Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2003)
Spi'fyy Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon August 7, 2005 P3ge5 Artist sees challenges, opportunities By Dave McMechan Spiljay Tymoo Tribal artists face many chal lenges, and unique opportunities in marketing their work. One person with great insight into these challenges and oppor tunities is artist and art advocate Roxanne Chinook. For the past two years Chi nook has worked as the direc tor of the art marketing pro gram at Northwest Indian Col lege. The college is in Bellingham, Wash. Chinook has been work ing there for the past two years. "In order for Native Ameri can artists to persevere in today's economy," she said, "it is impera tive that we learn to compete at a much more aggressive level." Tribal casinos, she says, pro vide a unique opportunity for Native artists to make their work known to the buying public. "I am ecstatic that Kah-Nee-Ta now has a gallery to feature tribal members' artwork," Chi nook said of the resort's new art gallery. The Museum at Warm Springs, she said, is an excellent venue to display tribal member artwork. "But a museum's role," she said, "is primarily to preserve and exhibit artwork, and to edu cate the public." The casino is a better place to display tribal artwork for po tential sales, she said. "And we create a greater recognition of the continuity of Native Ameri can art," said Chinook, "and how the appropriation of these art forms impacts the survival of our culture." For decades, she said, Native ' Submitted photo Roxanne Chinook at her office at Northwest Indian College. American art, cultural and spiri tual symbols, artifacts and crafts have been appropriated by the Western world market economy. "And they are way ahead of us in marketing," said Chinook. Developing ways for tribal members to sell their art is a main goal for Chinook, as di rector of the Northwest Indian College art marketing program. In addition to advocating for display of Native art at tribal casinos, she advocates for tribes to hire tribal member artists as consultants during the casino design process, building and re modeling. Toward this goal she began an advocacy campaign in 2002, while living in Warm Springs. She sent e-mails, letters and ar ticles to tribal leaders, newspa pers, casino management, archi tectural firms and native com munities nationwide. Her effort gained recogni tion: she was an invited guest on the Native American Calling talk radio show in April of 2002; and Indian Gaming magazine pub lished an article on Chinook in May of that year. She was an invited guest pan elist at the Burke Museum in Seattle earlier this year. The topic was the "Indian-ness" of Indian Art. New marketing strategy Through her job, Chinook oversees an internet website, www.ebuynativeart.com, an elec tronic brochure of Native American art. The site receives over 100,000 hits per month. Chinook was one of the original artists recruited into the Northwest Indian College art marketing program. Shortly after joining, she re alized that the program needed to change in order to continue helping tribal artists and craftspeople toward self-sufficiency. Originally, the college devel oped the program to help Na tive artists by providing them with a venue to sell their work on-line, and generate enough sales to sustain the art market ing program. However, after she re searched similar Native Ameri can and on-line galleries, art mar keting resources and forums, she found that products under $50, such as prints, posters and craft items are what generate sales. Art directors, buyers and collectors are more interested in the old fashion way of viewing and buying high-end art, but will visit on-line galleries to gain in formation about artists. So she revised the art mar keting program grant to reflect the necessary change. The program's primary focus, she said, will always be to pro vide assistance to Pacific North west Native American artists. The assistance is through promo tion, education and preservation of traditional and contemporary fine art, crafts and culture. The process of education has to start at home, said Chinook. By this she means that Native American communities first must honor their tribal artists by buying only authentic native art, and by offering venues to sell their art. Toward this goals, she said, a special thanks goes to Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Re sort and Casino, and the Warm Springs Community. Young poet receives national recognition Walsey Ike-Thomas will travel to Orlando, Fla., to at tend a national poetry award conference, Aug. 28-Sept. 1. Ike-Thomas, who will be a senior at Madras High School, has been busy lately raising money for the trip. He's held car washes with his friends, and has more events planned for this week. On Friday, Aug. 8, he will host a fundraiser from 11 a.m. till 3 p.m. at Elmer Quinn Park. People contributing re ceive a large slice of pizza and drink; hamburger and hotdog with chips and drink. Contri butions of $3 are requested. On Saturday, Aug. 9, he will host a fundraiser behind the Community Wellness Cen ter. Food items include stew and fry bread, plus a bake sale. There will be a variety of pies, cakes and cupcakes. Contributions of $5 are re quested. This fundraiser will be from 11 a.m. until the items for sale are gone. Ike-Thomas has many in terests besides poetry. These include writing music, weav ing baskets, and computer science. He is drug and alcohol free. Ike-Thomas is a good role model for his younger sisters, said his mother Lovie Ike. Walsey has pre-enlisted in the Marine Corps and will be leaving soon after graduation next year. He said that his role mod els in life are his uncle Ty and Walsey James Ike-Thomas his mom. "Tyrone always en courages me by spending lots of quality time, like taking me to the movies, on trips, shop ping and doing chores. He's my other dad," said Walsey. Of his mother Lovie Ike, Walsey said, "Because my mom's a cop, she always keeps us in check, I appreci ate everything she has done. There are no words that can express everything she's done for my sisters and me." He said he would like to thank Natalie Kirk for teach ing him how to weave bas kets. He also wished to thank all his friends who have helped with the car wash fundraiser. These include Clinton Tohet, Delmer Davis, Truman Merrifield, Curtis Satanaus, Wynona Tohet and Felicity VanPelt. Any assistance toward making the trip to Orlando happen would be greatly ap preciated, said Ike-Thomas. The home phone is 553-1242. Land purchase to help restore fish above dams Streams supported chinook, sockeye By Dave McMechan Spiljay Tymoo Salmon runs once existed in rivers and streams above the Pelton-Round Butte hydroelec tric facilities on the Deschutes River. Bringing the fish back to their historic habitat is a goal of the Confederated Tribes, as co owner with Portland General Electric (PGE) of Pelton Round Butte. One key aspect of restoring the fish runs is passage above and below the dams, which for now form impassable barriers to migrating fish. Another critical aspect of restoration is ensuring that fish habitat still exists above the dams. The tribes and PGE currently are working on how to establish fish passage past the dams. Meanwhile, the Deschutes Basin Land Trust announced good news recently in regard to fish habitat upstream from the dams. The land trust, based in Bend, has purchased 1,240 forested acres near Camp Sherman. The land is on Like Creek, a primary tributary of the Deschutes River. The creek con tains some of the most impor tant fish and wildlife habitat in the region. The purchase will greatly help in the effort to restore the salmon above Pelton-Round Butte, said Robert Brunoe, gen eral manager of Warm Springs Natural Resources. Brunoe is an advisor and former board member of the Deschutes Basin Land Trust. He's visited the property several times. "This is a great purchase," Brunoe said of the new Lake Creek preserve. Brad Chalfant, executive di rector of the land trust, said, "With this project the land trust really has come of age. Our success on the Metolius will pro pel us forward with projects on the Crooked and Deschutes Riv ers." The land trust, based in Bend, works with landowners and com munities in the region toward protecting privately-owned land that is important to fish and wildlife. Chinook, sockeye runs Spring chinook once spawned in the many forks of Lake Creek on the preserve property, Sockeye salmon - one of only two historic runs in the I mm TMt & lit . :T'tfk j 3d '4 5y f A "PI 8 Mmm ' "1! .. . ft r sis Courtuy of th land Iruit These photos show the preserve property and Lake Creek. state - swam through the prop erty to their spawning gravels above Suttle Lake. The preserve is located within a highly diverse forest support ing a variety of wildlife, includ ing a large herd of elk. The for est is a stopping place for song- the preserve is the historic spawning ground for one species, while another passes through the preserve to spawn farther upstream... birds migrating between Canada and South and Central America. The Deschutes Basin Land Trust obtained an option to pur chase the 1,240 acres from Willamette Industries, shortly before Willamette was acquired by Weyerhaeuser. The trust completed the purchase with Weyerhaeuser, after an ambi tious campaign to raise the funds to buy, restore and man age the forest land. The acquisition is part of the land trust's campaign called "Back to Home Waters," an ef fort to restore salmon and steel head to the upper Deschutes River Basin. "Relicensing the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project near Warm Springs, which includes a plan for get ting anadromous fish through the dams, creates an historic opportunity to bring salmon and stcclhcad trout back to the up per Deschutes Basin," said Chalfant. "That effort will succeed only if the fish have some place to spawn. The preserve is the historic spawning ground for one species, while the other passes through the preserve to spawn farther upstream. Vou don't get many opportunities in life like this." Now that the land trust owns the property, Chalfant said that the most immediate challenge is to balance the public's desire for access against the need to begin providing stewardship. "We now need to convert roads to trails, restore disturbed areas, reduce the risk of wild fires and improve wildlife habi tat," he said. The land trust was founded in 1995. The trust acquires land or development rights to help conserve and protect the Deschutes Basin's natural heri tage and scenic vistas. Since its founding, the trust has protected over 5,500 acres in the Deschutes Basin. Through its "Back to I Iomc Waters" campaign, the trust seeks to facilitate the successful rcintroduction of salmon and steclhcad trout to the upper Deschutes Basin. This would be the first time in four decades years that the fish would be present above the dams. Native American artifacts featured in Lewis and Clark exhibit GOLDENDALE, Washing ton President Thomas Jefferson's primary objective in sending Meriwether Lewis, Wil liam Clark and the Corps of Discovery to explore for a river route to the Pacific in 1 803 was to sow the seeds for trade and commerce in the Northwest. Through Nov. 15, Maryhill Museum will spotlight that as pect of their epoch adventure in a new intimate exhibit titled Lewis and Clark At Maryhill, Curatcd by noted authors Mary Schlick and Rex Ziak, the exhibit features original Native American artifacts comparable to those Lewis and Clark col lected and documented while in the Columbia River Gorge, along with quotes from the Corps of Discovery journals describing such objects - objects that Native Americans had been using for generations to produce merchandise for trade. "Maryhill's vast collection of Native American objects made it possible for us to pull together a wonderful exhibit illustrating the fullness of Native American culture at the time the Corps traded with tribes in the region," said Schlick. "Everything from horn bowls and spoons to fish hooks and baskets made just for cooking." On April 19, 1806, William Clark wrote in his journal, "There was great joy with the natives last night in consequence of the arrival of the salmon." The Maryhill exhibit brings quotes such as this to life by dis playing related artifacts like deer bone fish hooks, a fish gig, and fishing lines made of silk grass. In October of 1805, and again on April 22, 1806, the Corps walked across much of the 6,000 acres the museum now holds. "This stretch of the Colum bia River served as the Wall Street of the Northwest," said Rex Ziak. "A site of great sea sonal gatherings, a place where anything could be traded." Many of the objects in the museum's Native American ex hibitions were gifted to it by the Mary Underwood Lane family. Lane was related to Chief Welawa (Chcnoweth) of the Cascade Tribe. I ler grandmother, Sally Wa-chi-chus attended the famous council held by Lewis and Clark at the Cascades of the Colum bia during the Corps' stay in the (Jorge. The association of these fam ily heirlooms with Sally Wa-chi-chus indicates that some of them are of the same era, style and materials as those docu mented and collected by the Corps of Discovery. Maryhill Museum, a castle like mansion overlooking the Columbia River, is located just west of US. 97 on Washington's Scenic Route 14. The museum is open daily, including holidays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is a cafe, mu seum store, gardens and pic nic area, General admission is $7.