APAH - Art of the Americas Vocab

Bandolier bag

a large, heavily beaded pouch that crosses the body

Codex

a manuscript book

Contour Rivalry

a visually complex technique where two images share parts or outlines, leading to a deliberately confusing overlapping of imagery

Earthwork

art made of the earth and located amongst nature, not in galleries or museums

Fitted stone masonry

Inca technique where blocks of stone are kept to their natural shape as much as possible, with edges flattened off and then fitted together with other stones without mortar

Formline style

characteristics of Northwest coastal Native American culture; masks are bilaterally symmetrical, with thick undulating black lines and ovoid shapes

Frontispiece

an illustration facing the title page of a book

Kiva

a plaza that was the religious or social center for Native American pueblos

Prairie style

Native American decorative arts style that utilized colorful glass beads fashioned in floral patterns

Pueblo

village of adjoined flat-roofed structures; made of adobe or stone

Repoussé

“to push back;” a sculptural technique where a thin sheet of metal, gold, or bronze is fit onto a mold; the mold is beaten from the backside/inside, leaving a raised design on the surface/exterior.

Roof comb

a wall rising from the center or front of a building to give the appearance of greater height

San Ildefonso

Neolithic Puebloan ceramic style; revived in the 20 th c.

Seed Beads

small glass beads; prized for their brilliant colors

Terrace

common element of Inca highland agriculture; flat arable land cut into cliffsides

Warp

basic threads of a textile