Salish Weaving

"A wide-ranging cultural study that explores Coast Salish weaving and culture through technical and anthropological approaches."--Provided by publisher.

Published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by the Vancouver Art gallery from February 18 to 28 May 2017.

At Sea with the Marine Birds of the Raincoast tells the stories of conservation scientist Caroline Fox and the marine birds she studies as she sails along the Northwest Coast.

To produce this book, Cheryl Samuel travelled to Leningrad, Copenhagen, and London to examine the six robes in Europe. She also studied the robes housed in museums in Canada and the United States. In 1985, she reconstructed Chief Kotlean's robe, using information she had gathered from her study of the actual robes and Tikhanov's paintings. In the process, she resurrected an old weaving style no longer used by the Native people on the northern coast. Through her extensive and careful research, Cheryl Samuel makes an important contribution to the knowledge of early Indian weaving.

Throughout the mid-1800s, Coast and Interior Salish families arranged strategic cross-cultural marriages, and these alliances played a crucial role in regional settlement and spared Puget Sound's upper corner from the tragic conflicts other regions experienced. Although accounts of the men exist in a variety of records, the contributions of their native wives remain unacknowledged. Author Candace Wellman hopes to shatter stereotypes surrounding these relationships. The four women profiled--Caroline Davis Kavanaugh, Mary Fitzhugh Lear Phillips, Clara Tennant Selhameten, and Nellie Carr Lane--exhibited exceptional endurance, strength, and adaptability. Remembered as loving mothers and good neighbors, they ran successful farms, nursed and supported family members, served as midwives, and operated profitable businesses. They visited relatives and attended ancestral gatherings, often with their children. Each woman's story is uniquely her own, but together they and other intermarried women left lasting legacies. They were peace weavers.