American Indian Masks

Masks have been part of dance regalia and traditional ceremonies in many Indian tribes since ancient times. The most renowned native mask-makers were the Northwest Coast Indians, who carved elaborate cedar dance masks. The most impressive of these could be opened at a pivotal point in the story to reveal a second face carved within the first one. The Hopi and other Pueblo Indians carve and paint wooden kachina masks for their traditional dances; the Iroquois create sacred "false face" masks from wood and cornhusks, the Navajo and Apache make leather masks for dancing, and the Cherokee would craft gourd masks for storytelling. Cherokee mask art has fallen into decline since the forced removal of the Cherokees to Oklahoma, where their traditional mask materials were not available, but some artists are working to revive the tradition; Southwestern and Northwest Coast mask carving remain a vibrant part of contemporary native culture.

Today most American Indian masks are used for dances, cultural drama, decoration, and as crafts for sale. The exception is Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) false faces, which are used only for internal religious ritual. The Iroquois consider it sacrilegious to sell, publicly display, or mimic a sacred false face mask, and they have been petitioning museums to return false faces from their exhibits. There is some debate among Haudenosaunee traditionals about whether it is unacceptable to sell or display any false face, or just those that have been used in religious ceremony ("live" spirit masks). Some Iroquois carvers carve "non-live" masks made especially for sale, and others disapprove of this. As in any belief system, not all individuals share the same religious interpretations. However, everyone agrees that it is profaning the Iroquois religion to buy or view living masks (including antiques) or non-native forgeries of Iroquois false face masks. Please be respectful of this and other native traditions.

If you are looking to buy a mask that was actually made by Native Americans--either because it's important to you to have the real thing or because you want to support native people with your purchase--then here is our list of American Indian mask artists whose carvings are available online. If you have a website of Indian masks to add to this list, let us know. We gladly advertise any individual native artist or native-owned art store here free of charge, provided that all masks were made by tribally recognized American Indian, Inuit, or First Nations artists.

Thank you for your interest in Native American art!

˜ Indian Mask Carvers

On our main site we do our best to avoid slowing down our page loading with graphics, but this page is about art, so we'd really be remiss in not showing a few representative mask pictures. All photos are the property of their respective artists; please visit their sites to see their work in more depth.

Sa-Cinn Indian Masks
A collection of contemporary Northwest Indian masks, from a native-owned British Columbia crafts store.

Dorothy Grant Indian Masks
Ceremonial and decorative Northwest Coast masks from Haida, Salish, and Nootka Indian carvers.

Alaska Native Masks
Northwest Coast masks and war helmets carved by a Tlingit artist.

Cherokee Booger Masks
Cherokee Indian booger and effigy masks, carved traditionally from gourds (also a few copper ones). Email the artist to commission a mask.

˜ Indian Mask Books


A World of Faces: Masks of the Northwest Coast Indians	Masks of Mexico	The Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks	Native North American Art
History and photographs of ceremonial Pacific Northwest native mask art.	Dance masks of the Mexican Indians, with photographs and information about the dances they are used for.	Illustrated museum book with hundreds of photographs and descriptions of native Alaskan masks.	A good book on American Indian art history in general, from ancient times to today.

˜ Indian Mask Links

Here are some other good internet resources for learning about or purchasing Native American masks:

The Indian Arts and Crafts Act: US law against passing off fake American Indian crafts as genuine.

What constitutes Indian art fraud, and how to report it if you find it.

Northwest Coast Native American Masks: Photoessay on the traditions, technique, and animal symbolism of Northwestern Indian dance masks.

False Face Masks: Explanation of the Haudenosaunee position against the sale or exhibition of sacred false face masks.

Our Way of Making Prayer: An online museum gallery of the history and tradition of Yupik Eskimo masks.

Native American Arts and Crafts: Orrin contributed to this larger directory of Indian crafts, many of which are authentic.

American Indian Cultures: View our pages for individual Indian tribes, most of which have artistic information.

About us: This website belongs to Native Languages of the Americas, an non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting endangered Native American languages. We are not artists ourselves, so if you are interested in buying some of the masks featured on this page, please contact the artists directly. Though we have featured only Native American masks identified with the name and tribal affiliation of each artist, we haven't called the tribal offices to check up on any of them, and we only know a few of them personally. We also don't guarantee any of their products. This is not an exhaustive list of Native American masks--if you would like us to add your mask site to this page, please contact us with your URL and tribal affiliation. We advertise any individual native artist or native-owned art business here free of charge. We do not link to masks which are not made by tribally recognized American Indian, Inuit, or First Nations artists, so please do not ask us to. We also do not link to Iroquois false face masks due to controversy over their appropriateness as art objects. And finally, websites do occasionally expire and change hands, so use your common sense and this general rule of thumb: if the creator of each individual artwork is not identified by name and specific tribe, you are probably not looking at a genuine Native American mask.

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