SJIMA Explores NW Coast People’s Art, Adornment

Sunday, August 20, 2 p.m., Friday Harbor Grange

— from Diane Martindale, San Juan Islands Museum of Art —

David A.Boxley  and David Robert Boxley. Photo by Steve Quin

From tattoos to tennis shoes, cedar back capes to designer hoodies, clothing and jewelry has always communicated deep history and contemporary affiliations. Wearing Identity – Art and Adornment on the Northwest Coast presented by Katie Bunn-Marcuse is sponsored by the San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA).

Katie Bunn-Marcuse at work.

The talk at The Grange in Friday Harbor on Sunday, August 20 at 2 p.m. will explore the many ways that identity has been expressed through adornment in the Pacific NW Coast for 200 years.

Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, PhD is the curator of NW Native art and director of the Bill Holm Center for the Study of NW Native Art- Burke Museum, and assistant professor of art history at the University of Washington. She focuses how the artists are informed by the artistry of previous generations. She will more fully explain sentiments such as “For our people, what we wear is who we are. Our jewelry and our clothing represent where we come from. We wear our history,” by Jim Hart, Chief Edensu, (Haida)

SJIMA has quality interpretive and educational programs accompanying its exhibitions, in this case EMERGENCE Legendary & Emerging First Nation Artists, here until after Labor Day weekend.

Tickets are available at 540 Spring St., Thursday-Monday, 11-6, at www.sjima.org or at the door. $18, $15 for members, $10 students. 360-370-5050

Silver bracelet by Charles Edenshaw

Bunn-Marcuse’s publications focus on the indigenization of European-American imagery, 19th-century Northwest Coast jewelry and other body adornment, and the filmic history of the Kwakwaka’wakw. As well, she tracks the practices of contemporary artists and how they are informed by the artistry of previous generations. In her role as curator, she collaborates with First Nations communities and artists to identify research priorities and to activate the Burke Museum’s holdings in ways that are responsive to cultural revitalization efforts.

Questions? Call Diane Martindale at 360-370-5814 or diane.martindale@rockisland.com.

Front photo: Dorothy Grant, Haida fashion designer. Photo by Red Works