La'au Pau yesterday ... honoring place, people, time

Yesterday was our Holy Days gift day to one another. Pete was my driver as we headed north to La Conner where the Museum of Northwest Art  was displaying the art exhibit entitled 

"Not Vanishing" A Proud Assertion of Heritage.

Cascadia Weekly published an article by Stephen Hunter describing "Not Vanishing" starting with this paragraph, " In the proud assertion of Native American heritage that is "Not Vanishing: Contemporary Expressions in Indigenous Art, 1997-2015," attendees at La Conner's Museum of Northwest Art will see powerful works created by the first generation of American Indian artists to hve benefited from higher education and acceptance into mainstream culture following the cultural revolution of the 1960s."  

The free to the public exhibit was a perfect gift for this winter of 2015. The art was a mixed media experience that was surprising, inspiring, disquieting, humbling and so worth the two hour drive up the island and over the bridge into the Skagit wetlands. The exhibit runs through January 3, 2016. It is wonderful!

This is the description of one of my favorite pieces "Blood Quantum Countdown". Created by Erin Genia in 2011.
Hover and click on the description for a larger view of the description. The work is a huge working clock with masterfully molded and glazed faces depicting the blood quantum in place of numbers on a clock face;
measuring native enough-ness, entitling worth.  

We left the woods in Langley just after 9 in the morning hoping to find a break in the clouds, and the promise of some blue sky and sunshine up north. We were rewarded

Our first stop was just minutes away from the Museum of Northwest Art. We had long wanted to stop and visit what we call "The Three Hats" ... three awesomely beautiful buildings that overlook the channel between La Conner and the Swinomish Reservation.

 What we found when we stepped from the Subaru and began walking toward the first 'hat' was a park of reclamation. Students from La Conner Junior High School had begun a program of gathering seed and propagating native plants in their classroom. The photos and informational placards here describe the plants now taking root in the slopes leading to the hats. The native language is included along with common names, Latin names and the native uses for plants that grow in this Pacific Northwest Salish world.

Pete in one of the three hats. You can see the other two pavilions in the distance

A view of the inside of one of the pavilions, December 29, 2015

The work to create the three cedar hats Pavilion overlooking the Swinomish Channel to welcome the Canoe Journey, 2011

Walking and chanting the 'oli Pule Ho'ulu'ulu ... thanking the ancestors in the Swinomish Channel Pavilion,
December, 29, 2015 

Three pavilions patterned after woven cedar hats provide a stunning backdrop to the arrival of canoes at Swinomish during the 2011 Canoe Journey. The site is now a park overlooking Swinomish Channel and features a native-plant garden and interpretive panels on various aspects of Swinomish history. (Richard Walker)

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/10/01/10-things-you-should-know-about-swinomish-tribe-161926

And ... as we wandered back from our deliriously warming day with the exhibited artwork of Native artists, and fed the internal fires of creativity with the energy of the Three Hats we stopped along the western facing shore of Whidbey Island, to photograph this multi media beach art of kelp, round stones and layered graffiti on a la'au pau day.