Lummi Artists on Lummi Island
Art is a powerful way to bring people together. The Lummi Island Artist Studio Tour has taken place on Labor Day weekend every year for the past several years. This year, the Lummi Island Heritage Trust is hosting Lummi artists at the Otto Preserve, so that islanders and visitors to the island can enjoy Lummi traditional and contemporary arts and crafts alongside island-based arts.
While Lummi artists may now live on the mainland, Lummi Island is part of traditional Lummi territory. It is home to ancestral village and ceremonial sites, as well as hunting and foraging grounds. Reefnet fishing is an ancestral Lhaq’temish (Lummi) technology that is still practiced — primarily by non-tribal fishermen — at Legoe Bay on Lummi Island.
Art is a way to bring Lummi back to the island, and the island back to Lummi
Since the relocation of the Lhaq’temish people from the islands to the mainland, Lummi Island has been home to mostly non-Native people. Although the ferry to Lummi Island docks at Gooseberry Point in Lummi Nation, the island and the Nation sometimes seem worlds apart. Art is a way to start to bring Lummi back to the island, and the island back to Lummi.
The Lummi Island Heritage Trust (LIHT) has a new Executive Director, Susan Hutton. She and the board of LIHT are committed to the conservation of lands and nature on the island, and also to building community. Increasingly, there is awareness that not only is the Island traditional Lhaq’temish (Lummi) territory, but also that Lhaq’temish history and present-day community, culture, spirituality, knowledge and leadership are vital to the health and future of this place we now all call home. LIHT is pleased to sponsor this event, and to host both Lummi and non-tribal artists at the Otto Preserve this year.
Swil Kanim is a widely-respected violinist, storyteller, and keynote speaker. He is currently collaborating with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. More at SwilKanim.com
Jason LaClair’s public art can been seen throughout Whatcom County: the salmon mural on North Forest Street is one recent example. He has created logos for a number of local businesses and sells prints of his paintings and designs, all of which are influenced by Coast Salish traditional techniques. You can read about Jason here at Whatcom Talk.
Saalmathlat Ethel Hillaire Warbus: “My art is multi-medium at times. Cedarbark, wool weaving, Native jewelry. After I retired all I wanted to do is finally pay attention to my gift of creating. Pretty items. Useful items. Keepsake items. Hats, traditional and contemporary. Headbands... Never know what's next on my creative thinking list.”
Floyd Warbus works with cedar bark in a traditional way.
Rosalee Qweleesia Revey-Jacobs: “I’m just a mom/auntie/grandma trying to make the world a prettier place. I was born and raised in WA State and I come from the Lummi Nation Tribe. As I get older, I find I have more time on my hands. I started doing crafts because it makes my heart happy to see the look on people’s faces when they get a gift. I love making the world a prettier place. Wreaths and home decor.” Rosalee’s website is MadeByRosalee.com
Creative Cuzzin’s art consists of art printed t-shirts, jackets, car cruisers (bling for your rear view mirror), artwork printed greeting cards and decals, photographs, acrylic paintings and prints & cedar work.” CreativeCuzzin.com
Aletha Ballew: “This month we’re spotlighting an amazing Native American deaf business owner named Aletha Ballew, native name is Sul’ laak I’e. She operates Native Knits on the Lummi Reservation and makes beautiful knitted wool clothing. She is from the Lummi Nation in Washington. Her family is Coast Salish. She learned to knit from her grandmother and has been spinning wool since she was 10 years old.” From the Deaf Inspiring at CSD.org.
Eliza Julius has acted in films, performed her poetry, hosted the podcast series Young and Indigenous, and worked at Children of the Setting Sun Productions. She now makes beaded jewelry of all kinds and lives on Lummi Island.
