seen in First American Art Magazine’s timeline of Native American art history, Native artists have continuously adapted their work through major historical shifts, including European contact and forced assimilation.
Trade goods like glass beads and textiles introduced during colonization were absorbed into traditional art forms, giving rise to hybrid styles that preserved meaning while navigating external pressures. Throughout these transitions, art remained a means of cultural survival and resistance.
Today, Indigenous artists continue to evolve their practices, combining traditional methods with new materials and platforms to amplify their voices and reclaim narratives.
Visual Art
Visual art has long been a foundational element of Native American art, encompassing everything from rock carvings and hide paintings to modern photography and large-scale murals. Traditional forms include sand paintings used in Navajo healing ceremonies, ledger art created by Plains artists on pages of old accounting books, and pictographic storytelling on tipi liners or buffalo hides.
In contemporary practice, Native American paintings often combine symbolism drawn from ancestral stories with bold experimentation in style and medium. These works explore identity, land rights, environmental justice, and cultural preservation. Sculpture, too, has evolved, from wooden effigies and stone carvings to abstract bronze installations and mixed-media works that honor both tradition and innovation.
Photography has become an especially powerful tool, allowing Indigenous artists to reclaim representation and document Native life from within their own communities. Visual art remains a dynamic space for cultural dialogue and expression.
Ceremonial Art
Ceremonial art is central to Indigenous spiritual life and community traditions. These works are not created for display or decoration; they are designed to be used in prayer, ritual, and celebration. Common forms include feathered headdresses, dance regalia, carved wooden masks, rattles, sacred pipes, and painted drums, each constructed with intention and meaning.
Every item used in a ceremony carries spiritual weight. A drum might be viewed as a living presence with its own spirit, while a mask may represent a particular deity, ancestor, or force of nature. The creation process itself is often ceremonial, involving prayer, fasting, or song.
These art forms are specific to each tribe’s beliefs and cultural practices. For example, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) use corn husk masks in healing rituals, while Hopi katsina dolls serve as educational tools for children, teaching them about the spirits that guide their world. Through ceremonial art, generations pass down knowledge, values, and sacred relationships with the natural world.
Functional Craft
Many of the most iconic Native American Indian arts and crafts were developed to meet everyday needs. These include finely woven baskets for gathering food, clay pots for cooking and storage, and intricately beaded moccasins for warmth and ceremony. Yet these objects are far more than utilitarian; they reflect generations of knowledge, regional identity, and artistic mastery.
Patterns found on pottery or textiles often tell stories or encode clan relationships, geographic landmarks, and seasonal knowledge. For example, Pueblo pottery from the Southwest is known for its black-on-black and geometric designs, each with symbolic significance. Navajo weaving, renowned for its strength and beauty, is another powerful form of craft that combines practicality with cultural continuity.
Many of these crafts are made using traditional materials sourced from the local environment, such as sweetgrass, yucca, sinew, and natural dyes. Even today, artists continue to blend old methods with new materials, creating functional art that connects the past to the present.
Digital/Contemporary Forms
As Indigenous artists expand their reach, digital and contemporary Native American art has emerged as a vital form of expression. This includes photography, film, animation, digital illustration, augmented reality, and multimedia installations. These tools give artists a platform to challenge colonial narratives, speak to modern issues, and reshape how Native art is seen and valued.
Street art and graphic design have also gained momentum, often appearing in urban spaces to assert Native presence and sovereignty. Artists use social media and digital platforms to share work, build community, and educate non-Native audiences. These spaces allow for real-time engagement and storytelling that is accessible to a wide audience, especially younger generations.
Many artists fuse tradition with technology, incorporating elements like beadwork or tribal languages into digital media. Others use virtual reality or projection art to reimagine sacred stories in immersive ways. In this evolving landscape, Native creatives are proving that American Indian art is not locked in the past; it’s actively shaping the future.
Is It OK to Buy Native American Art?
Yes, purchasing Native American art is not only okay, it’s encouraged when done ethically. Supporting Indigenous artists helps sustain cultural traditions, uplift communities, and honor the authenticity of their work.
To buy responsibly, it’s important to purchase directly from Native artists or verified Indigenous-run platforms. This ensures that artists are properly credited and compensated for their work, rather than having their culture exploited by non-Native resellers.
Intertribal Creatives is one such platform. Created by us here at Running Strong for American Indian Youth, it connects Native artists with broader audiences through pop-up markets, exhibitions, and an online storefront. The program also offers financial support to help artists grow their creative careers.
To explore or purchase authentic Native American artwork, you can visit our Running Strong online store. Every purchase directly supports Indigenous creators and helps preserve Native art for future generations.
Teaching the Next Generation
Educating younger generations about Native American art is vital to preserving cultural identity and artistic traditions. When youth learn to create with their hands, whether through beadwork, sewing, or regalia making, they’re not just gaining practical skills. They’re connecting with ancestral knowledge, community values, and the stories embedded in every stitch and pattern.
We help make that connection possible. Our Youth Center hosts sewing and regalia-making classes where young people craft ribbon skirts, shawls, and other traditional pieces under the guidance of mentors. These experiences create space for cultural pride, creativity, and self-expression while building intergenerational relationships.
These programs allow youth to participate in living traditions, ensuring Native art remains vibrant, rooted, and relevant. It is carried forward by those who will shape its future.
Contemporary Native American Artists and Voices
Today’s Native artists are combining tradition with innovation, using a range of mediums to express identity, history, and resilience. From painting and sculpture to digital media and fashion, contemporary Native American art continues to evolve while staying rooted in culture.
Common forms include:
- Painting: Often used to reimagine traditional imagery or explore personal narratives.
- Sculpture: Blending natural materials and modern techniques.
- Photography: Capturing Native life from within the community.
- Jewelry and fashion: Carrying both aesthetic and cultural meaning.
- Digital media and mixed media installations: Used to challenge stereotypes and reach new audiences.
Through Dreamstarter Creative, Running Strong for American Indian Youth provides grants to emerging Indigenous artists who are using their creativity to uplift communities and tell untold stories. The program supports visual artists, filmmakers, designers, and others who are reshaping the future of American Indian artwork.
As 2023 Dreamstarter Creative Dalton LaBarge puts it,
“My art is rooted in how people perceive it. There’s no right or wrong answer, and I think that freedom is beautiful.”
Another 2024 Dreamstarter Storyteller, Dowawisnima Groves, is working to preserve and pass down traditional skills. Her first series of workshops focused on beadwork and included four two-hour sessions where Native youth not only learned how to bead but also explored why the craft matters.
Dowawisnima led discussions on how beadwork is a form of storytelling, a way to express both personal experience and cultural identity. She sees the workshops as a tool for connection and confidence, and plans to continue offering them throughout the year.
Through programs like Dreamstarter Creative, Native artists are keeping traditions alive while pushing creative boundaries. Their work reflects both where they come from and where they are going.
Celebrating and Supporting Native Creativity
Native American art is more than creative expression. It is a living connection between past, present, and future, a bridge that carries stories, traditions, and identity across generations. Whether rooted in traditional forms or shaped through digital media, Indigenous art continues to heal, teach, and inspire.
At Running Strong for American Indian Youth, we believe in the power of art to preserve heritage and uplift the next generation of Native creators. By respecting authenticity, supporting Native-led platforms, and amplifying Indigenous voices, we help ensure these stories are not only remembered but celebrated.
To further this mission, you can donate to support Indigenous youth and artists. Your gift helps fund creative programs, educational workshops, and cultural preservation efforts led by Native communities themselves.
To learn more about how we support young artists and Native-led storytelling, visit Running Strong for American Indian Youth. When you purchase or share Indigenous art, you become part of that legacy.
