I chose to look at Native American Indian art forms for my GCSE Art and since then I've always had a fascination with the design and background of it. The dreamcatcher obviously originated from Native Americans and were used to protect sleepers from negative dreams. They believed that the night air was filled with both good and bad dreams and that as the individual was sleeping the dreamcatcher would swing and catch positive ones, passing them down the feathers and to the person below. Negative ones would get trapped and perish with the first light of day.

Structure

Dream catchers traditionally consist of a hoop, leather, string, beads and feathers. Native Americans thought highly of the symbol of hoops, because to them it represented strength and unity and this then flowed into the deign of their dreamcatchers. String used to create the web in the centre was often white, light brown or clear, while the leather surrounding was typically brown like a lot of Native American fabric/ clothing. 

Modern day times have seen the dreamcatcher develop into a variety of different shapes other than a hoop and become much more colourful and stylistic. 

Traditional Style Examples