Sharing Traditions: Interviews from the 2013 Weavers Teaching Weavers

 

Last month, I was invited to attend and observe at the 2013 Weavers Teaching Weavers conference. There is something very special about Native American textile and basket weavers.  It was apparent at every turn when I walked into the longhouse at Northwest Indian College on the Lummi Reservation the week before last.   I especially love weavers because they are usually brilliant of mind, have a great sense of humor, and are meticulous when it comes to their work. It is fun to see how they break down the wefts and the warps for their eager pupils, some of whom are accomplished weavers in their own right.  

Puyallup textile weaver Misty Kalama at her loom
at 2013 Weavers Teaching Weavers
(Photo: Paul Niemi)

 

Weavers also have beautiful hearts.   Husband and wife textile weaving team of Misty Kalama of Puyallup and her husband Kendall Archer of Skokomish (the nephew of famed weaver Bruce Miller) have a gentleness and eagerness to teach people the art of Coast Salish weaving.   Over the two days, they taught people how to weave traditional regalia in smaller form to fit dolls.  Their students? Six year-olds to elders.  The adults were rewarded by feeling the satisfaction of completing a challenge and tapping into the spirituality that one feels during the weaving process  The youngsters...well, they received dolls upon finishing their pieces.  There is a fine line between getting kids to take on the past and moving traditions forward.  It is necessary to meet them half-way with toys.  After all, they have yet to arrive at a mature moment in time when they understand the importance of weaving traditions like a master does.

 

Puyallup weaver Sharon Reed shows
off one of her creations-in-progress
(Photo: Paul Niemi)

In the basket making realm of the Weavers Teaching Weavers conference, you never know who you are going to see.   This year was like the "Hollywood" of basket weaving...at least for me.  I saw old friends, made new ones and came away with a better understanding of how they learned their art (which isn't an art at all, but a way of life!) and the time involved to bring such beautiful pieces to market.

(L to R) Haida basket weavers Diane Douglas-Willard,
Dolly Garza, and Lisa Telford with Paul Niemi
(Photo: Copyright 2013 Uncle Paulie's World)

 

This video features conversations with master weavers such as Lisa Telford (Haida), Bill James (Lummi), and Karen Reed (Puyallup) with wonderful photos of others.  Get to know the teachers of the 2013 Weavers Teaching Weavers HERE:

Exploring Northwest Native Basketry of the Past with Renowned Weavers of the Present

Example of cedar clothing at
the Syre Education Center

Once in a lifetime opportunities come along...well, only once in a lifetime.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to explore the Syre Education Center (pronounced SIGH-ree) in Bellingham, Washington with well known Haida-Tlingit basket weavers Diane Douglas-Willard (a Bellingham native), who now lives in Ketchikan, and DollyGarza of Skidegate, Haida Gwaai, British Columbia.  

 

The Center, which is part of the Whatcom Museum, houses beautiful  historic and contemporary Northwest woodcarvings, weavings as well as basketry.   Both ladies were in town for the Weavers Teaching Weavers conference at Northwest Indian College last week, and the basketry was of particular interest to us all.  

Alaskan Native artifacts including finger masks
at the Syre Education Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The collection contains almost perfectly preserved examples of baskets from the Yup'ik, Tlingit, Haida and Salish tribes.   Diane and Dolly were looking to the past to inspire designs for their contemporary work. I tagged along to see and learn more.

Excellent examples of
Tlingit basketry at the Syre Education Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Syre Education Center used to be open to the public. Because of budget cuts in recent years, the facility is now only available for school groups and by appointment for researchers.  Having the opportunity to explore the collection was a treat, and it was even more special being able to experience it with such talented, knowledgeable friends.  Here are a couple of images to give a glimpse into this fantastic collection in the City of Subdued Excitement!

 

 

[**PLEASE stay tuned for my upcoming blog on the Weavers Teaching Weavers conference that took place last week.  I will have audio interviews with some of Indian Country's finest and most famous artists, combined with images of the weavers and the event to put you right in the thick of it!]

Thoughtful, Beautiful Acting Gives New Life to Fugard's "Master Harold and the Boys" in Fremont





G. Valmont Thomas and James Lindsay in
West of Lenin's production of
Master Harold and the Boys
(Photo: John Ulman)



If you're in Seattle during the month of April, be sure to check out Master Harold and the Boys at West of Lenin in the city's Fremont district.   



The 1982 Tony Award-winning "Best Play" was written by acclaimed South African playwright Athol Fugard, and is considered to be his most personal one. Much of the plot mirrors his own life growing up in apartheid-ridden 1950s South Africa.   It is a story of a boy learning to be a man amidst his own family's trials and secrets, and incorporates the themes of injustice, racism, friendship, and reconciliation.  The importance of overcoming the "principle of perpetual disappointment" that life seems to bring people rings true.

 

 

As a child growing up during the decades when Fugard was rising to fame in the United States, I was familiar with his name. I had read enough to know the thematic content of  his work, but, beyond that, I had never read or seen any of his plays.  That's something I now regret.   

 

It is seldom one has the chance to see a work that gives the feeling of being filled up full, but that is what this production of Master Harold and the Boys did for me.  It never ceases to amaze me how life always brings us just the right experiences we need exactly when we need them.   

 

At first, the former TalkinBroadway.com theatre reviewer in me wanted to write a full critique of the show.  Then, I decided it was better to tell people to go see the play and experience it without much background and foreknowledge of what was to come.  There is something to be said for scrapping preconceived notions and going in with an open mind and heart.   

Keith Warren and G. Valmont Thomas
as "Willie" and "Sam" in
Master Harold and the Boys at
Fremont's West of Lenin.
(Photo: John Ulman)

 

What I must say, however, is that Director M. Burke Walker has assembled a stellar cast led by G. Valmont Thomas as "Sam," Kevin Warren as "Willie," and South African-born actor James Lindsay as 17 year-old "Hally."    Many actors have brilliant moments in a play--fleeting clarity of motivations and actions.  For the entire 90-minute, intermission-free production, I never once doubted the capacity of the actors to keep me engaged and hanging on every word, as if they were saying them for the first time.   

 

Hopefully, audience members will leave the theatre wanting to change like I did--to see others in a better light; To defend freedom, but most of all, forgive others for their imperfections and "work-in-progressness."  The one thing we all share is a hope that we and the ones we love are capable of changing.   

 

Master Harold and the Boys runs through April 21 at West of Lenin.  For more information visit www.westoflenin.com.

 

 

Watch a video interview with South African actor James Lindsay HERE:

 

 

 

 

 

Color and Light at SAM Take Up Permanent Residence Downtown Seattle

A rendering of Mirror, an LED permanent art
installation at the Seattle Art Museum that
was just unveiled
(Photo: Courtesy SAM)

The next time you're in Seattle, you can take in one of the city's newest examples of permanent public art that is sure to become a Downtown Seattle icon. It's called Mirror, and the piece had its unveiling this weekend at the Seattle Art Museum. Created by L.A. and New York-based artist Doug Aitken, the piece was commissioned by the late collector Bagley Wright and his wife Jinny. Mirror is a giant LED screen that wraps around the Northwest façade of the building.

 

According to the SeattleArt Museum, the installation, Mirror has a main component that "is a glass-covered horizontal band of projected images which dissolve into narrow columns of light that run up and down the façade in a dynamic configuration. The work is conceived as a 'mirror' in an expanded sense: the artist will create a video archive of footage shot in the Pacific Northwest that reflects the Seattle region and is responsive to its surroundings. "

 

Aitken has utilized a computer program that will make continuous visual sequence changes to the LED. The installation's computer is designed "to be responsive to changes in the environment around SAM such as weather, light, special events and traffic, giving the impression that the entire building is alive with motion."

 

Mirror will essentially become a living part of the cityscape and reflect the city rhythms surrounding it. For more information, visit www.seattleartmuseum.org.

Watch a video on Wired.com HERE:

 

http://www.wired.com/video/doug-aitken--mirror-at-seattle-art-museum/2243325726001

 

 

The 55th Annual Heard Show Features Strong Women and a Touch of the Northwest

Booth Relief Signs Await
Volunteers at the 2013
Heard Show in Phoenix, Arizona
(Photo: Paul Niemi)

This month we celebrated International Women's Day, and President Obama reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act that stands to protect all women, including Native American women, from domestic abuse.  Now, their abusers can now be arrested and prosecuted on tribal lands.



Paul Niemi wearing a vest by Doralee Sanchez
of the Lummi Nation with Charlene HolyBear
and her beaded fedora and bracelet
(Photo: Paul Niemi)

It's clear that strong Native women abound in our country, and nowhere is that clear than at the annual Heard Museum Guild's Indian Fair and Market that takes place every March in Phoenix, Arizona.   This year was the 55th season of the highly competitive Native American art show that juries in just 750 artists from thousands of applicants around the country.

 



I had the opportunity with my radio job at KGMI News Talk 790 in Bellingham, Washington to head south and interview a handful of artists who attend the Heard every year.   From mask carvers to painters and basket weavers, the beauty of Pacific Northwest Native art is well-represented at the show.



Traditional Tsimshian basketry and
Salish-Style woven clothing by
Loa Ryan
(Photo: Paul Niemi)



 

 

 

 

This year, I interviewed legendary Tsimshian basket weaver Loa Ryan. While she hails from Metlakatla, British Columbia, she now makes her home in Bremerton, Washington.  Many artists focus on bringing traditional Native art forward and merging it with contemporary ideas, but Loa is wonderfully focused on reviving the basketry of her ancestors and educating others on weaving techniques and her people's history.

 



Santa Clara artist Rose B. Simpson
holds a line drawing reminiscent
of her edgy porcelain sculptures
(Photo: Paul Niemi)



Rose B. Simpson is from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. The edgy, unapologetic artist is the daughter of famed sculptor Roxanne Swentzell and the step daughter of Diego Romero of Cochiti Pueblo.  Both have influenced her work.  Her mother gave her an understanding that it's okay to be experimental with art, and Diego gave her a love of comic books, which gave her an appreciation for the power and the precision of lines just so she could learn how to interrupt them in her ceramic sculpture and line drawing work.

 

Animal skin and silk dress along
with skin cuffs and beaded Chilkat
clutch by Shaax' Saani
(Photo: Paul Niemi)

 

 

 

 

 

Shaax' Saani attended her first Heard show this year and won a blue ribbon in Diverse Arts with her seal skin slouchy bag with wolf fur and abalone shell accents.   She is an animal skin sewer, fashion and accessories designer who makes incredibly gorgeous organic, high-fashion pieces out of traditional materials like seal skin, otter skin, bone, claws and the like.  She is also an amazing bead artist.  As part of her design company Indigenous Princess, she also introduces modern-day elements like sequins and metallic leathers to her work to shake things up and make things "cool" beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of these women art smart, strong, and beautiful, were my interview subjects at the Heard Museum Guild's Indian Fair and Market this year.  Listen to the audio of my radio segment as you see images from the show in a video HERE:

Painting Gives Coast Salish Artist Creative Rebirth Filled with Humor

"Seahawks Nest" by Emerging Lummi
Artist Phillip T. Solomon

Just three years ago, twenty-seven year-old painter and shoe artist Phillip T. Solomon from the Lummi Nation, wasn't sure where his life was going.  It could only go forward because a mere seven years prior, his life was quickly moving backwards and obviously in the wrong direction.

Solomon is quick to tell you that he spent some long hard time in prison in Washington State.  Even though he didn't commit the crime, he was still charged with it and ended up serving a long sentence.  While incarcerated, Solomon learned some important life lessons and got to know himself a little bit more. 

A product of an absentee father, Solomon spent much of his life living between his mother's care and foster homes.  His connection to the Lummi culture was very weak since he had lived away from the Lummi Reservation. While in prison, Solomon was elected to be a drum carrier for traditional ceremonies within the prison walls.  He learned to beat the drum and sing traditional songs.  All his life, he had left his hair cut short.  While in prison, he began to grow it long in the traditional way and began to have questions about his culture.  When no one had answers for him, he began to research and learn as much as he could.  When he left prison, he began drawing again. It was something he stopped doing around age 15 when things started to get bad for him.  Now, at age 24, he felt a renewed passion for the art--a disclipline he had loved since childhood. In spite of the fact that his father was never around, Solomon remembers that his dad was an amazing artist. In fact, he credits Thomas Solomon as his biggest inspiration, with his mother and sister leading close behind.

In 2010, Solomon decided to enroll at the Northwest Indian College to take some math, English and art courses.  He found an advocate at the Coast Salish Institute of NWIC, and she encouraged him to start focusing on incorporating authentic Coast Salish designs into his art.  Soon after enrolling, he was asked to submit a design for a college logo contest and won. It was followed by another logo contest win.

Pair of Painted Shoes for Phillip Solomon's
Salish Stories at Coast Salish Creations

In the summer of 2011, Solomon first tried his hand at painting a pair of shoes with his designs.  This was well before he even knew who Nooksack/Chinese/French and Scottish custom shoe artist Louie Gong was (he now considers Gong one of his heroes).  After wearing the shoes, people at Lummi began to notice them. Suddenly he couldn't keep up with the orders.

In 2012, he was asked to be part of a mural team to create a large piece for the outside walls of the old Northwest Indian College Training Building near the Lummi Island Ferry. He gained even more recognition inside and outside the Lummi community as a result of the project. 

In late 2012, Phillip Solomon's work caught the eye of  SiLowLeetSa (a.k.a. Doralee Sanchez), owner of the new Bellingham gallery Coast Salish Creations.   Impressed with his sense of line and creativity, Sanchez decided to give Solomon his own show. Entitled Salish Stories: Works by Contemporary Painter and Shoe Artist Phillip Solomon, the show will offer collectors the opportunity to purchase canvases and painted shoes that express Solomon's love for life, his humor and desire to teach people about Coast Salish lore and Lummi culture. He is wonderfully versatile in his styles and is perhaps one of the best young Coast Salish artists I have seen of late.

Salish Stories opens today at 3:00 p.m. with an artist reception through 7 p.m. at Coast Salish Creations.  There will also be a traditional and contemporary Native fashion show at 3:30 p.m. featuring hand-appliqued designs by SiLowLeetSa with accessories by more than a dozen artists. Salish Stories runs through February 28. The gallery is located at 424 W. Bakerview Road #102 in Bellingham, Washington. For more information call (360) 922-7902 or visit the gallery on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Coast-Salish-Creations/483867848318603?fref=ts. 

Rigorous University Design Program Brings 'Ideal' Amount of Upcycle to the Northwest

"Splash" bowl by Nick Hanlon made
 with clear plastic flatware

I love sexy and sleek design.  As a publicist in New York, I had the opportunity to promote home decor items for actress Jane Seymour, Richard Mishaan, and  U.K. celeb interior designer Kelly Hoppen's boutique at Bergdorf Goodman.

It seems since puberty, I have had an interest in arranging home accessories to create a "look." My father was an architect with top firms in Dallas and Seattle, so having an eye for detail runs in the family. While I have been focused on the Native American fine art world of late, my love for good, thoughtful and functional design has never gone away.

Ideal purveyors Lisa VanDoren and
Kathleen Iwerson help
WWU Industrial Design Students
price their "ReMade" pieces

Last week, I had the opportunity to work on another arts and culture segment for KGMI NewsTalk 790 featuring some remarkable students from the Western Washington University Industrial Design Program.  Seeing what they could do was a life-changing experience for me, and a reminder that we all should never give up and continue to follow our dreams and passions.

While many students take design classes at Western, only 12 are allowed to move on to the junior and senior levels with the chance to earn a Bachelors of Science degree. 

Students in the program learn how to make a variety of products throughout the year.  Once a year, the junior class completes an assignment that requires them to seek out discarded materials in the community and upcycle them into functional design products.  They must ensure that the items can be mass produced and brought to Market.

For the last five years, students have worked with Bellingham's Ideal--Carefully Curated Goods, a local design and home goods shop, to bring them to the community through "ReMade."  The 2013 edition of ReMade opened February 1st during the Downtown Bellingham ArtWalk and featured 13 products ranging from yo-yos to flower vases, dish scrubbers, glass storage containers, and decorative bowls made from clear plastic flatware. The store quickly filled with people as they scooped up the pieces that range in price from $6 to $125. Items are available for purchase through March 31 or until they're gone.  Since there are only 20 of each item, supplies are sure to go fast!

"Scrub e" by Rosalee Daughtry
made from Sunforager boat canvas
and reclaimed teak wood

Watch a multimedia video featuring my KGMI radio "ReMade" segment and photos that capture the coolness of the project HERE.