The Nez Perce are a tribe of Native American people who live in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is estimated that at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803–1806), the native people had been in the area for over 10,000 years. The tribe currently inhabits and governs a reservation in the American state of Idaho. The Nez Perce's name for themselves is Nimiipuu, which simply means 'the people' or 'we the people'. The name is derived from the French, inspired by nose pendants that some of them wore (although this practice was actually practiced by other nearby tribes).
Nez Perce oral tradition indicates that the origins of their name meant 'we walked out of the woods or walked out of the mountains', referring to the time before the Nez Perce had horses. Nez Perce is a misnomer given by the interpreter of the Lewis and Clark Expedition at the time they first encountered the tribe in 1805. From the French, 'pierced nose', it was an inaccurate description of the tribe- who did not practice nose piercing or wearing ornaments. The actual 'pierced nose' tribe lived on and around the lower Columbia River and are commonly called the Chinook tribe. The Chinook relied heavily upon salmon, as did the Nez Perce, and shared fishing and trading sites.
Cold Cast Bronze is a modern method of casting sculptures using a mixture of resin and powdered bronze for material. The finished sculpture has a surface which looks very similar to traditionally cast bronze, but tends to be much lighter.
