People’s Spotlight: Northwest Coast Native People

Here at Spectrum Arts, we carry extraordinary works of native and folk art from around the world. To learn more about some of the native groups that have produced these wonderful artworks, we present the “Peoples Spotlight” blog series. Each “Peoples Spotlight” blog will take an in-depth look at one of the tribes whose art… Read more »

The Mystery of Masks

My apologies for not posting sooner, however, both of the laptops to which I have access had terminal issues—one had the feared black screen of death, and needed a hard drive replacement, and the other (only 2 weeks old!) had OS problems and needed to be returned to factory settings after having the OS replaced…. Read more »

An Ancient Culture of Africa: The Nok People

In today’s Nigeria, there are approximately 250 distinct ethnic groups, yet 80% are comprised of the Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. The Yoruba were never united politically but were the descendants of a grouping of kingdoms and cities fighting with each other dating back to the 5th century A.D. to the city of Ife-Ife. Prior… Read more »

Divination Among African Tribal Groups

This article is about African divination. Divination is used to help interpret situations that need to be dealt with and choices that need to be made. Its purpose is to define the meaning from the invisible from harmonious and conflicting relationships with the deities, spirits, and ancestors. The most common divination techniques include throwing objects… Read more »

Turkmen Jewelry

Introduction In my shop I have a large selection of Turkmen jewelry, so I thought it might be interesting to learn a bit about the Turkmen, comprised of over two dozen tribal groups with a common pastoral nomadic history. Meet the People The people lived in encampments, raised horses and livestock, and were known to… Read more »

Chinese Minorities and Their Adornments

Introduction One of the most amazing, varied and beautiful aspects of folk art and craft that I have found is in the textiles and jewelry of the minority peoples of China. The embroidery is so varied and so amazingly precise that one could study the techniques for nearly a lifetime. Books such as Writing with… Read more »

The Mangbetu People and their Pottery

Background Mangbetu are a tribal group of people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Orientale Province. They speak a language called kingbetu, part of the regional Lingala language (a member of the Central Sudanic linguistic family). The Mangbetu call their language Nemangbetu. (1) The Mangbetu are well known for their highly… Read more »