Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2003)
Spilyay Tymoo, Wji-m Artist evokes memories of traditional life Years of dedica tion to tribal arts earns tribal mem ber prestigious award from local museum. In the warm morning sun, Archie Caldera sits on a chair outside his art studio. Around him loom the barren hills and open blue skies of the Warm Springs Reservation. Above him, a wooden sign with the words "Thunderhawk Arts & Crafts" gendy swings in the breeze. He busies himself chiseling a design into the tip of a deer antler that is now the cavity for a pen. The pens, at $20 a shot, are part of his livelihood. "I see a pair of deer antlers as two pens, two buck knives, and 12 key chains," Caldera muses about his artistic sense. Inside his well-used studio ! space lays a deer-hide being pre pared for tanning, antlers are mounded in a pile, and bright colored glass and stone beads sparkle on the floor. , Hanging from the ceiling are beaded necklaces, dream catch ers, and handmade drums.; Deer andcr buck knives are . lined in neat rows on a table. ; Center staged is a moose ant her sculpture. ', It's his sculptures that won him recent fame and the Judge ;.Choices Award at the Museum ;at Warm Springs. ."; One could say Caldera is a ;connoisseur of tribal arts. -', His eyes shine as he talks of - his various influences and teach ers throughout his life. Eels counted at Biologists assess lam prey populations at Sherars Falls for the first time. By Shannon Keav eny Spiljay Tymoo 0 'on8 w'tn tne fishers, tribal biologist Jenni fer Graham and fish techni cian Joel Santos worked long, hard hours throughout the lamprey season at Sherars Falls. Their shifts often started at 10 p.m. and ended as late as four in the morning. As tribal fishermen moved their gaffing hooks slowing across the Sherars Falls rocks before snagging an eel, Graham and Santos used long handled dip nets to scoop their own eel up. Their efforts were part of tribal mark-recapture study at Sherars Falls to count Pa cific lamprey. "We were trying to estimate the numbers of lamprey crossing Sherars Falls, some thing that has never been done before," explained Gra ham. After catching the eel, the biologists quickly marked them and brought them two miles downstream to Buck I lollow Landing, where they I Springs, Oregon Story and photos by Shannon Keaveny As a young boy of about nine, Caldera first learned to do beadwork from his uncle, Bruce Berry. Because his family was poor, Caldera traded his beadwork for clothes. "I used to trade my beadwork for some Levi's," re members Caldera. At age 16, he carved his first eagle head, transforming a small piece of bone to a shining piece of ivory. He remembers learning how to make buck knives from Ri- "I do it all from my heart. Because of my tra ditional past, I have tradi tional feelings that make me proud to he a Native American. Being Native American sets me apart in this world. Archie Caldera Warm Springs artist chard Rowe, an Oklahoma Cherokee. As an adult, Caldera traveled to Canada and learned to carve stone. In his studio, he points to pic tures of bygone friends and fam ily and remembers the lessons from each person. But Caldera's grandmother, Rose Mitchell, still living down the street, is his biggest influ ence. .amprey caught at Sherars Falls and then recaptured later on. It Is part of an an effort by biologists to assess lamprey populations. were released. The marked lamprey were then recounted as they at tempted to pass over the falls again. In other lamprey studies on the Columbia River Basin, traps are used to catch the primitive fish. But this year at Sherars Falls the traditional dip-net was used for the first time by biolo gists to count lamprey. "I think it was successful be cause our numbers were higher," said Graham. Meanwhile, as eels were col lected by tribal members for personal subsistence use, the biologists measured and counted their catches. This practice was also done for the first time this year. The numbers for die two lam October 2, 2005 When she and other family members presented him a deer hide jacket, sewn with beadwork, saying they were very proud of him, Caldera was noth ing less than honored. "I just knew how much work something like that took and for them to give it to me was a great honor," says Caldera. From a traditional family, Caldera remembers growing up in an atmosphere where he al ways had access to his cultural arts. If he wanted to learn it, there was someone there to teach it. "My elders gave me most of my support," says Caldera. Caldera's family taught him to always give his first piece away, a lesson he follows to this day. "That's how you can tell a traditional boy. They give with their heart," he explains. The greatest thing you get in return is a smile, adds Caldera! Now, some 30 years later, traditional artisans knock on his door. Together they swap the knowledge of their ancestors that many fear may soon be lost. Some aspiring young artisans come knocking too. But, according to Caldera, not enough. Caldera will always openly share his knowledge of tanning hides, making buck knives, dream catchers, drums, using natural fibers, stringing a neck lace, traditional plant uses and Sherars that was marked prey studies at Sherars Falls probably won't be processed until late this year, said Graham. Relatively little is known about lamprey. What is known is that their life cycle is similar to salmon, In addition, the reasons for their decline in population arc similar to salmon: Passage problems for adult and juvenile lamprey mi grating through the dams, de clining conditions of spawning and rearing habitat in freshwa ter, decline of the marine prey base including ground fishes, walleye Pollock, Pacific hake, and salmonoids due to fishing and other factors, and chemical "rehabilitation" (i.e. extermina tion by rotcnonc) of streams. There arc three types of lamprey species that occur in the 0 V ' i . 1 i V if more. "I do it all from my heart. Because of my traditional past, I have traditional feelings that make me proud to be a Native American. Being Native Ameri can sets me apart in this world," says Caldera. Caldera's recent winning piece, Native Blessings, currendy exhibited at the Museum at Warm Springs, combines his knowledge of the traditional arts with reverence to the traditional Falls Columbia River Basin - Pacific lamprey, river lamprey, and west ern brook lamprey. Most commonly fished on the reservation and at Sherars Falls arc Pacific lamprey. Both Pacific lamprey and river lamprey are parasitic. They feed primarily in salt waters by attaching themselves to the pec toral region of a fish. After a long spawning period that can last up to seven years, juvenile lamprey head out to the ocean. It is estimated they remain in the ocean off the coast of Or egon for 20 to 40 months. As adults, they return upstream to spawn. During this time they do not feed. Considered weak swimmers compared to other fish, lamprey enter fresh water as late as June and complete migration into streams by September. Lamprey presence at Sherars I '"alls occurs between June and September. From late April to early Sep tember 2003, 115,689 lamprey had crossed Bonneville Dam. From the end of May ro early September 2003, 28,131 lamprey had crossed The Dalles Dam. Both counts were higher than 2002. From those locations the lam prey split off into various streams throughout the Colum bia River Basin. SET "3 . . 1 ti tribal practice, fishing. The six -point antlers, used as the base of the sculpture, came from a bull shot by Phillip Squiemphen and was the first he ever killed. Between two points is a fish ing scaffold made from a seven point bull elk horn, shot by Wil liam Stwyer. The net below was made from cut beads and took Caldera two days to make. A traditional fisherman, carved from the steatite stone, J9 4 is. New archaeologist surveys tribal timber sales, wild fire damage Hired in June, the new Warm Springs archaeologist is grateful for her opportu nity to work with the tribe. "I'd like to be here for many years," said Tara Gauthier. Gauthier primarily does ar chaeological surveys for fu ture timber sale sites on tribal lands. When a timber sale is pending, it's her that bush whacks through the brush and makes sure no prehis toric sites will be disturbed. "We call it 'back woods crashing.' But it's just hiking, which 1 love," she said. "My job is to try to allow logging to continue without disturbing things important to the area," she explained. In her office a large map is pinned to the wall. After performing a background search for land claims and prehistoric sites based on in formation from the maps, Gauthier makes arrange ments to go take a look her self. She scours the surface ground for remnants and signs of the past. If some thing significant is found, ar rangements arc made to log around the site or fall trees a ABOVE: Archie Caldera stands in front of his art studio on the Warm Springs Reservation. Left: Caldera chisels a design in a deer antler pen, one of the many traditional crafts he creates in his studio. is mounted on the.antletV ' " 'After, four years 6f 'honor able mention, Caldera received the Judges Choices award last Saturday at the Museum at Warm Springs. He dressed head to toe in traditional regalia. "I'm just a happy guy. I'm really proud," he says of the award. Caldera or Thunderhawk Arts and Crafts can be con tacted at (541)553-1081. Archaeologist Tara Gauthier away from the site. Rarely, Gauthier said, arc subsurface excavations done anymore. Usually only if a road or some other permanent struc ture is built, she explained. Gauthier is originally from the Seattle area. She recently received her Masters in Archae ology from Idaho State Univer sity in Pocatello. 1 ler thesis was on lithics, the study of stone tools. During summers while go ing to school, she spent time in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska on a excavation dig. She was also an archaeological intern near Mount I lood. As the B and B Complex fire simmers down, Gauthier and a crew will be surveying the dam age to historic areas. She also foresees her job as sessing construction sites on the reservation in the future. Page r 1