Arts & Entertainment Archives - Page 49 of 109

New Exhibition Challenges Preconceptions about Native Americans

Exhibition Opens at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia Saturday, March 1, 2014

PHILADELPHIA, PA—Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now, a new exhibition opening at the Penn Museum March 1, 2014, challenges visitors to leave preconceptions about Native Americans behind—and discover a living tapestry of nations with distinct stories, identities, and contemporary leaders.

The exhibition opens with a public celebration 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, featuring Native American music and dance, presentations by Native American community leaders, arts, crafts, workshops and children’s activities—all free with Museum admission donation.

The richly interactive new exhibition features a wide range of contemporary Native American voices—including artists, activists, journalists, scholars, and community leaders—from around North America. They speak out in video and in audio, sharing stories, poetry, and short essays on issues that matter to them today: identity, political sovereignty, religious freedom and sacred places, language, celebrations, art, and cultural continuity. Through a central introductory video, and at dramatic touch screen towers and multimedia stations throughout the gallery, visitors encounter Native American perspectives on key themes.

More than 250 Native American objects—ranging from 11,000-year-old Clovis projectile points to contemporary art—drawn from the Museum’s expansive collections from around the United States and Canada, help to tell the stories of Native American peoples today, their aspirations, histories, art, concerns, and continuing cultural traditions.

Material highlights include Lenape objects from the Delaware Valley region, war bonnets and regalia from the Plains and Prairie, intricately woven baskets from Maine and California, robes and regalia, moccasins, jewelry, children’s toys and clothing, contemporary Native American art, and world renowned stone tools from Clovis, New Mexico that are among the oldest objects in the Museum’s collection. Over the course of five years, nearly 300 objects representing more than 100 tribes will be rotated on display. At interactive digital stations visitors may investigate and sort these objects according to personal interests, fashioning their own unique experiences while gaining insight into the materials on display.

A Tapestry of Nations

Far from having disappeared into the American “melting pot,” today’s Native Americans are culturally distinct and diverse. Today there are more than 565 federally recognized tribal entities in the United States alone (far more if one counts U.S. tribes that are not federally recognized, and Canadian First Nations).

The exhibition touches in on topics raised by today’s Indigenous leaders—including issues of personal and group identity, tribal sovereignty, language retention, and Native American representation—while exploring four main themes:

Local Nations focuses on the histories and living communities of the Lenape people—the original peoples of Philadelphia and the Greater Delaware Valley region. The Lenape are known as the “grandfathers,” the peoples from whom all other Algonquian-speaking groups are descended. Escaping persecution in the 1800s, many, but not all, Lenape moved to Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Canada where many are now federally recognized as sovereign Delaware nations. Several of today’s local Lenape who chose to stay in our region now hold state recognition in New Jersey, and some are seeking recognition at the federal level. Ancient artifacts from this region as well as more recent and contemporary Lenape objects and regalia are part of this theme.

The roles and meanings of Sacred Places are explored as a second exhibition theme. Natural landmarks are important to Native peoples, and ongoing issues around access to those sacred places, are explored. Places are important to Native Americans for many reasons; these are places where their ancestors once lived, where special events may have occurred in their histories, and others hold special resources needed today to continue traditions and strengthen Native American identities. Objects often hold related stories and histories such as family crest objects from Alaska; Southwest pottery made of clay dug from mother earth; and clothing, moccasins, and beadwork that hold associations and imagery of the land. Projectile points excavated in the 1930s at Blackwater Draw, New Mexico by Penn archaeologists John L. Cotter and E. B. Howard revealed evidence of an early “Clovis Culture” that flourished more than 11,000 years ago—some of the first solid evidence that Native Americans have inhabited North America for many thousands of years.

A third section of the exhibition explores Continuing Celebrations—the many ways in which contemporary Native American communities come together to mark and sustain their cultural identities. These range from familiar powwows (more than 1,000 powwows are held each year in the U.S. alone), to newer events such as Celebration, a biennial event in Juneau, Alaska that brings together Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian families to celebrate the survival of their cultures. Today’s celebrations often include dance regalia and clothing, oratory, art, traditional foods, language workshops and more. Many Penn Museum objects come from traditions of celebration, and today’s Native artists continue to draw inspiration from objects made by their ancestors and elders. Examples include regalia such as shirts, headdresses, and leggings, as well as paintings, feasting dishes, and crest objects.

A fourth theme of New Initiatives explores ongoing economic, health, and educational initiatives in the Native American community. Native American activism has changed governmental policies and continues to create opportunities to raise economic and health standards in new ways. Highlights include the role of casinos, the development of cultural centers and language programs, the tourist market for native arts, new initiatives in the Academy, the return to traditional Native American foods, and repatriation legislation. Many objects in the Penn Museum’s collections speak to these issues: jewelry, basketry, and textiles created at different times and places for the tourist industry, and objects associated with continued health and well-being.

Telling Stories of Today

Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now is an exhibition more than five years in the making. In 2003, Dr. Lucy Fowler Williams, exhibition curator and Senior Keeper of the Penn Museum’s American Section, with Keeper William Wierzbowski and then-Curator Dr. Robert Preucel, invited more than 70 established and emerging Native American artists, leaders, and scholars from around the country to tell about the ongoing importance of objects in the Penn Museum’s North American collections which contain more than 150,000 objects representing tribes and nations from across North America. The result was Objects of Everlasting Esteem: Native American Voices on Identity, Art and Culture (2005), a hardbound book featuring Penn Museum objects paired with essays, poems, and commentary by 78 living Native Americans.

“We know the objects in Penn Museum’s collection are extraordinary as documents of different communities, times, and places in history—but we also wanted our collection to speak to the ongoing concerns and changing traditions of the people whose ancestors made them and first imbued them with meaning,” notes Dr. Williams.

Twenty-eight of the objects—and Native stories—from the book are included in the exhibition. In addition, the exhibition features new and recent work by several contemporary Native American artists—Cippy Crazyhorse, Denise Dunkley, Cliff Fragua, Nicholas Galanin, Dorothy Grant, Jason Garcia, Les Namingha, Virgil Ortiz, Teri Rofkar, Diego Romero, Abraham Anghik Ruben, Susan Point, C. Maxx Stevens, Roxanne Swentzell, and more.

More than 80 Native American consultants and collaborators have contributed to the exhibition. Four Native American advisors provided key assistance in refining the themes and stories that bring Native American Voices to life: Tina Pierce Fragoso, Assistant Director of Equity and Excellence, Coordinator of Native American Recruitment, University of Pennsylvania (Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape); Suzan Harjo, Executive Director, The Morning Star Institute (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee); master weaver and artist Teri Rofkar (Tlingit); and journalist and videographer Patty Talahongva (Hopi). In 2010 Ms. Talahongva worked with Dr. Williams to record video documentary interviews with 20 Native American specialists in the Southwest, Alaska, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., portions of which appear in the exhibition. Many of the consultants have also worked closely with American Section staff members William Wierzbowski, Keeper of the American Collections, and Stacey Espenlaub, NAGPRA Coordinator, on a variety of issues pertaining to the collections and exhibition. Several Penn students have also assisted in the development of the exhibition.

Penn Museum’s Exhibition Department, led by Kate Quinn, Director of Exhibitions, developed and designed the exhibition. Multimedia interactives were developed with the Penn Museum team and designed by BlueCadet, with casework fabricated by Universal Services Associates.

Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now opens in the Museum’s Ruth and Earl Scott Gallery, adjacent to the Kamin Main Entrance. The exhibition has been made possible with lead support from Adolf A. and Geraldine S. Paier, Ph.D., and Frances and John R. Rockwell; additional support has been provided by The Annenberg Foundation/Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, the Coby Foundation, Joanne H. and William L. Conrad, Delaware Investments/Macquairie Group Foundation, and A. Bruce and Margaret R. Mainwaring. The Lead Education sponsor is PECO.

The Penn Museum (the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Museum has sent more than 300 archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited continents of the world. With an active exhibition schedule and educational programming for children and adults, the Museum offers the public an opportunity to share in the ongoing discovery of humankind’s collective heritage.

The Penn Museum is located at 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (on Penn’s campus, across from Franklin Field). Public transportation to the Museum is available via SEPTA’s Regional Rail Line at University City Station; the Market-Frankford Subway Line at 34th Street Station; trolley routes 11, 13, 34, and 36; and bus routes 21, 30, 40, and 42. Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and first Wednesdays of each month until 8:00 pm, with P.M. @ PENN MUSEUM evening programs offered. Closed Mondays and holidays. Admission donation is $15 for adults; $13 for senior citizens (65 and above); free for U.S. Military; $10 for children and full-time students with ID; free to Members, PennCard holders, and children 5 and younger.

Hot and cold meals and light refreshments are offered to visitors with or without Museum admission in The Pepper Mill Café; the Museum Shop and Pyramid Shop for Children offer a wide selection of gifts, books, games, clothing and jewelry. Penn Museum can be found on the web at www.penn.museum. For general information call 215.898.4000. For group tour information call 215.746.8183

Photos, top to bottom: Arapaho Woman’s Moccasins, ca. 1890. Though Native people across North America wore moccasins, the beadwork design of these is distinct to the Plains region (image courtesy of Penn Museum Archives #240765); members of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, an active community from southern New Jersey where they hold state recognition (image courtesy of Lucy Fowler-Williams); John Echohawk, at left, is a Pawnee lawyer and founder of the Native American Rights Fund, which works to defend the rights of Native peoples nationwide. Suzan Harjo (Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee), at right, is President of The Morning Star Institute, a Native American rights organization. They share perspectives on their work in the exhibition (image courtesy of Lucy Fowler-Williams).

Good winter blackmouth fishery in Area 9

By Wayne Kruse, The Herald

One of the better winter blackmouth seasons in the past several years is underway on Possession Bar and in the rest of Marine Area 9, according to Gary Krein, All Star Charters owner/skipper in Everett.

“The triangle — Possession, Double Bluff and Point No Point — had a good opener and have held up well since,” he said. “It’s been a much better fishery than we saw here a year ago,”

Saturday creel checks by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel at the Port of Everett ramp tallied 45 anglers in 24 boats with 22 chinook. By comparison, 45 anglers had seven chinook on the same day at the Washington Park ramp in Anacortes, and 27 anglers had 11 fish at the Ediz Hook Public Ramp in Port Angeles.

Possession is probably the most consistent producer right now, Krein said, particularly on a strong tide. On weaker tides, Point No Point and Double Bluff fish better. Pilot Point and Midchannel Bank are also good bets.

The Area 9 fisher stays open through April 15. Areas 8-1 and 8-2 remain open through April 30 with a daily limit of two hatchery chinook. Marine Area 10 (central Sound) closes this week.

Krein likes 3-inch or 31/2-inch Kingfisher Lite spoons in white or greens, such as Irish cream, Irish flag, or red racer, behind a Gibbs Moonglow flasher and 38 to 40 inches of 25-pound monofilament leader. He puts his gear near bottom in 90 to 150 feet of water, and he says good electronics will pick up individual fish, not necessarily around bait this time of year.

Blackmouth are running from just-legal 5-pounders up to about 10 pounds, with good numbers in the 8-pound range.

“Surprisingly, shakers haven’t been the problem we had anticipated,” Krein said.

But seals have. Lots of seals, taking taking lots of hooked salmon.

“They’ve really been pests,” Krein said, “to the point that we’ve had to move to a different area at times, in order to boat a fish or two.”

Areas 8-1 and 8-2 — Possession Sound and Saratoga Passage — haven’t shared in the early action to any degree, Krein said. A fish or two from south Hat Island, but nothing much from Onomac, Ole’s Hole or any of the other north-end prospects.

Steelhead

The winter hatchery steelhead season was pretty much a non-event, but recent catches (and releases) of wild-stock fish in the Forks-area streams have been pretty good at times. On the Bogachiel last week, 63 fishermen had released 13 wild steelhead, kept eight and released four hatchery fish. This included 12 bank anglers and 47 boat fishermen. On the Calawah, seven bank anglers kept two hatchery fish. On the Sol Duc, 46 fishermen, mostly boaters, kept one and released 33 wild fish, and kept one hatchery fish. The wild fish kept was illegal.

On the lower Hoh over the weekend, 122 anglers released 14 wild-stock steelhead, and kept 17 and released 11 hatchery fish.

Enough hatchery broodstock steelhead now have been taken in a couple of local rivers to enable biologists to reopen the pair, in whole or partially. The Fortson Hole section of the North Fork Stillaguamish opened last Friday and will remain open through Friday. The Cascade River, tributary to the Skagit at Marblemount, will reopen Saturday and remain open through Feb. 15.

And hey, steelheaders. When was the last time you saw a steelhead fishery disrupted by tumbleweeds? Yeah, tumbleweeds; Russian thistles. State biologist Paul Hoffarth reported that the weekend saw large numbers of the dead, dry, round shrubs coming down the river after strong winds last week and making things difficult for fishermen at the Ringold hatchery upriver from the Tri-Cities. Fishing has been slow, tumbleweeds or not, Hoffarth said.

Smelt

Discussions are still ongoing between fish managers of Washington, Oregon and the feds about opening at least a limited sport smelt (eulachon) dipping season on the Cowlitz River this winter as a means of gathering catch-per-unit data on the fish, which were listed as a threatened species in May, 2010. Following the ESA listing, both Oregon and Washington enacted permanent rules prohibiting directed harvest of eulachon on the Columbia and its tributaries. Commercial fishing closed permanently on Dec. 1, 2010, and recreational fishing on Jan. 1, 2011.

Then, what was estimated as one of the strongest eulachon runs in 10 years surprised everyone when it showed up in 2013. This winter’s run may not mirror last year’s, but then again, it might. As of last week, smelt have been confirmed in the Cowlitz and also in the Grays.

Free classes

Cabela’s Tulalip Store offers three interesting upcoming free classes: Long Range Shooting; Beginning Decoy Carving; and Successful Chironomid Techniques for Stillwater Fly Fishing.

The shooting class will include equipment, types of rifles and scopes, calibers and ammunition, reading the wind, using a spotter and ballistics computer, and more. It’s scheduled for Feb. 1, 11 a.m. to noon. Please RSVP by calling 360-474-4880.

The intro to decoy carving runs on Feb. 7, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., offering hands-on training in carving and painting a mallard drake working decoy. Participants must bring their own carving tools to class. Paint and wood are provided by the instructor for a minimal fee. Please contact instructor Kurt Benson directly with any questions at 425-231-6497. Space is limited to first 20, so RSVP by calling 360-474-4880.

Learn how to successfully fish chironomids, an insect seldom used but which comprises 40 percent of a trout’s diet in still waters year-around. Jerry Buron’s Feb. 8 presentation from 2-3:30 p.m. will introduce chironomids as a food source, how to fish them, when to use them and finally, how to tie chironomid patterns. It will explore the fly fishing equipment used, and how to set up your gear to catch fish. RSVP by calling 360-474-4880.

Razor clams

State razor clam manager Dan Ayres in Montesano said the ongoing razor clam dig should produce improved results over the mid-January dig, because of better tides and flatter surf.

The remaining tides and open beaches are: Jan. 30, minus 1.4 feet at 6:11 p.m., at Twin Harbors, Long Beach and Mocrocks; Jan. 31, minus 1.4 feet at 6:55 p.m., at Twin Harbors, Long Beach and Mocrocks; Feb. 1, minus 1.0 feet at 7:38 p.m., at all beaches except Kalaloch; and Feb. 2, minus 0.5 feet at 8:20 p.m., at Twin Harbors, Long Beach and Mocrocks.

San Juans blackmouth

Rosario Strait remains the hot spot in the islands, according to Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington. Blakely Island/Thatcher Pass is producing and Strawberry Bay also has held a lot of fish to 12 pounds or so. When tides are right, Eastern and Salmon banks have been good places to catch blackmouth in the eight- to 10-pound range. A few more fish, John said, are coming from Fidalgo Head and Lopez Flats, while Reef Point remains slow.

Bait behind a flasher is still the go-to setup, John said, or small lures such as the 3-inch Kingfisher, needlefish squid, or Brad’s mini cut-plugs.

Heritage High School Art Show

Article and Photos by Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

The students of Tulalip Heritage High School displayed their artistic achievements in various mediums at an art show at the school on January 29th.

Beaded Retro Seahawks Madallion - Anthony Cooper — Beaded Retro Seahawks Madallion – Anthony Cooper

Coast Salish Inheritance

Temp exhibit is a reflection of Tulalip’s living culture

By Niki Cleary, Tulalip News

The Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History preserve is a place for the Tulalip people and our neighbors. Hibulb Senior Curator Tessa Campbell explained that the facility, especially the temporary exhibit, is dynamic and always changing just like the people who live at and visit Tulalip. The current temporary exhibit, Coast Salish Inheritance, will be on display through May 2014.

“[In the exhibit] you can see how our culture, how our teachings are still alive today,” she said. “They’ve been passed on and at the same time they’ve evolved. You can see just about every medium that’s out there: beadwork, carving, painting, mixed media and even kids’ artwork. There is also music, two tribal artists did music composition and the video portion. It really shows a good look into Tulalip artists today.”

Admission to the Hibulb Cultural Center is always free for Tulalip Tribal Members, for non-members admission is only $10 for adults with reduced rates for seniors, students and military. Children under five are free. The first Thursday of each month, admission is free to all visitors. For more information about the Hibulb Cultural Center visit the www.hibulbculturalcenter.org.

Photographing Native America – Matika Wilbur

by Monica Brown, Tulalip News Writer

Imagine using photography to change cultural stereo types of Native Americans in a society that currently glorifies the Native American as a tomahawk-wielding sports mascot, a feather clad underwear model, a provocative Halloween costume or a drunken advertising pun.

Matika Wilbur, a Tulalip and Swinomish native, developed Project 562 and is using her talent of photography to counteract these active and misconstrued perceptions.

“My project is dedicated to photographing every tribe in the U.S. to breakdown the historical inaccuracies and stereotypical ways that we are represented in mass media.”

Wilbur’s portraits depict the contemporary Native American in a generic setting; the portraits are in black and white with little distraction to put emphasis on the Native American as person within the evolving U.S. culture.

Wilbur, a former fashion photography major, as stated in Indian CountryToday, earned a bachelor’s degree in photography at Brooks Institute. Indian country stated that, “She had a change of heart after participating in a commercial shoot in Los Angeles. The resources expended to produce a single photo for a clothing ad — a rented house in Malibu, art director, hair and makeup person, publicist, three photographers, for a photo “I could have done for $5” — got her thinking: “This is what my life was going to be like. What kind of meaning did it have in the long run?””

“Can we relearn to see as human beings? Does the photographic image impact our lives and the lives of those around us and if it does can we use that image to encourage and inspire one another?” queries Wilbur in a recent TedX talk.

Currently in the fashion industry the Native American façade is being used in a sexual and/or irrelevant manner which debases the culture as it being attached to groups of people. There is a human disassociation that generates from these images; one that causes outsiders to view these people as objects rather than a culture.

“My hope is that when the project is complete, it will serve to educate the nation and shift the collective consciousness toward recognizing our own indigenous communities,” Matika quoted in her project blog at matikawilbu.com. The end result will be a compilation of portraits of the contemporary Native American instead of “the leathered and feathered vanishing race” stereo type of Native American.

For phase one of her project, Wilbur was able to raise $35,000 through Kickstarter to help fund her journey. This year’s goal, for phase two, that bar has been set higher at $54,000 to be raised by Feb 14^th 2014.

One of the many reward options for donating to Project 562 kickstarter

For information about Project 562 and to donate visit her kiskstarter.com page or Matikawilbur.com. Donators will receive rewards based on the amount they pledge. Rewards range from stickers and clothing labeled Project 562 to having the opportunity to spend time with photographer Matika Wilbur while she is on the road.

Currently, Wilbur is on the road in Arizona traveling by car to each reservation. In the past year she has photographed 173 tribes with just under 400 left. On May 17^th and 23^rd of this year a collection of Wilbur’s works will be on display at the Tacoma Art Museum and she has stated she will be in attendance to the art showing.

Wilbur has been taking photographs for over 10 years and some of her inspiration comes from photographers such as Phil Borges, Dorothea Lange and Coast Salish artists Shaun Peterson and Simon Charlie whose works she experienced through her mother’s La Conner art gallery.

Project 562 is estimated to be a 3 year project with a deadline set for the end of 2015. Upon conclusion, the compilation or portraits will be viewable across the U.S. Wilbur looks forward to being able to come home and work within her tribal community when her project is complete.

The Intricate Beadwork of Jackie Larson Bread [10 Pictures]

Dominique Godreche, Indian Country Today Media Network

Jackie Larson Bread is a beadworker from the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana, who currently lives in Great Falls. She won the Best in Show prize at the 2013 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market for “Memory Keeper,” a beaded hatbox featuring members of her family and her tribe. Shortly after the win, she discussed her work with an ICTMN correspondent.

How did you come to be one of the Native art world’s most prominent beadworkers?

I have been beading all my life, since childhood. My grandmother, who passed away before I was born, beaded. So I have always been interested in how it was done, and taught myself the techniques by studying her items, and the beadwork done by the ladies of my tribe. Among the Blackfeet, everyone knows the basic techniques. When I was 14, I started to work at the Museum of Plains Indians, which I continued to do for ten summers, where I was amazed by the beadwork, so I learned even more techniques. Then I attended the Institute of American Indian Art, in Santa Fe, to study painting and printmaking. I wanted to figure out how to introduce beadwork, because I like the mix of traditional and contemporary imagery, using old photographs. First, I did Sitting Bull and Geronimo, then photos of our people — 90% of what I do is about the Blackfeet, telling what we look like, sharing our homes and designs. It takes so many hours that you have to be really passionate — it is time consuming! But I will always continue to do beadwork, even with the time factor, because I like it so much.

‘Memory Keeper’ beaded hatbox by Jackie Larson Bread, judged best in show at the 2013 Santa Fe Indian Market. Photo by Courtenay ‘Coco’ Sly.

Is there a specific Blackfeet aesthetic you need to follow, or are you free to choose whatever you like in terms of colors, designs, and subjects?

I used to confine myself to traditional ideas of beadwork, but now I do what I feel comfortable with — though I do not show any ceremonial things. I stay with what is right to tell. I share the lodges, the tipi designs.

Like the pictures of your family?

Yes, my dad’s aunts and uncles. I like to look through photos of our family members. Finding someone new is exciting — I would show the picture to my father, and he would explain how we are related to the person.

Beaded bag by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Where do you usually show?

I show at Indian Market in Santa Fe, at the Cherokee Art Market in Tulsa, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in Tucson, and in Montana.

And now you’ve won Best in Show at Santa Fe Indian Market — probably the most prestigious award a contemporary Native artist can receive — after how many years?

I’ve showed for 15 years! I love coming to Santa Fe, and looking at what everybody does. It’s amazing. So to be recognized Best of Show is astounding, it’s the hugest honor. I am so happy I won, after 15 years.

‘Traveling Through Indian Country’ by Jackie Larson Bread is part of the National Museum of the American Indian’s collection. Image courtesy nmai.si.edu

Beaded bag by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Moccasins featuring beadwork by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Detail of beadwork portrait by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Suitcase featuring beadwork by Jackie Larson Bread (front). Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Suitcase featuring beadwork by Jackie Larson Bread (back). Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Beaded lunchbox by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Beaded portrait by Jackie Larson Bread. Image source: facebook.com/jackie.l.bread

Developing A Taste For Geoduck In The Northwest

Michael Gifford, chef at Seattle's How To Cook A Wolf, shows off a geoduck he's preparing. | credit: Ashley Ahearn — Michael Gifford, chef at Seattle’s How To Cook A Wolf, shows off a geoduck he’s preparing. | credit: Ashley Ahearn

By Ashley Ahearn, OPB

The Locavore movement is thriving in the Northwest — with one big exception. When it comes to Puget Sound geoduck clams, the shellfish industry and local chefs are still trying to create a demand for them at home.

Geoduck clams from Washington state are prized in Asia, creating a lucrative market for the Puget Sound region’s tribal and commercial shellfish harvesters. But two months ago, China banned all shellfish imports from most of the West Coast after finding high levels of arsenic in a sample from Washington. The move has hit Washington hard, particularly the geoduck industry.

And that has the industry turning to local chefs to help boost demand close to home.

Local chef Michael Gifford remembers his first experience with geoduck clams. He got his first taste at a sushi restaurant soon after he moved to Seattle from New Jersey.

“I was like, wow, I’ve never seen this before. It’s really unique. We’re very fortunate here to have this product,” Gifford says.

These days Gifford is the chef at the Seattle restaurant How To Cook A Wolf, where geoduck clams make regular appearances on the menu. He extolled the virtues of the region’s largest clam recently while preparing geoduck crudo, or in the raw.

“This is going to get a little raunchy. As you can see the geoduck is a very phallic looking animal,” he said, standing in the stainless steel kitchen as two large clams sat on a shelf nearby, their foot-long siphons draping down.

“So what we do is we bring them in, let them relax a little bit, let them go down and get out to its natural length,” Gifford quips. These necks can stretch to a meter in length.

Gifford is ready to remove the skin from a geoduck’s neck. Credit: Ashley Ahearn.

Gifford places the clams into boiling water, then into ice water to “shock them.” This process makes it easy to remove the outer skin of the geoduck.

When these filter-feeders are burrowed in the sand and mud of Puget Sound, their outer skin gathers more arsenic and other trace metals than does the rest of their body. The Washington Department of Health confirmed this in December, when it went back and tested more than 50 geoduck clams after China instituted its ban. The skin of every single clam had amounts of arsenic that exceed levels that China has deemed safe for human consumption.

The clams’ other body tissue types — those found in the neck, the mantle and the gut ball — were OK in all but one sample tested by the Washington state agency.

Bill Dewey is with Shelton, Wash.-based Taylor Shellfish Farms, which bills itself as the largest producer of geoducks in the United States. He says the company has had more testing done on several different kinds of shellfish it sells, including geoduck. The levels of metals are all very low, but they’re there.

“You will see arsenic, cadmium, selenium, all sorts of different metals some good for you some not good for you in all your shellfish,” Dewey says.

The Washington Department of Health rigorously tests shellfish for biotoxins and bacteria that can make people sick immediately. But it doesn’t regularly test for metals. Past tests from the DOH have shown metals in shellfish at levels below public health concerns. As with all seafood, it’s a question of how much shellfish you eat.

As Michael Gifford slices pearly strips of flesh off of the neck of a geoduck clam, it’s hard to think of anything other than the next step in his recipe.

He’s finely mincing Fresno chili peppers and celery. Then he smears a green stripe of avocado puree onto the plate. Finally, Gifford arranges the silken white, paper-thin strips of geoduck in ruffles.

“So then, the real fun. We’ll dress it with some nice olive oil. Little bit of lemon. We use fleur de sel, a very nice sea salt,“ Gifford says. “It’s not full of brine, but you’re getting that hint of the ocean.”

For centuries native Americans harvested geoducks from the tideflats of Puget Sound. (The word “geoduck” comes from the Nisqually word “gweduc,” meaning “dig deep.”) These were the biggest clams to be found — weighing as much as 16 pounds or more. Northwest Indians ate them fresh or smoked. By the late 1800s the region’s white settlers came to consider them a delicacy. But by the mid-20th century geoducks had all but disappeared from area beaches. To prevent the clams from becoming extinct, the government made it illegal to sell geoduck clams in restaurants and markets.

In the 1970s scuba divers discovered that geoduck clams hadn’t actually been harvested to extinction. They were bountiful in the deeper waters of Puget Sound. But by then, few Northwesterners had an interest in dinning on them in area restaurants. But the story took a different turn in Asia. An intense marketing campaign popularized them in Asia — especially among the newly rich Chinese — causing the price to soar. They’re an especially popular delicacy around the lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year), which takes place this year on Jan. 31.

A geoduck crudo prepared by chef Michael Gifford. Credit: Ashley Ahearn

Though the clams are popular abroad, local markets are still growing. Bill Dewey says for the past decade or so, Taylor Shellfish has been actively promoting geoduck to restaurants around the Northwest. There are now close to 20 restaurants in Seattle with geoduck on the menu.

Geoduck can sell for close to $100 per pound in China, while Seattle restaurants pay around $20 per pound. The domestic market isn’t making up for the industry’s losses abroad.

Read: How To Cook A Geoduck

Dewey says his company has had to cut back. “We did our best through the holidays to keep people employed, but ultimately it’s gone on long enough that we’ve had to lay some people off,” Dewey says. Taylor has laid off 14 people and estimates its losses at upwards of $1 million.

The Chinese ban is affecting others, too. Divers with the Suquamish and other tribes have been out of work for weeks, losing thousands of dollars every day. The Department of Natural Resources is out close to $1 million in revenue from geoduck harvested on state lands.

Dewey says he’s optimistic that China might lift the ban soon.

For now, geoduck may be a tough sell for most Northwest diners. But if more chefs like Michael Gifford have their way with this quirky clam, the future might look a little more delicious.

Katie Campbell contributed to this report. Toni Tabora-Roberts produced this story for the web.

Suquamish Delegates and Burke Museum Depart for the Philippines

Cultural Exchange between the Suquamish Tribe and El Nido, Palawan, Philippines focuses on cultural heritage, and sustainable fishing and archaeology

"Ancient Shores, Changing Tides" participants in the Suquamish Museum. L to R: Janet Everts Smoak, Barbara Lawrence-Piecuch, Arvin Acosta, Carmelita Acosta, Robert Arevalo, Mariel Francisco, Enrico Cabiguen (2nd row), Mimi Cabral, Jun Cayron (1st row), Mary Barnes, Lace Thornberg.Photo by Wade Trenbeath. — “Ancient Shores, Changing Tides” participants in the Suquamish Museum. L to R: Janet Everts Smoak, Barbara Lawrence-Piecuch, Arvin Acosta, Carmelita Acosta, Robert Arevalo, Mariel Francisco, Enrico Cabiguen (2nd row), Mimi Cabral, Jun Cayron (1st row), Mary Barnes, Lace Thornberg.
Photo by Wade Trenbeath.

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture

Seattle – This week, seven representatives of the Suquamish Tribe are in the Philippines. Over the course of eight days, they will visit communities on Palawan Island and learn about the archaeological history of the island, as well as its modern day challenges to preserve natural resources in the face of tremendous growth in both tourism and development. The visit is part of “Ancient Shores, Changing Tides,” a project that is part of the Museums Connect^sm program, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that is administered by the American Alliance of Museums.

The Suquamish delegation’s trip to the Philippines follows on the heels of a visit seven heritage enthusiasts from the Philippines made to Seattle and Suquamish this past October. During their eight-day stay in Washington, the Filipino delegates learned about museum curation and collection practices through guided tours of several museums in the region: the Burke Museum, Wing Luke Museum, Suquamish Museum, and the Makah Museum and Cultural Resource Center.

In addition to comparing their community museums, the ways in which their heritage is preserved, and local efforts to attract tourism, the Filipino and Suquamish groups are also comparing their fisheries management practices. The Filipino delegates were able to go out with Suquamish Seafoods divers to see geoducks being harvested. When they visit El Nido, the Suquamish delegates will travel through a community-managed marine protected area to see how those practices are helping fish stocks to recover in an area threatened by dynamite fishing, overfishing, and climate change.

The sustainable fishing component has led to some rather delicious opportunities. At a traditional foods feast held at the House of Awakened Culture in Suquamish, more than 200 people gathered to enjoy a feast featuring locally-harvested geoducks, salmon and Manila clams. On Palawan, the delegates will be able to taste grouper, dolphinfish, anchovy, squid, crabs and more. There, locally harvested fish, seafoods, shellfish, and seaweeds will all be prepared according to traditional Cuyonon techniques.

The travelers representing Suquamish are tribal chair Leonard Forsman and his wife Jana Rice; tribal elder Jay Mills; Suquamish Museum director Janet Smoak; the Suquamish Tribe’s youth programs director Kate Ahvakana; the Tribe’s grants coordinator Angela Flemming; and Tribal member Kah-ty-ah Lawrence. Travelers representing the Burke Museum are project manager Lace Thornberg, associate director Peter Lape and community relations director Ellen Ferguson.

With this trip coming in the wake of super typhoon Haiyan, there is certain to be a lot of discussion between the groups about recovery efforts—and how to build communities that are more resilient to the effects of climate change.

When the Filipino delegates rode the Bainbridge Island ferry back to Seattle from Suquamish, they witnessed something few Seattleites have been lucky enough to see: orcas in south Puget Sound. These majestic animals had also accompanied the ferry that was carrying Suquamish artifacts from the Burke Museum to the new Suquamish Museum the day before. Perhaps the delegates from Suquamish will be lucky enough to see a manatee – known locally as a dugong – make a rare appearance while they travel El Nido’s waters.

“Ancient Shores, Changing Tides” is one of ten Museums Connect^sm programs taking place throughout the country this year. The mission of the Museums Connect program is to strengthen connections and understanding between people in the United States and abroad through innovative, museum-based exchanges that address critical needs or timely issues in museums’ local communities and help museums better serve the public.

In Your Teepee will bring tribal culture and activism to the everyman

By Niki Cleary, Tulalip News

At 32, Deshawn Joseph has already lived the life of an addict, cleaned up and is currently father to three children and founder of In Your TeePee, a small art and apparel business dedicated to giving back.

“In your TeePee is a reflection of what’s in your closet, but not just your closet, your home, your people, where you live and what you represent. I want to follow my culture and bring back pride in the Indian Community through exposure of art, political awareness and philanthropy. I want to give these teachings to the youth, show them that there are bigger and brighter things than just this reservation and your own family. I want to show that our people are resilient, we’re strong, creative and we have passion.

“In Your TeePee isn’t just about pride,” Joseph continued. “It’s about being humble, in a conducive manner for our youth. It’s a group of people working together, all native based and working for a brighter future. I started this with the free promotion of art. I’m not wealthy, I’m a full-time deckhand just trying to make it work, but I want to give back.”

Although Joseph is the founder and provides the vision behind In Your TeePee, the company is run more like a co-operative for artists.

“I know artists out there who are very talented, but may not have the time, money or ability to promote themselves. I’m currently working with five artists at this time, all Native American. I don’t necessarily want to be the front line person. Multiple people have stepped forward to say, ‘I like what you’re doing.’ It’s so exciting. Chad Charlie, a comedian with Rez2Rez, wants to be the face of In Your TeePee. I have four categories: Apparel, Art, Music and Community. We also want to give back to the community through public speaking. We’re against drugs, gangs and want to prevent suicide. This isn’t just for me, this is for our people.”

In Your TeePee has featured artwork by Toni Jo Gobin (Tulalip), Clint Cambell (Ojibwe), Daniel Mayotte (Red Lake Band of Chippewa), and Aaron Hamilton (Yakama).

“I’m not an artist,” Joseph confessed. “I want to say I’m the creative mind behind the art. The people who do my art, I give them an idea and let them do the art their way. I never did art, I’ve tried, but I just don’t have that touch with my hands, but I can image it in my mind.”

Although his only storefronts are Facebook and a booth at tribal gatherings, Joseph has big dreams for expanding the brand.

“I have ideas for Zumies and Pac Sun. These stores aren’t necessarily Native, but they do carry political t-shirts. If I could get a shirt into Zumies, that could really solidify us. For now I’m strictly on-line and doing Native American gatherings.”

Joseph’s dream for In Your TeePee started years ago; he credits his family, especially his children Jaylen (13), Caleb (11) and Tamiah (9), with motivating him to launch.

“Native American’s are just like a star quilt. Each generation is stitched to the next. My grandmother is Loretta James. My mom’s father is Douglas Jefferson from Lummi. My mom is Carmen Burke, she’s always interested me in my art, dancing and fashion. That’s where I started this love of fashion. And just me being a father, I want my children in the best position to succeed. I’ve turned my life around and hopefully my children can see that their father is leading by example.”

For more information about In Your TeePee find it on Facebook or email inyourteepee@gmail.com. If you’d like to share your business with the community, please contact the See-Yaht-Sub at editor@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov.

Comic Book Heroes Get A Gorgeous Native American Makeover

Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man look truly stunning following a traditional, Pacific Northwest makeover.

By Mark Wilson

Jan 22, 2014 fastcodesign.com

We all know Batman when we see him, but he always looks a little different, depending on the artist. Whereas in the hands of Dick Sprang, Batman is a barrel-chested 1920s strong man, in the hands of Frank Miller, Batman is an ever-evolving shadow of sinew–a monster darker than the night itself.

Even still, we’d never seen Batman imagined as a Native American warrior before Jeffrey Veregge, an artist and member of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (located just outside of Seattle), depicted him alongside Superman, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Flash through traditional Coast Salish design. Coast Salish is an art form unique to the Pacific Northwest, known for depicting the earth, sky, and its animals in distinctive, swooshing silhouettes.

“I want people get a chance to relate to an art form that has been used primarily to tell the tales of my people and heritage,” Veregge tells Co.Design. “I want to give other people an opportunity to see Native art tell the stories that many of us have grown up with, stories that transcend any single culture and can be embraced by all as their own.”

Now most of you will recognize Veregge’s superheroes, but what of their intricate lines? To understand the shapes behind Coast Salish, know that its best, grounding metaphor is that of dropping a pebble in calm water. With that framework in mind, you can recognize the prominent circles in the work, rippling out in half-moon crescents and trigons (shark-tooth-like abstract spears with three tips).

It just so happens that the Coast Salish visual framework works superbly for superheroes, as the trigons fire your eyes across the forms like arrows midflight. So Batman’s cape seems to swoop him downward to an unsuspecting victim, while Flash appears to explode forth from his hips and shoulders.

The effect is dynamic enough to make you crave a whole comic drawn in Coastal Salish, but you’ll have to settle for Veregge’s prints, which are available from time to time, in limited edition, 50-print runs. He’ll also be making new works for EMP Museum in Seattle.