Category: Arts & Entertainment

Going Native in….Seattle

American Indian dancers perform during dinner in the longhouse at Tillicum
American Indian dancers perform during dinner in the longhouse at Tillicum

Lynn Armitage, Indian Country Today Media Network

When you think of Seattle, the first things that come to mind are probably the Space Needle, Puget Sound, the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix or maybe professional sports franchises like the Mariners or the Seahawks. Somehow forgotten among all the contemporary lore of this beautiful seaport is the knowledge that it teemed with Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before white settlers arrived.

In fact, Seattle, the largest city in the Pacific Northwest, is named after a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes, Chief Si’ahl. Other tribes in the area include the Muckleshoot and Snoqualmie. Today, many of them continue their long-held artistic traditions, including basket-weaving.

If you’re planning a trip to this vibrant city, you should by all means take in its traditional tourist attractions. But to really rock your visit with some Native American culture, we recommend these five destinations, all off the beaten path:

Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center

Located on 20 acres in Discovery Park, Seattle’s largest city park, with views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is a central hub showcasing all the Native tribes in the area. Daybreak Star serves many purposes, says its parent organization, the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation—a conference center, a pow wow venue, a gathering place for after-school programs and an art gallery that features a large body of work by Native artists.

For more details, go to UnitedIndians.com/daybreak.html.

Tillicum Village Adventure

For a real taste of Native culture—literally—go on a four-hour escape to Tillicum Village on Blake Island, just eight miles west of Seattle, in Puget Sound. Guests are treated to steamed clams upon arrival and can watch a traditional Northwest Coast salmon bake in the longhouse. After the feast, enjoy a Native music and dance show that tells the colorful story of the Coast Salish Tribes, also called the Puget Salish or Lushootseed peoples. Daily tours run from May through September.

For ticket prices and tour details, go to TillicumVillage.com.

Juanita Bay Park

If you’re up for a beautiful drive to observe the region’s abundant wildlife, Juanita Bay Park is a quick 15 miles east of Seattle, on the other side of adjoining Lake Washington. It’s a 110-acre marshy wetland that is home to all kinds of wildlife, including songbirds, shorebirds, turtles and beavers. Guided tours are available, or walk along the paved trails and boardwalks solo. Either way, you will learn a lot about this natural habitat through interpretive signs that are positioned throughout the park. Don’t forget to bring your binoculars!

 

Wetlands in Juanita Bay Park (Facebook)
Wetlands in Juanita Bay Park (Facebook)

For more details, go to KirklandWa.gov.

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture

Located at the University of Washington, the Burke is the state’s oldest museum. It is dedicated to honoring, researching and sharing the heritage of diverse peoples from all over the world, including the many Native tribes in the state and beyond. Here you will find thousands of Coast Salish artifacts and artworks, as well as a number of exhibits that feature artwork from other tribes, such as the Tlingit and Haida of British Columbia and southeast Alaska.

For more details, go to BurkeMuseum.org. (On this site, you will also find an extensive list of Native American cultural centers and museums. Just type “Native Americans” into the search box.)

The Center for Wooden Boats

A must-see for aquatic enthusiasts is the Center for Wooden Boats, a fun place for the family to learn about boats—on and off the water. The center refers to itself as a “living museum,” since visitors can take their historic wooden boats out for a quick sail. Free public boat rides are offered on Sundays. Tourists can also learn how to carve northern-style canoes from a Haida carver named Saaduuts, the artist in residence, who holds classes periodically just across the way in Lake Union Park as part of the Canoe Project, a partnership of the center, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation and Antioch University Seattle.

Come sail away at the Center for Wooden Boats (Center for Wooden Boats)
Come sail away at the Center for Wooden Boats (Center for Wooden Boats)

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/02/24/going-native-inseattle-147854

Beloved Native American murals at Wilson-Pacific may disappear

Seattle Public Schools wants to preserve the five large murals of Native Americans painted on the Wilson-Pacific campus, which is scheduled for demolition. But the artist says he no longer wants to give the district his permission.

Posting of the modified page, February 24, 2013 at 10:24 PM
By Linda Shaw
Seattle Times education reporter

 

Two side-by-side portraits of Chief Seattle and Chief Joseph can be seen for blocks around North Seattle’s Wilson-Pacific school, an aging set of buildings now used for offices and programs, including one that historically has served Native American students.

Painted in black, white and gray, the murals each soar 25 feet high, with Chief Seattle, in his older years, sitting in a chair looking off to one side, and Chief Joseph, in his prime, staring straight ahead.

Andrew Morrison, an artist who grew up in the Seattle area, painted the murals and three others on the Wilson-Pacific campus over a period of about seven years, populating the school’s dull, beige walls with images of friends, acquaintances and a Haida mythical figure along with the two iconic chiefs.

The murals have become a touchstone for the surrounding Licton Springs neighborhood and the Native American community in Seattle, which has strong ties to the area because of the Native American programs at the school and nearby Licton Springs, once a tribal gathering place.

Now the murals’ fate is in limbo, as Seattle Public Schools, with the passage of a capital levy earlier this month, plans to tear down Wilson-Pacific and replace it with two new schools.

District officials hope to preserve all five murals by taking digital photographs of them, then reproducing them at the new school buildings. They have asked for Morrison’s permission and offered to pay the costs and give Morrison a seat on the school’s design committee, which would decide where the reproductions would be placed.

Morrison, 31, said he considered the officials’ offer and, last month, asked them to put their proposals in writing, which they did. But a week ago Sunday, standing in front of the two chiefs in a light rain, he said that after a lot of reflection, he’s decided he won’t give his permission for the district to reproduce his work.

He repeatedly congratulated the district for the passage of the levy, which he opposed. But Morrison said he’s lost trust in the district, in part because no school official approached him about saving the murals until he started showing up at public meetings about the levy. He also said he’s talked with four different officials, and has no confidence they won’t simply continue to pass him along.

“For many reasons,” he said, “it’s in my best interests to step away.”

A labor of love

Morrison, a member of the Apache and Haida tribes, created the first mural in 2001, a portrait of a Blackfeet friend from Canada.

Morrison didn’t attend the Indian Heritage Middle College, the district’s nearly 40-year-old program that has been at Wilson-Pacific since 1989. But he has volunteered at the school and has visited the campus for powwows, dinners, basketball tournaments and other events as long as he can remember.

Neighbors around Wilson-Pacific held a block party when that first mural was finished, and Morrison said that helped inspire him to keep going, even though he has received no pay for any of them.

He finished the second mural — images of friends and relatives wearing tribal regalia — on Sept. 11, 2001, just after the news that two airplanes had flown into the twin towers in New York City. He remembers Indian Heritage students and teachers coming out on the playground, surprised but happy to see something positive on that difficult day.

He finished the last two murals — Chief Joseph and the one with the Haida mythical figure — in 2007.

Morrison’s work also can be seen in Chicago, Portland, Alaska and Idaho as well as many places in Washington state, including the Snoqualmie Casino, El Centro de La Raza and Edmonds Community College.

“Cultural continuity”

During the levy campaign, a number of people urged the district to renovate Wilson-Pacific rather than replace it, and to revitalize the Indian Heritage program, which has dwindled in size and also has an uncertain future. The program’s supporters wanted the murals saved, too.

The murals “are an affirmation of our identity,” said Sarah Sense-Wilson, who chairs the Urban Native Education Alliance and helps coordinate the Clear Sky Native Youth Council, which also meets at the school. Destroying them, she said, “destroys the site’s cultural continuity.”

Bethany Elliott, a 17-year-old member of the council, said she often thinks of the murals as a source of inspiration when she writes poetry.

Still, both of them say they stand by Morrison’s decision to withhold his permission to save them.

Dr. Kelvin Frank, executive director of the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, said he supports whatever Morrison decides, too, even though he also values the murals at Wilson-Pacific and the one Morrison created for United Indians at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Discovery Park.

“As American Indians, very seldom do we see this type of work being displayed in urban settings,” Frank said. “When we do, we take it to heart.”

Some of the neighbors who live around Wilson-Pacific helped Morrison get a grant to help pay for the materials for the Chief Joseph portrait.

Morrison is proud of how the murals have raised awareness of Native American history, and says they’ve been one key to his artistic success. He said he went to great lengths to try to find common ground with the district, but didn’t feel those efforts were returned.

District officials say they thought they were on good terms with Morrison, and hope he’ll change his mind.

“It is our desire to save his work,” said Lucy Morello, director of capital projects.

Still, she said, they don’t want to go forward, even if they could, without his cooperation.

Morrison hasn’t told the district that he doesn’t want the murals reproduced, Morello said. She hopes that’s a sign that there’s still a chance they can work together.

There’s time, she says, because the construction of the new schools won’t start for several years.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com. On Twitter: @LShawST

View Article and photos of Mural paintings here.

American Indian Arts fetch high prices in auction

American Indian Arts fetch high prices in auction

By Monica Brown, Tulalip News Writer

Lately there has been a rise in the American Indian culture in the media. It’s possible, through their eyes that we have reached the time where the American Indian culture seems to be more of a legend than a thing which has evolved over time and is still around. Many different people, including the hoity-toity that have money to spend, are obtaining pieces of American Indian Artifacts.

This February, the American Indian & Ethnographic Art auction grossed $1,777,912.50; this included the buyer’s premium, making it the most successful sale that the American Indian & Ethnographic Art department at Skinner, Inc. has ever experienced. Skinner, Inc. auctioneers and appraisers are located in Massachusetts and have been in the auction business for over forty years.

Reasons these pieces are selling for such high prices is as the Skinner website states, “Tribal art tells the story of our shared human history. From the earliest pre-Columbian relics, to Native American trade materials, these objects take us back to another time and place, while at the same time possessing a simple beauty that fits into the most sophisticated modern design aesthetic.”

Douglas Diehl, director of the American Indian & Ethnographic Art department at Skinner explained in a press release, “There is a definite resurgence in interest in rare and evocative American Indian art and artifacts and every category performed well across the board.” Bidders competed from the floor, by phone, and over the internet during the auction.

“This record-setting sale represented early American material at its very best and we are pleased to bring items of this quality to auction.”

Plains Indian Art was the highest lot bringing in $144,000. The item, a Plains pony beaded hide shirt which came from mid-19th century and had belonged to Eugene Burr. Coming with the shirt was an account of where and how Eugene had come to possess the item in. The Burr family traveled west along the Oregon Trail to Utah in 1855. Eugene’s father, David H. Burr, was appointed the first Surveyor General to the state of Utah. His father and his brother David traveled with him through Indian Territory and kept a diary of the journey. Eugene Burr died at the age of 17 in 1857; his initials are marked on the inside of the shirt.

There were heated biddings on an assortment of hide cradles which raised the prices of other lots well above their pre-sale estimates. A pictorial Lakota cradle with a pre-sale estimate high of $35,000 sold for $78,000. A Cheyenne beaded hide cradle doubled its high estimate and sold for $30,750.

Cradles from the collection of the late Joseph J. Rivera collection of Santa Fe’s Morning Star Gallery included a Kiowa model cradle, $57,000 and a classic Lakota beaded cradle for $33,600 – both exceeded pre-sale estimate highs. A Pawnee-style bear claw necklace made by Milford Chandler (1889-1981), $57,000.

Two rare and beautiful Yupik Eskimo masks brought prices of $31,200 and $57,000. The first a mask showing a bird head on top of a circular human-like face and the second a face framed by stylized animal ears. Both said to be from Gustaf Osterberg, Chief mate on the US Coast and Geodetic Survey ship Yukon. Osterberg began making trips to the Alaskan coast in 1913.

In 2011, a Navajo blanket dated to be from the early 1900’s went for over $200,000 in auction. Diehl said he “ realized the minute I first saw the weaving, with the variegated wool, the browns, all this great character, that this had to be a really early third phase Chief’s blanket.”, in his blog post about the blanket prior to it going up for auction.

Some of us are wondering if this growing interest in the American Indian culture is a trend that will fade or is this a genuine curiosity and love of a culture which has evolved and grown over time.

MOHAI’s new digs give Seattle history some breathing room

The new MOHAI in Seattle even includes the set of "Frasier." You can sit in his Dad's chair and hold a stuffed Eddie.
The new MOHAI in Seattle even includes the set of “Frasier.” You can sit in his Dad’s chair and hold a stuffed Eddie.

By Andrea Brown, Herald Writer

You know it’s a hip city when the first thing you see at its history museum is a neon beer sign and a fiberglass truck with fat pink toes.

And it gets better from there inside the new Lake Union digs of Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry, known as MOHAI.

In the atrium, the first Boeing plane hangs overhead and a 65-foot spiky wooden sculpture made from schooner planks perforates the ceiling.

Upstairs, there’s Nirvana music, a Lusty Lady sign, 99 bottles of beer on the wall and a replica of the duct-taped recliner from the TV show “Frasier.”

And, yeah, you can sit in that chair, and hold the stuffed version of Frasier’s dad’s dog Eddie on your lap.

This is a fun museum. So fun, in fact, that the movie about the 1889 fire that destroyed downtown Seattle (but took no lives) is a slapstick comedy.

The Seattle’s Great Fire gallery’s sound-and-light show, complete with the glue pot that started it all, is among the many highlights to behold.

The museum moved from smaller quarters in Seattle’s Montlake neighborhood to the 1940s art deco building that formerly served as the Naval Reserve Armory. It has 50,000 square feet of exhibit space — plenty of room to show off the big stuff, such as the 1920s UPS delivery truck and the funky pink Lincoln’s Toe Truck.

“They did a great job setting it up,” visitor Kathryn Hain Martin said.

That great job came with a $60 million restoration price tag.

The museum has a cafe, gift shop, conference rooms and rooftop deck. Rooms have stunning views of the harbor, with window etchings that accent the maritime romance of the region.

The city’s timeline is exhibited on multilevels in multimedia from sticky notes to touch screens and in galleries that from Gold Rush to Tech City.

To prevent sensory overload, the museum is arranged in a maze of galleries and towers. Tower themes include: Boeing Takes Off, Seattle’s World’s Fairs and The Microsoft Story.

There’s a nice balance between new and old. On display are some of those stiff black-and-white family portraits where nobody smiled.

Down the hall, Elvis Presley gyrates on one of the silver screens in the Celluloid Seattle exhibit, which has vintage theater seats, drive-in speakers and a cigarette machine.

Seattle iconic artifacts in the museum include: the SuperSonics NBA Championship trophy in a sports gallery, a World War II rivet gun, a first-generation Kindle E-reader and the original Starbucks sign.

The list goes on …

Plan to spend a few hours and not see everything. You’ll want to come back for more.

Andrea Brown; 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com.

Exhibits

Celluloid Seattle: A City at the Movies, through Sept. 8. Curated by The Herald’s movie critic, Robert Horton, it shows Seattle in the movies and how the idea of “going to the movies” has changed.

Punctum/Poetry, through May 27. MOHAI’s historic photo collection is showcased in poetry and the spoken word produced by high school students.

Still Afloat: Seattle’s Floating Homes, on display June 15 to Nov. 3. Centered on the floating home community, with photos, oral histories, diagrams and a scale model floating home.

Upcoming event: Parents Night Out: 6 to 9 p.m. March 29. Kids, ages 5 and older, will make cardboard cars for a “drive-in” and then watch a movie.

If you go

Where: 860 Terry Ave. N., Seattle (in Lake Union Park).

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; open until 8 p.m. Thursdays

Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day

Cost: Adults, $14; senior (65 and older)/student/military, $12; no charge for ages 14 and younger, with adult. Free admission the first Thursday of every month.

For more information: www.mohai.org

Tulalip Resort Casino and Spa deals out new dining options

Quartet of Changes Will Evolve Over the Next 18 Months

Tulalip, Washington  — Tulalip Resort Casino and Spa will soon be offering an array of new dining options as diverse as the property itself.  Over the next 18 months, the food and beverage landscape will evolve with the arrival of an Asian concept, a sports bar, lobby bar, and a new steakhouse menu at Tulalip Bay restaurant.

This June, the four-star property will introduce a new, yet-to-be-named restaurant featuring time honored traditional Asian recipes alongside modern Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai favorites. This will be a Far East immersion course; a celebration of Asian culture. Featuring  dishes such as fresh house-made noodles, rice, wok-fired items, hand-made dim sum, sushi, Pho and tempuras, the menu’s bold flavors and rich textures will come together in synergy.

The design will incorporate the use of wood, metal and glass elements creating a harmonious blend of Tulalip and Asian décor.  In keeping with the Native American Potlatch tradition, as well as the Asian custom of family-style dining, the menu is the blueprint for individual or group dining.  The bar will feature handcrafted cocktails, a large sake selection, and wine offerings from the Resort’s award-winning list.

About Tulalip Resort Casino

Award winning Tulalip Resort Casino is the most distinctive gaming, dining, meeting, entertainment and shopping destination in Washington State. The AAA Four Diamond resort’s world class amenities have ensured its place on the Condé Nast Traveler Gold and Traveler Top 100 Resorts lists, as well as Preferred Hotel & Resorts membership. The property includes 192,000 square feet of gaming excitement; a luxury hotel featuring 370 guest rooms and suites; 30,000 square feet of premier meeting, convention and wedding space; the full-service T Spa; and 6 dining venues, including the AAA Four Diamond Tulalip Bay Restaurant.  It also showcases the intimate Canoes Cabaret; a 3,000-seat amphitheater. Nearby, find the Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve, Cabela’s; and Seattle Premium Outlets, featuring more than 110 name brand retail discount shops. The Resort Casino is conveniently located between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. just off Interstate-5 at exit 200. It is an enterprise of the Tulalip Tribes. For reservations please call (866) 716-7162.

Voices Rising – Idle No More Storytelling Circle, Feb 22

February 22, 2013 8-10 PM

Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave, Seattle WA 98122

Call out to community! Indigenous people, Two Spirits-Idle No More-Allies & everyone concerned about respect for the Earth and the rights of Native people and women. Hosted by Gabriel Teodoros & Storme Webber, this will be a community sharing of conversation & culture.

Elders and children are especially welcomed, as are those Native people who have been sharing at teach-ins and gatherings here in the Seattle area. Allies are welcome!

Community is invited to share songs, poems, words or any creative expressions~

We invite you to bring something for the potluck so we can share a meal &/or snacks.

Admission is free.

Any questions: write us at voicesrising@gmail.com

From the Idle No More website:

“INM has and will continue to help build sovereignty & resurgence of nationhood

INM will continue to pressure government and industry to protect the environment

INM will continue to build allies in order to reframe the nation to nation relationship, this will be done by including grassroots perspectives, issues and concerns”

Poet opens her mind, heart, and spirit

Stephanie Spiering shares her poetry at the Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center.
Stephanie Spiering shares her poetry at the Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center.

Article by Jeannie Briones and Kim Kalliber, photo by Jeannie Briones, Tulalip News Staff

Everyone faces their own challenges, the good the bad, the ups and downs, which happen in everyday life. For one young Native American woman, writing poetry is not only a therapeutic way of coping with stress, but also a way of expressing happiness.

Stephanie Spiering, a Southern Cheyenne Tribal member and student at the Northwest Indian College Tulalip site, shared her own poetry on February 7th, as part of the Poetry Series at the Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center.

Stephanie’s interest in poetry began in grade school and has remained a large part of her life. Her mother and fellow poet, Renee Roman Nose, read poetry to her as a child, introducing her to a world of diverse forms of poetry.

After experiencing a traumatic event in her youth, Stephanie’s mother and aunt encouraged her to write down her feelings as part of her healing process. “It became a way for me to cope with things,” said Stephanie.

By high school, Stephanie had taken a serious interest in penning her words on paper. Now, just twenty-four years-old, she is busy creating poetry, working towards an associates degree in Native Environmental Science and serving as a court clerk for the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe.

Whenever she is overwhelmed with feelings of sadness, happiness or stress, poetry is her way of dealing with them. For instance in a recently written poem about feelings of homesickness, Stephanie writes about the loneliness she feels by being apart from her family and friends living in her home state of Florida, and dealing with cultures that she enjoys but is unaccustomed to.

Stephanie was delighted and nervous about sharing her poetry at the Hibulb Cultural Center. As she began speaking, her descriptive words and theatrical tones brought her poems to life, taking the audience on a journey through one woman’s self-revelations.

“When I write a poem, I put all my feelings into that poem and I go from there,” said Stephanie. “It gets stuff off my chest.”

Her choice of poems for the evening touched on a variety of subjects such as dealing with relationships, being a student, Native cultures, and the environment, and she encourages others to take the plunge and try writing their own poetry.

For more information on Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center events, please call 360-716-2600 or visit www.hibulbculturalcenter.org.