Submitted by the San Juan Islands Museum of Art.

The San Juan Islands Museum of Art is proud to present “Shapeshifters” – a major exhibition of contemporary Northwest Coast Indigenous art, June 13 through Sept. 15, www.SJIMA.org. The museum is located at 540 Spring St., Friday Harbor.

The title “Shapeshifters” embodies the Northwest Coast Indigenous peoples’ connection and respect for the cleverness of the raven. It also reflects their diverse cultures’ ability to persevere and adapt to change for millennia. Indigenous stories tell us that “Raven created mankind on the Northwest Coast. His people’s art transcends the human experience. Raven always outwits the moment. He transforms to meet life’s challenges and shapeshifts to create new solutions for today’s dilemmas,” stated exhibit curator Lee Brooks.

“Shapeshifters” showcases the extraordinary diversity of contemporary Indigenous Northwest Coast Art. Works featured include luminous glass, bronze sculpture, red and yellow cedar carvings, basketry, serigraphs, argillite and multimedia art by some of the Northwest’s most renowned Indigenous artists.

The main gallery will be divided into four sections representing four of the unique Native cultural styles of the Pacific Northwest. Works by Susan A. Point, Musqueam, will represent the Coast Salish/South Coast culture. Rande Cook’s work will represent the Mid-Coast/Kwakwaka’wakw style; Christian White’s art will represent the Northern-style art of the Haida, and Tim Paul’s Nu-Cha-Nulth/West Coast style work will complete the main gallery display. Additional Native luminaries, such as Richard Hunt, Reg Davidson, Greg Colfax, Gordon Dick and Dan Friday will also be represented. “These works arise from the ancient history of the Northwest Coast and from the Heart of the Salish Sea,” Brooks said.

Lectures by the artists will complement the exhibit, promoting a deeper understanding and appreciation of Indigenous cultures and values. See the schedule below or at www.SJIMA.org.

“We are all shapeshifters,” Brooks states. “All the featured artists have transformed to meet challenges unique to their cultures. Susan Point survived a residential school to become a prominent Coast Salish artist. Rande Cook, hereditary chief of the Ma’amtigila, has chosen this moment to reestablish his people among the ghosts of their ancestors on [British Columbia’s] Village Island. Tim Paul keeps Nu Chah Nulth culture alive after many of his people were washed out to sea by floods and had to rebuild their village three times over the centuries. Christian White raised the tallest totem pole in Haida Gwaii after a 100-year hiatus.”

Join us for this exceptional exhibition and delve into the remarkable art and culture of the Northwest Coast.

Schedule

Christian White, and perhaps other featured artists, will be available for in-person interviews on June 12 and 13. Dan Friday will be available June 9. For interviews before the show opening, please get in touch with the museum for artists’ contact information.

All Artist Lectures begin at 1 p.m., Brickworks, 150 Nichols St., Friday Harbor. Lecture dates: Christian White: July 6, Shaun Peterson: Aug. 31, Rande Cook and other artist lectures: TBD. Check the website for updates, www.sjima.org.

Featured artist biographies

Susan Point

Point is a master at melding the traditional and modern, building on the visual elements of her culture to create a rich language in a full spectrum of color and media. Through her work, Point continues to tell old stories to new audiences — of care for the natural world and the lessons to be learned from a culture whose survival depended on knowledge of, and respect for, nature.

Born on April 5, 1952, Point’s home is part of the Musqueam First Nation Reservation in Vancouver, Canada, an area that incorporates her Coast Salish ancestral lands at the mouth of the Frazer River — a source of great inspiration for her work.

Point is successful in securing public art commissions due to her desire for new challenges and her ability to work on a massive scale. Point’s monumental sculptures welcome visitors at the Vancouver International Airport and the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., as well as public buildings and corporate developments on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border. Her house post sculpture “Interaction” welcomes visitors to the Port of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

Among many honors, Point was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts and presented with a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding work as an artist.

Christian White

Born in Old Masset, on the remote northern tip of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada, Christian White is of the Yahgulaanas Haida Raven Clan. A descendant of a long line of influential and talented artists, White, along with his father, Chief Edenshaw and other family members, have been major forces in keeping the Haida culture, art and language alive.

As a young teenager, he learned the traditional Haida style by studying the living masters around him. Quickly developing his own style while incorporating the rigid traditions of Haida carving, his artwork is deeply influenced by the myths and legends of his people.

White is known for his striking red and black bentwood boxes and intricately carved and inlaid argillite sculpture. Argillite, a soft black clay shale, is only found on the Queen Charlotte Islands. Because of its rarity, only Haida artists have the privilege of working in argillite.

In 2005, White constructed a traditional longhouse in his home village of Old Massett, the home of Tluu Xaada Naay Society and dance group, of which he is a member.

White is a founding member of the Old Massett Repatriation Committee. He has traveled extensively to help bring home some of the 12,000 Haida belongings held in museums worldwide, bringing inspiration and knowledge back to his community. White’s Native name means “True Voice.”

Rande Cook

West Coast multi-media Kwakwaka’wakw artist Rande Cook explores and combines traditional and contemporary styles, creating a unique approach to Indigenous art. Incorporating science, culture and his genuine passion for the well-being of old-growth forests and Mother Earth, Cook examines today’s world while preserving ancestral stories through new mediums and methods. Cook is known for pushing boundaries in pursuit of continual growth. His use of bright colors and form line elements in non-traditional mediums challenges audiences to expand their views of what constitutes Northwest Native art.

Cook was born in culture-rich Alert Bay, British Columbia, in 1977, subsequently moving to Victoria as a teenager. His cultural heritage is in the Namgis, Ma’amtigila and Mamalilikula bands.

Raised by his grandparents with strong cultural views and ties to his First Nation heritage, Cook’s grandfather taught him the essential elements of his family’s traditional art. Through him, Cook learned how art contributes to maintaining and preserving a flourishing culture.

Cook’s work is represented in fine art galleries in Canada and the United States, and his own Rande Cook Gallery in Victoria, Canada. Cook held the Audain Professorship of Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest with the visual arts department at the University of Victoria in 2015-2016 and graduated from the University of Victoria with an MFA in 2021.

Tim Paul

Tim Paul was born in 1950 into the Hesquiat Band of the Nu Chah Nulth people. He is currently making art, teaching and seeking community change from Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada.

The Nu Chah Nulth have lived for millennia on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, B.C., braving the dangers of the Pacific Ocean for survival. Traditionally whale hunters, the Nu Chah Nulth’s reliance on the sea manifested itself in every aspect of their lives and artwork, much of it found on utilitarian objects. Paul has a deep knowledge and understanding of his culture and history, which influences his work as an artist, environmentalist and teacher.

Paul held the position of first carver at the Royal British Columbia Museum, where he oversaw numerous commissions for totem poles for international sites. He is now focused on keeping his culture alive by setting up an Educational Cultural Language Library. Paul tells us, “You put so much of yourself into your art that it comes alive. A reminder to young artists: you gotta understand that art has roots; a house; a story.”

Paul’s work is part of the Legacy collection and the Out of the Mist—Treasures of the Nu-chah-nulth Chiefs collection of the Royal British Columbia Museum. His work can also be found internationally in fine art galleries and museums.