During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown and through the reopening afterward, the Coe Center partnered with First American Art Magazine to present an interactive Zoom series in which Native artists discussed artworks in the Coe Collections. Collections Spotlight brought deep dives into objects from the Coe collection to the public from the artist’s perspective. These events were free and open to the public.
Evelyn Vanderhoop (Gaw Gitanee clan, Haida) is an artist of traditional Northern Northwest Coast textiles. Her art is in private, municipal, and museum collections internationally and she holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA.. Washington D.C.
Amongst the museums that hold her weaving art are The Burke Museum, Seattle, WA; Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, PQ; The Haida Gwaii Museum, Skidegate, BC, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
Teaching and perpetuating techniques and cultural knowledge is a legacy she received from her mother and grandmother which she has passed to her daughters, as well as, other students of Naaxiin and Ravenstail techniques.
Researching and sharing cultural knowledge of Haida history is an important goal she strives for in her travels to Institutions and museums intercontinentally, and with research fellowships from The Beinecke Library of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Yale University, New Haven, CN, The Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Native Art, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, and The Smithsonian Museums, NYC, NY.
Chilkat
Artist: Unkown
Culture/People: Tlingit or Haida
Place: Alaska or British Columbia
Media: Mountain goat and commercial sheep’s wool, cedar bark, dyes
Dims: 48 x 61 in.
Date: c. 1850
RTC No: NA1313
Summary of discussion in Collections Spotlight: (Discussion begins at 48:14)
Vanderhoop first gave an informative presentation on her knowledge of the robes and art of her tribes. The discussion then focused on the highlighted robe at the Center.
In discussing the robe at the Coe Center Vanderhoop began by noting that the fringe is important and relates to traditional stories. This robe is missing its side braids, and Vanderhoop says this could have been done by a collector who thought the textile was unraveling. It could also be an indicator of its age. Vanderhoop notes the overlay of warps without cedar on the fringe of the robe. This gives the fringe a fuller and lighter appearance. As part of this discussion, Bess Murphy noted the presence of both commercial yarn and hand-spun goat yarn, suggesting that perhaps it is a transitional piece.
Vanderhoop also focused on the brighter dyed colors on the back of the textile. Every community had different sources of blue dyes, but the yellow was dyed using wolf moss gained by trade from mainlanders and was consistent in textiles.
In reading the design of the blanket and looking at the formline designs, Vanderhoop noted that the robe features a bear (possibly a sea bear), which is distinguished by soft, rounded ear motifs. Vanderhoop discussed that sea creatures were honored as they were sea stewards. The robes would be taken with the people while they traveled in the hope of safe passage, but would not be worn and instead would have been kept in a box which would be patterned.