American Indian Culture and Research Journal

Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art 1965-1985. By Ralph T. Coe. Seattle: University of Washington Press in association with the American Federation of Arts. 1986. 288 pp. $35 Cloth. A Persistent Vision: Art of the Reservation Days. By Richard Conn. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1987. 190 pp. $35 Cloth. $19.95 Paper. The Song of the Loom: New Traditions in Navajo Weaving. By Frederick J. Dockstader. New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with the Montclair Art Museum. 1987. 132 pp. $35 Cloth. $25 Paper. Bill Reid: Beyond the Essential Form. By Karen Duffek. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. 1986. $12.95 Paper. Robes of Power: Totem Poles on Cloth. By Doreen Jensen and Polly Sargent. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. 1986. $18.95 Paper. Bill Reid. By Doris Shadbolt. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1986. 192 pp. $39.95 Cloth. This group of books opens a dialogue on some issues that recur repeatedly in any discussion of American Indian art today: issues of tradition, innovation, continuity, and individuality. These are loaded words in Native American arts. They are often used indiscriminately, with implied value judgments. In some circles, ”traditional” art is considered more authentically “Indian” than innovative art. In other circles individuality is paramount, with continuity being less important. These divisive labels for Native American art obscure more often than they clarify the situation. All of the volumes under discussion are concerned with the tension between the past and the present. All demonstrate that Indian art is, by its very nature, a dialogue between old and new, tradition and innovation, individual and culture. All insist that the future of Native American art is a hopeful and vital one.