Salmon People - Chiin Xaada
Prints are $150 each plus $20 postage if you wish us to ship direct to you. All proceeds benefit the San Juan Nature Institute. We take MasterCharge or Visa. Please contact us at director@sjnature.org, call us at 360-378-3646, or make an online order using the form below. The following artist's story will be included with the print: The indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast are salmon people. Each species of salmon, with its seasonal order of appearance dictated human activities, and indeed, their wealth. Historically, the sea’s bounty was so great and easily harvested, that the Northwest Coast had one of the densest non-agricultural populations on earth. This resource freed time to develop a highly complex culture. This is a formline depiction of a spawning female and male Oncorynchus tshawytscha, known commonly by various names: King, Chinook, Spring, Tyee, Blackmouth, and in the Haida language, Taawaan. They are the largest of all the Pacific salmon, and being anadromous, hatch in freshwater, spending time in estuaries and shorelines before going to sea, then returning to their birthplace streams to spawn anywhere from their second to seventh year. Travel in the freshwater spawning migration can be extensive; up to two thousand river miles over a sixty-day period. The human figures within the design signify the valuable role salmon play in our lives and our need to honor and respect that relationship. The artist, April White, was born on Haida Gwaii, the Queen Charlotte Islands. Through her father, she is a direct descendant of the renowned Haida artist Charles Edenshaw of the Eagle Clan. Entirely self-taught, April's natural inclination stems from her Haida heritage.
|
