"S'abadeb — The Gifts": An inside look at Coast Salish art and culture

An extraordinary book accompanies the exhibition "S'abadeb — The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists," which opens Friday at Seattle Art Museum. The book begins with a welcome note from the Honorable Cecile Hansen, chairwoman of the Duwamish Tribe, and it signals a seismic shift in the way Native American art and culture are presented.

In both the book and exhibition, Hansen and other members of the Coast Salish — about 70 Native American and First Nation groups whose territory enclosed the current cities of Seattle and Vancouver and Victoria, B. C. — have quite simply taken back their own history. Working with SAM curator Barbara Brotherton, they have erased the artificial boundary of the U.S.-Canada border and assembled the first major exhibition that brings together all the Coast Salish people. They have written many of the essays, told the stories, interpreted the artworks.

Now, with generosity, hospitality and honesty, these artists, scholars and community leaders are inviting us to share their cultural offerings, old and new. Here are some excerpts from the book and artworks that you will see in the exhibition.

Sheila Farr: sfarr@seattletimes.com

A Duwamish welcome

The Duwamish Tribe gives a warm welcome to all who read this book ...

We are an alive culture.

The ancestral homelands of the Duwamish Tribe are what is now the City of Seattle and the surrounding area. The Seattle Art Museum sits on Duwamish territory. Our chief was the honorable SEE-ALTH (Sealth, Chief Seattle), born on the shore of this homeland. The Duwamish were the stewards of more than 54,000 acres, living in peace, unless our safety was compromised by others. A "welcome" was the traditional way we greeted the first settlers when they arrived in the early 1800s.

Our way of giving and sharing was not reciprocated by the pioneers or by Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens, who came to sign treaties with the Indians and with Chief Sealth's people. Our chief gave welcome, but the governor was here to take Indian lands. The Duwamish Tribe was the first signer to the Point Elliott Treaty in January 1855. The famous treaty gave us the right to continue to fish in our usual and accustomed places and also set aside land for us to live in peace; provided educational, medical and housing monies; and, most importantly, assigned monies to pay us for the land ceded. These promises were never realized....

By the Honorable Cecile Hansen, chairwoman of the Duwamish Tribe

Radiant gifts

Stories enliven the worlds of Native cultures, and the arts beautify them. They are both gifts, as indicated by the Lushootseed title of this exhibition. The word s'abadeb is based on the ab (meaning to extend, stretch, reach out the arms and legs); plus the s-prefix, to mark a noun and to freeze-frame the action; ad, to show direct action; and the ending — eb, to indicate committed involvement in the action. Taken together, the words in the title suggest "extended, expansive, radiant gifts." These gifts are timeless yet are set in specific places in tribal homelands. Like the earth itself, they have adapted to new conditions and to various audiences in a multitude of languages [... ] they live on even as their original tellers pass "to the other side" after suffering devastating disease and despair. Though a Boeing plant or housing development may now occupy the site of a mythic episode, the imaginations of both storyteller and audience can ignore these intrusions onto a storied landscape....

By Vi taqsheblu Hilbert and Jay Miller

Treasures

The skilled craftsmen that created the reliable and seaworthy vessels of the Northwest Coast left no visible record of their techniques or achievements except one — their work. The very small number of surviving, full-sized historical canoes that exist today and the numerous canoe models of varying sizes and designs are all that the old masters left behind. Each one of these is an invaluable treasure.

By Steve Brown

A ritual quest

The Salish rite of passage is the Spirit Quest. It requires abstinence from food, sleep, personal comforts, sexual relations, and the security of home and loved ones. It demands rigid self-discipline and self-truth and is a means of positively channeling pre-adult energy. When the challenge is undertaken, the initiate is ritually dressed and prepares to leave an old life behind and to be brought forth to the Creator to bond with a spiritual guardian. The community is called to participate, and witnesses are called to validate the completion of the quest. In this way, the community acknowledges and celebrates the emergence of a new member of the society.

By Gerald Bruce subiyay Miller and D. Michael CHiXapkaid Pavel

Our moment on Earth

I think that the journey has only just begun and that part of our duty to honor our ancestors is to know that we are the ancestors to a future generation. We should be looking at our daily actions and asking ourselves if this is what we want our descendants to be proud of. The ancestral teachings that sustained people over the millennia are still valid: take care of the earth, respect the living things around you, share your knowledge, be kind to others, learn to listen and respect others' views, and work to resolve issues before they set you against another. These are elemental and don't require ceremony or public validation. Because I carry a Native name — Qwalsius — it is my daily responsibility to work toward those teachings the best I can. Above all, and what matters the most, is that we live and appreciate our own time, our own moment on this earth. Because things are always changing, our challenge is to be flexible and to always be able to "catch the tide."

By Qwalsius Shaun Peterson