Spruce root, sea otter fur, dentalium, antique Russian trade beads, imitation sea lion whiskers,
suet, cloth straps
“AWIRNAQ represents my hunt for my roots, which started as a student of Native American Studies in 1994. Through the Longhouse community, I connected with and studied under many Northwest Master Basket Weavers and participated in Pacific Art Northwest 1997 – 1999, winning two awards.
As a member of the Northwest Native Basketweavers Association, I first connected with an Alutiiq grass basket weaver. In early 2010, I traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia with the director of the Alutiiq Museum, plus four other Alutiiq weavers and one Tlingit weaver. We studied collections of hundreds of Alutiiq weavings from the Koniag region, including many spruce root hunting hats. These were highly decorated and some brightly painted to express hunting prowess.
After several years, I was able to collect and process enough spruce root to weave this hat—similar to one that is in the Smithsonian Museum. Fellow Alutiiq artist, Jerry Laktonen, honored me with his painted whale design. This has been a meaningful journey of connection for me and I would be honored to have AWIRNAQ on exhibit where my journey began. I am grateful to our Creator for guiding my hands and heart, and for bringing me to the Longhouse.”
By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
Native artists are luminaries of their shared cultures, lighting the pathway back into the far reaches of history, and leading the way into the future with their creative vision. In continuing our celebration of November as Native American Heritage Month, we offer our readers a stunning collection of artwork offered by such luminaries. These examples of fine Native craftsmanship were curated by the devoted longhouse team at Evergreen State College.
The “House of Welcome” longhouse education and cultural center is a public service center on the college’s Olympia campus. Built in collaboration with Northwest Tribes, it is the first building of its kind on a public campus in the United States. It was a dream of Native students, tribal artists and faculty member Mary Ellen Hillaire (Lummi Nation), who founded Evergreen’s Native American Studies program in 1972.
Black ash, black ash seed, Rit Dye, sweet grass, copper, velvet, sinew
“The Emerald Ash Borer was discovered in 2002 in Michigan in the eastern side of the state. At that time thousands of ash trees had died. It is called the Emerald Ash Borer because it is a beautiful emerald green color with a copper colored belly. This basket represents the Emerald Ash Borer, with its green and copper colors, and opens to a vial containing the Emerald Ash Borer and a black ash seed;
The End and the Beginning.
The black ash tree is the last to get its leaves in the summer, and the first to lose the leaves usually.
The seeds take 2 years to germinate. They drop to the ground in the fall time, go through a winter, spring, summer, and the next summer it begins to grow. It grows in the swamps and wetlands and provides food
for our white tail deer.
The tree provides the community with splints for baskets that provide utilitarian baskets such as baby baskets, fishing creels, ceremonial baskets and more, as well as the finances for food, shelter, and future harvests to do it all again. It provides communities with teachings that bring together families, weavers, and future generations to carry these teachings on into the next generation. While it seems like the end is inevitable, I also see this as a new beginning. A new resurgence, an urgency, a recognition, the awakening of blood memory. Our people are strong and with good hearts, they are learning, they are weaving, they are hearing the voices of their ancestors, and they are listening.”
In 1995 their dream came true thanks to the perseverance of Evergreen graduate Colleen Jollie and since that time, the mission of Evergreen’s “House of Welcome,” has been to promote Indigenous arts and cultures from not only the Pacific Northwest, but nationally.
Since opening, the Longhouse has awarded over $800,000 in individual artist grants; it has hosted over 200 artists residencies and workshops; it has premiered 15 art exhibitions; sent six Northwest Native American artists to New Zealand for artist residencies; and hosted two international artists gatherings featuring Indigenous artists from around the Pacific Rim.
Acrylic on plywood
“This collaborative piece was designed as one of twelve puzzle pieces adorned with traditional stories by both North and South American Indigenous artists. This work discusses many aspects of the interconnectedness of all life. The home fire (society), the stars (sweat lodge elements), tipi poles (each has teachings on how to behave as a thinking human being), rock around the tipi bottom (a woman’s skirt, modesty), the rope binding the tipi poles (We Hold Our Life Together), and the lovely plants that provide medicine and food for all.”
This past summer, Kara Briggs (Sauk-Suiattle) was appointed as Vice President for Tribal Relations, Arts and Cultures. Briggs is determined to continue Evergreen’s 50 years of success as an institution that serves Native students, helping them to which has pave the way to successful careers in their own Tribes, as well as in government, arts and sciences.
Friendship Mask. Red cedar, red cedar bark
“Along with the print Pacific Connection, this piece is influenced by my collaborative work with master carver Lyonel Grant during the summer of 2015. We had the opportunity to make monumental carvings for the new Evergreen Fiber Arts Studio that truly blends Northwest Native and Māori design
elements and motifs.
`As an artist, I work with both contemporary and traditional mediums, and I am always fascinated with translating three-dimensional carved elements into two-dimensional printed images. I first carved the Friendship Mask out of old-growth red cedar and adorned it with cedar bark for hair. This mask represents the new connections made between Pacific Indigenous nations and peoples.”
“The Evergreen Longhouse is a nationally important center for Northwest Native arts and model for other state and private colleges in how to work with Tribes and Native artists to advance Native cultural and artistic expression,” Briggs said. “As The Evergreen State College looks to the next 50 years, and the Longhouse to the next 25 years, we must continue to grow our relationships with Tribes and Native artists, so that we are always creating pathways for Northwest Native peoples to advance.”
2021 marks the 25th Anniversary (plus one) of Evergreen’s longhouse. The faculty and support staff who embody the heart of the longhouse enjoy convening groups of artists, providing a venue, forum and tools that are needed for artists to express their creativity.
A retrospective art exhibition opening on November 20th, featuring Indigenous artists from throughout the Pacific Rim who have contributed and participated in the work of the longhouse for the past 25 years. The exhibit is free to the general public and can be seen in Evergreen’s gallery located in the Daniel J. Evans building on the college’s Olympia campus. It runs through January 29, 2022.