PORT ANGELES — Darrell Charles Jr. rubbed his hand along the side of the 30-foot cedar canoe he’s begun and talked proudly about how the vessel will develop into a piece of art.
Charles began the canoe in November with the help of seven or eight young men of the Makah and Lower Elwha Klallam tribes.
He began the program — and received a $4,500 grant from Seattle’s Potlatch Fund — to create a canoe that can be used frequently, as well as to teach young men about the process of making a canoe.
The Potlatch Fund was formed in 2002 in Seattle to give money to Native Americans for special projects.
The men in their late teens to late 20s who are working on the canoe “are too old for a lot of programs, and then they aren’t married or have kids so they don’t fit in that category, and then they are too young for a lot of others,” Charles said.
“I wanted to give them something productive to do.”
Parker’s grant proposal
When Tor Parker, who is an enrolled Makah member and experienced grant writer, heard of Charles’ plans, she tracked down the artist grant through the Potlatch Fund and wrote the proposal.
“My boys have known him since they were this big,” she said, holding her arm about 3 feet above the ground.
“He was the skipper for the youth canoe during the [annual] Canoe Journey with them” for many years, she added.
Her son, Steve Parker, often works on the canoe, and his brother, Chris, has helped out from time to time.
“It is really good for them because they are at the age where there is really nothing available for them,” Parker said.
Instead of digging out a log, as some canoes are made, Charles created forms and strips of woods to shape it.
Inlay artwork
Once all the strips are tightly glued together, he will inlay artwork along the sides and then seal it with fiberglass.
He said he hasn’t yet decided what artwork he will use — or the material for it — or the canoe’s name.
“In the past with canoes, we’d find the oldest member of the family and let them pick a name for it,” he said.
Beyond giving 20-somethings a project, Charles said, he wanted to pass on the tradition of canoe making.
“I don’t want it to stop here,” he said. “We can do a lot more.”
He said he is still looking into other grants and places to build future canoes.
A friend is allowing him to use a shed to build his current canoe.
“I don’t know how long we can stay here, though,” he said.
Once completed, he said, he is going to encourage the young people to use the canoe as often as possible.
“When I was younger, it seemed like we were constantly training and taking the canoe out,” he said.
He said he wanted to encourage them to use canoes in other traditional ways, such as fishing.
He and the young men work on the canoe during the weekends.
He squeezes in the work between other art projects and working at the Lower Elwha Klallam fisheries.
The next project will be a 16-foot canoe, he said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
