Clark County Mural Society recently gave us the opportunity to paint a mural in honor of the Chinook Tribe, in Vancouver Washington. We worked with the vice Chairman of the Tribe to draft the final design. This wall took 7 days from start to finish. Let us know what you think! UPDATE: This mural won First Prize in Clark County Mural Society's Summer of Murals Program! Visit www.ccmurals.org for more info. Thanks!
Click on the images to enlarge them
Their artwork is always a part of their tools or other usable items, like this bowl with carvings on the end. Teeming Chinook salmon going buck wild in the bowl.
Catherine George here is the Great Great Great Grandmother of the vice Chairman of the tribe who I worked with to design the mural. She was a master basket weaver, as symbolized by her fantastic basket.
Traditional Chinook design often depicts the human figure with features like this. My own interpretation of their design came through here also. They always indicate the ribs of the living, with either triangles or other forms. The number 5 is important in their mystic beliefs, hence the 5 triangles at the top of the head.
This is a portrait of Chief George Allan Charley, who played an important role in saving the Chinook and other Native Northwest Tribes from American Expansion, depicted with knife and ceremonial beads.
Chinook lived in community plankhouses. They were up to 160 feet long, with hundreds of people living in them. Visit plankhouse.org for more info
Quote from Sam Robinson, the vice Chairman of the tribe, who took the time to sit down with me and tell me about his people's history, go through several books, and photocopied lots of photos for reference in the final design
Wow Travis , this is really unbelieveably good. The details are excellent, and you can see the respect for their culture in your work and interpretaion. I hope you really had a spiritual and great learning experience with this one. Just superb. You should be really proud of this one. Would like to know what the Chinook people thought of this? Peter
ReplyDeleteThis is really an amazing mural!! Super awesome work, Travis!
ReplyDeleteNice painting. Why not have a chinook do chinook art? Exploitation comes in many forms and degrees. Surely there are chinooks capable of painting a mural? Was the tribe contacted and given an opportunity beyond commenting? A tribute, or another example of lost opportunity for a native artist?
ReplyDeleteA concerned tribal member.
From what we understand, tribal members were encouraged to submit sketches for the mural, however the Clark County Mural Society chose our sketch based on the quality of the sketch and our extensive previous work experience painting murals. They then had us meet with the vice Chairman of the Chinook Tribe, his name is Sam Robinson. Sam gave us a history lesson on the Chinook people, and went through several different books to help us research imagery that was specifically honoring the Chinook. I then completely redesigned the mural to include all of the most important symbols that Vice Chairman Robinson requested. He told us that he was very happy with the work we had done for him and his people, and that we would make his ancestors proud with the work we had done.
DeleteFor more information, you can visit http://www.ccmurals.org/ Clark County Mural Society put together the funding for this project to help raise awareness for the Chinook Tribe. Feel free to contact them with any questions, comments, or concerns. I agree that it would have been nice to paint with tribal members. We were hired to work with and paint for the Chinook, but were not a part of the committee making the decisions on who and when the wall was painted.
The mural looks wonderful Travis! Great job!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy do you have Chief Charley on there? He is Lower Chehalis not Chinook. He was Chief of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe of which I am his direct descendant.
ReplyDeleteWe were told to include Chief Charley by Sam Robinson, who is the Vice Chairman of the Chinook Tribe.
ReplyDeleteI wonder that this was put out there by Mr. Robinson without the knowledge of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe. Tribes should not disrespect other Tribes. Is this an honorable way for pursuit of federal recognition? I feel this is offensive in an attempt to usurp Shoalwater Bay tribal history. Why would they put our Chief George Allen Charley (Robinson spelled it wrong) likeness on their mural. It is a replica of a picture at our Tribal Center.
DeleteI'm sorry that this offended you. We included everything in this mural by Vice Chairman Sam Robinson's request, and assumed the information he provided us was correct. You can contact the Chinook and Mr. Robinson here (http://www.chinooktribe.org/contact.html) or Mr. Robinson directly at (chinooksam1956@comcast.net) Please let me know if there is anything we can do to help the situation.
DeleteI am a Descendant of Cheif Charley as well. He was Chehalis and Chinook. I am enrolled Chinook, but am just as closely related as our family over in Shoalwater Bay. I am enrollable in either tribe, however, my family always stayed enrolled in Chinook. They are all connected though. I have cousins in Shoalwater, and cousins in Bay Center, all the same. Just wanted to get that out there.
ReplyDeleteChief Charley was half Chinook/ half Chehalis. That is why there is such a close connection between the two tribes. He was married to a Full Blooded Chinook woman. His children, and all that followed are therefore Chinook and Chehalis. Roland Charley was a Chinook tribal member most of his life. He sat on council and was one of the writers of the Chinook Constitution that is still used today. It says his name right on it and lists him as Chinook and Chehalis. So I am confused as to why anyone would say he was Shoalwater? Where does that come in? I have always understood Shoalwater as a place where the different tribes would hunt and gather seasonaly. Not a permanent location of any one tribe.
ReplyDeleteI am from Quinault and just want to say that I did a little research on this issue. According to the rolls, history, and asking around a bit, Chief Charley seems to be connected to Chehalis, Chinook and Quinault.He lived in the Shoalwater area though. Probably had better clam digging there. That's pretty common to be related to a few tribes, especially on the Coast. With that said, I am confused why Indians would argue with each other about it. We are all family! We need to stick together not waste our time fighting like the Whites! I have relations from Chinook. So what? I could hang a picture of Sitting Bull in my tribal center and eventually everyone would think we descended from him. That's a fact. Maybe this Mr. Robinson was confused too. Seems like it wouldn't be too hard to get confused on this matter. I don't think anyone is stealing any bodies history, considering we all got the same history! Let's draw straws then if you guys want to waste your time this way. The longest straw gets to claim him! Just saying.
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show that you cannot please all the people all of the time! This project was mentioned more than once in a few of Chinook council meetings I attended, so we know and were supporting it. I know that we recognize Chief Charley as one of our ancestors as does other tribes in the region. I think that, yes, it is unfortunate that a Tribal member was not selected to paint this mural, however, I applaud Travis for going to the Chinooks to ask for insight and direction. This mural is doing exactly what it should be doing, starting a conversation. And the fact that we are talking about Unrecognized EXISTING People and not some dead culture - and NO ONE has brought that up - is sad. Our Quinault cousin said it best, why ARE we arguing among ourselves about this? So, here's the plug...enjoy the art or don't, it is your choice, but please fight for restoration for the Chinook. Here's the link to the petition the tribe set up. http://wh.gov/N6vL Masi
ReplyDeleteTo the artist: I very much like your artwork even of Chief George Allen Charley of Shoalwater Bay. Good artist.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the compliment! We've been told by several members of northwest native tribes that Chief George Allen Charley was related to many, including but not limited to the Chinook. As artists we hope that his image can stand as a symbol of interconnectedness between tribes, and that other tribes besides Chinook may be able to take pride in this mural as well.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant art transcends race or culture.
ReplyDeleteClearly this is fabulous artwork. Only brilliant and successful people have critics. Congrats!
I'll be hiring you!
I'm honored that you think so highly of our work! Are you interested in having us work with you on a project? Please email us at rathersevere@gmail if so. Thank you!
DeleteI just saw your entry and I am definitely thrilled by the manner you create your posts! Which methods do you mostly use to spread the word that you have posted a new blog article to your domain?
ReplyDeleteWe usually share our post on craigslist in an appropriate area, we share our posts on facebook, and we usually email all of our previous contacts in our emails to show them our newest works.
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