Collaborations with Joe “wahalatsu?” Seymour
Joe (wahalatsu?) Seymour (Squaxin / Pueblo Acoma) is a celebrated Coast Salish artist operating in the Squaxin Island Tribe’s ancestral territory known today as Olympia, WA. Joe and I have collaborated over the past 12 years to elevate his art, through collaborative design, to the public in mural form. Our pieces have been recognized, protected, and celebrated by the City of Olympia and the Tribal Council of Squaxin Island
“Welcome to Squaxin Territory” is a statement piece clarifying that the downtown corridor and shores of Olympia is the ancestral territory of the Squaxin people. A collaborative design effort between Joe and I, his traditional designs adorn the paddles and represent the seven traditional families from the seven inlets of the South Salish Sea. Represented are the clans Salmon, Raven, Orca, Frog, Wolf, Beaver, and Bear. The octopus represents protection of the water, while the traditional trigon/ellipse eyes of the Salish sea keep a watchful presence. The braided border is Joe’s interpretation of sea kelp.
Land of the Raven is the sister mural around the corner and on the same structure that Welcome to Squaxin Territory is home to. Another statement piece from Seymour, this mural clarifies that the shores of the city of Olympia is more specifically the ancestral territory of Raven Clan. Land of the Raven is Joe’s design, hand drafted to scale onsite.
PADDLE TO SQUAXIN MURAL
In 2012, The Olympia Downtown Association provided a grant for this mural on Percival Landing. Joe and I were the leading applicants. He had the artistic training and cultural background in Coast Salish art, but no mural painting experience. I had the mural and logistical training of working in the public, but no experience with Coastal Salish art. Our friendship began here and endures today. This mural was a welcoming mural for the 2012 Paddle to Squaxin Tribal Journey. During the summer of 2012, Indigenous tribes from as far as Alaska, New Zealand, and The Great Lakes gathered on the West coasts of Canada and The United States and paddled their way to downtown Olympia in dugout canoes for a week of protocol, sharing, and potlatch at the Squaxin Island Indian Tribe reservation. Our mural depicts actual canoe families referenced from photos of previous journeys Joe had been on, his Rising Sun design, the Cascade mountain range, and a collaboratively designed Welcome Figure; a traditional carving that would stand on the shores of an ancestral territory, welcoming visitors that came by water.
