Free Article HomeSubmit Article l Contact Us


Authenticity of Eskimo Inuit Art & Native Indian Art 
Both Inuit Eskimo art and Native American art have gained international recognition as valuable art forms over the past few decades. However, the rising popularity of both Inuit Eskimo art and Native American art has resulted in the increased proliferation of imitations and mass-produced reproductions of original Native arts. Some obvious fakes are made in Asia from molds where the finished pieces are forms of plastic, resin or ceramic.

Other fakes are actually made of cast stone simulating actual Inuit Eskimo art carvings and wood for imitation Native American carvings. These fakes, which are harder to distinguish from authentic artwork, are often hand carved reproductions of an original piece of artwork. Workshops have illegally reproduced hundreds of copies without the artisan’s permission. The counterfeiting companies would then attach some type of tag that claims the fake pieces were influenced by aboriginal artisans and even background information on the Native designs used in the artwork. Some even go as far as adding in Inuit syllabics on the bottom of the fake Inuit Eskimo art carvings.

These are very deceptive tactics on their part since they give the consumers the impression that the imitations are authentic and income producing for the aboriginal communities.

Fakes and imitations have lowered the image of authentic Inuit Eskimo art and Native American art. Sales of genuine aboriginal artwork have declined which in turn have deprived aboriginal artisans of income. The argument against these claims is that not every consumer can afford to buy authentic Inuit Eskimo art or Native American art so the souvenir level reproductions legitimately meet this part of the market. The imitations, which are usually low priced, enable students visiting Canada for example, to bring home a Canadian souvenir without breaking their travel budget. This claim would have more support from Native communities if aboriginal artisans were paid a fair royalty as income for each imitation and reproduction piece sold. However, this is seldom the case since most of the time, no royalties are paid at all.

The obvious fakes can be spotted quite easily. An imitation of an Inuit Eskimo art carving spotted at a gift shop was not made of stone as it was not cold to the touch. It was very light in weight unlike a stone which has some mass to it. The detail and the bottom of the piece had the molded look to it. There was even a sticker on the bottom with the company name Wolf Originals. Side by side comparisons of similar pieces in the souvenir store revealed that they were all identical in every detail, which is impossible for original artwork.

A black totem pole had a very flat uniform back and bottom again giving away the fact that it came from a mold. Other totem poles made from wood or mixed wood with a claim that they were hand painted were among many similar pieces in the store. All of these examples were each priced less than $20 Canadian which was another indicator that they were not original artwork.

Imitations of Inuit Eskimo art sculptures were recently spotted for sale in shops located at major Canadian airports. From a distance, these Inuit Eskimo art sculptures of hunters, polar bears and Inuit women with children looked very authentic. However, each piece had several identical copies on the same shelf.

To avoid accidentally buying a fake or imitation, it is suggested that consumers buy Inuit Eskimo art and Native American art from only reputable galleries and dealers rather than from tourist souvenir shops. A piece of original, authentic Inuit Eskimo art or Native American art is one of a kind. There should be no other identical pieces on the shelves. In addition, original Inuit Eskimo art carvings should come with an Igloo tag (or sticker) which is a Canadian government registered trademark. Inuit Eskimo art carvings that are certified by the Canadian government to be handmade by Inuit artisans, come with Igloo tags.

Author Info:

By Clint Leung Clint Leung is owner of Free Spirit Gallery (http://www.FreeSpiritGallery.ca), an online gallery specializing in Inuit and Northwest Native American art including carvings, sculpture and prints. Free Spirit Gallery has numerous information resource articles with photos of authentic Inuit and Native Indian art as well as free eCards. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

 
30 Most Recent Articles :
A Disputed New Business:Virtual Property Exchange

In many ways, the in-game economy is similar to a real world economy - goods and services are traded to mutual advantage and are mediated in currencies(gold,platinum,credit,etc.). An online broker, who goes by the screen name Rolala, was not a fan of online games until his 15-year-old son be[ Read Article]

THE UNITED STATES, A Terrorist Nation

I love the United States of America, but I cannot tolerate the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. No I am not shouting at you, I am simply making a distinction, a difference that thirty-seven states of the union have noticed and moved to rectify. You see, AMERICA isn’t America anymore, nor does it in anyw[ Read Article]

Dollars and Sense

When I speak of the Federal Reserve and the fiat monetary system that controls our lives I feel as though my words are falling on deaf ears. I have the sense that the simplest conversations suggesting that change must be made invoke fear and condemnation from my fellow citizens. When will we tak[ Read Article]

Constitutionality

Is the 16th Amendment constitutional? Of course it is, the Supreme Court has made that as clear as it did the issue of slavery. But let us remember that it took the lives of more than 365,000 brave American men and the destruction of the Republic to wrest the matter from the courts and resolve the[ Read Article]

Five Secrets to Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertising

With so many companies swarming the World Wide Web with their products, how can you and your products and services stand out? Your ready answer would most likely be effective marketing. But how? How can you catch the eye of a surfer skimming carelessly through web pages? How can you keep the at[ Read Article]

How to Sell Bonds

If you want to make good money with banks, or any institution, Government and agency bonds are where it is at. Simply because all Government bonds and agencies are AAA rated, and banks can buy millions of dollars of any bond without incurring any credit risk. All banks own bonds of some sort, a[ Read Article]

Closing in the Car Business

The “P” Word. Closing is all about helping car customers make positive decisions. It is not about pressure or manipulation. Your customers need help overcoming the “P” word. Procrastination! Procrastination is natural when it comes to making a buying decision. Your customer is trying to avoid [ Read Article]

If You Build It They Will Come, or Will They?

All right, so you invested your time and energy to build your organization a great new web site, but you are not getting quite the results you were hoping for. Few customers are visiting or interacting with you and rarely do you get prospects to contact you through the site. So what can you do to [ Read Article]

Confessions of a Yoga Teacher

The following are questions that Yoga teachers still need to answer, despite overwhelming evidence that Yoga is ?the mother of all health maintenance systems.? Mainstream thought is finally catching up, with the progress Yoga is making, but it has taken 5,000 years for us to get this far. Serio[ Read Article]

Vertical Creep in Search Results :: Should Organic Optimizers be Concerned?

I thought for this week I’d give a summary of some of the more interesting Search Engine Strategies sessions which are currently going on in New York City. I was at SES as a speaker last year in New York and I have to say, there is a wealth of information there even if some of it is contradict[ Read Article]

How to build link popularity fast and free

We all knew that back link or link popularity is a big factor to get good position in any search engines. But building link popularity some times really hard if you don't know how to do it. One of the hardest problem for new webmasters is to get back link to their newly stablis[ Read Article]

Does Chiropractic Care Really Make Sense?

The Role of Chiropractic in Treatment Beyond the Resolution of Symptoms Do you have the same nagging injury that never seems to go away? Are you suffering needlessly with pain? Are you fed up with taking painkillers? Do you want to find out what is causing your pain? If your answer is ‘ye[ Read Article]

The Economic Implications of Buying Drugs Online

Although the Internet is fairly new (at least to the mainstream) online shopping has grown by leaps and bounds. Now you can buy almost anything you need, from food to fishing equipment, right through your computer. Of course, this has meant that commerce has been forced to adapt to the changing co[ Read Article]

Manning and Manning-Can Either Brother Win the Big One?

It was just over a year ago, after the Colts lost to the Pats in their post-season contest, that Boomer Esiason said on national television, "I think maybe Peyton (Manning) is this generation's Dan Marino." Esiason went on to state that Manning "is a great football player, but he's not going to get[ Read Article]

Branding, Branding, Branding - MSN fails to keep it Straight

Sometimes you see promotions come along and you wonder: did they just do that? The current MSN promotion called msnsearchandwin is a prime example of this. Not only do they use “black hat” or at least “questionable” tactics on the site, but the messaging is inconsistent. In this article [ Read Article]

The New MSN Search Interface :: A positive change or the antithesis of transformation?

Now, instead of wide blue bars there are sleek silver-grey bars. Also, the top bar where the search box is became narrower. To me this makes the page seem less “closed in” and more visually appealing. I now feel as if I can trust the results more because they have more room. I’ve also noti[ Read Article]

Malta Holidays

With Malta visitor numbers static in recent years and facing new competiton from former Eastern Bloc countries offering cheap holidays, the recent announcement by the Maltese government that negotiations were at an advanced stage with two low cost airlines has[ Read Article]

Drug Rehab Treatment Centers as an Experience, not a Punishment

Choosing a drug rehab treatment center is a decision that calls for both negative and positive emotions. Nobody wants addiction to overtake their life to the point that rehab is the necessary step. However, the decision to go to one is something to look forward to, as it is the decision to rebui[ Read Article]

Some ways to improve your king content

There are thousands of articles, books and forum posts which showed that content is king in search engine optimization (SEO). In this article, you can find some ways that can help you improve this king content for your web site. * Content for people first, not for search engines - Some webmaste[ Read Article]

Aerosmith Just Keeps On Rockin’

For over three decades, Aerosmith have been one of rock's most revered and popular bands, crafting classic songs full of raw guitar runs and intensely energetic vocals. The band first reached fame in the 1970’s with a string of hits including "Dream On," "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way." During t[ Read Article]

Chicago Cubs Pitcher Mark Prior Re-signs

After many trips through the rumor mill, Mark Prior accepted the Chicago Cubs’ offer on January 27 to a one-year, $3.65 million contract. That is $900,000 more than the salary he would have earned under the contract he voided in November. Since Prior's definitive season in 2003 (18-6), he has cooled[ Read Article]

Social Networking - The Next Great Marketing Medium?

There has been a virtual explosion of social networking sites in the past couple of years. Even the big players like Google, Yahoo and MSN are getting into it. With so much interest in how social networks work, one begins to wonder if there is marketing potential within these social network[ Read Article]

How to choose paid directory for web site listing?

How to choose paid directory for web site listing? Search Engines are the major source of traffic for any website. High search engine ranking can boost number of your visitors and in turn leads to increase in sales. The best way to get top search engine placement is to improve link popularity [ Read Article]

Addiction Treatment Centers Using Experiential Therapies

Life is experience. Substance dependence overtakes a person’s ability to make her own decisions to experience life, and life is no longer actively participated in. Therefore, in overcoming addiction, it is vital to learn to re-experience life. This lesson helps a treatment center resident reint[ Read Article]

The DH: Making Life Tough for AL Pitchers

In 1973 Major League Baseball instituted three rules designed to lessen the power of pitchers and create more offense. One theory at work was that the game needed to be energized and that more hitting would create additional runs and excitement. Both the National and American Leagues lowered th[ Read Article]

Vacation on the Beach the Smart Way

Vacation on the Beach the Smart Way Almost everyone agrees; there is no more relaxing way to vacation than to take it to the beach. For the vacationer/traveler who hasn't considered a beach house rental before, they represent an affordable and fun family oriented alternative. There is an intell[ Read Article]

Malta Holidays and Hotels Buzzed by New Jets

With Malta visitor numbers static in recent years and facing new competiton from former Eastern Bloc countries offering cheap holidays, the recent announcement by the Maltese government that negotiations were at an advanced stage with two low cost airlines has sparked hopes that the island will see [ Read Article]

The Rising Cost of Prescription Drugs

If you’re like many Americans, the rising cost of prescription drugs may be costing you your health. In particular, seniors living on a fixed income with no insurance are finding it difficult to pay for necessary prescriptions out-of-pocket, and as a result, may be failing to receive the treatment[ Read Article]

Who's Tops in Hockey and Who's Not

The National Hockey League needs to do more to encourage better coverage of the hockey games. With so many other sports realizing national coverage, the NHL is sometimes forgotten. However, this year, there's a race for the Stanley Cup, and only one is set to win it. But which team will that be? [ Read Article]

The Danger Of Rounding Up Your Debts

Rounding up your debts is one of the biggest dangers to your financial position. It's also one of the easiest ways for your debts to get out of control. This way of thinking is best summed up by the following comment; ‘I already owe $27500 so what’s another $500. It takes my debt to a nice round [ Read Article]

 

World Top Stories :
Betancourt, in France, Details Her Captivity
Two days after her rescue from the clutches of guerrillas in the Colombian jungle, Ingrid Betancourt shared some painful details of her long ordeal.<br/><br/><span class="advertisement"> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/world/europe/05france.html"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=ba6699eca028480181189b6a17db1074&u=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/world/europe/05france.html" border="0"/></a></span>


 

Copyright © 2006 Realook.com All Rights Reserved.