NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, March 4.
PORT TOWNSEND — Native American history and art are at the forefront of the offerings this weekend from the Jefferson County Historical Society.
In the First Friday Lecture at 7 tonight, Joshua L. Reid, author of The Sea Is My Country: The Maritime World of the Makahs, will tell of the traditional relationship of the Makah of Neah Bay to the sea and the tribe’s attempts to maintain that relationship in a modern world.
A donation of $5 is suggested as admission to tonight’s lecture in the Port Townsend City Council chambers at 540 Water St. Donations support Jefferson County Historical Society programs.
“Persistent Vision: Northwest Native Art” will open at the Jefferson Museum of Art & History on Saturday.
The museum at 540 Water St. is open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. the first Saturday of each month for the Port Townsend Art Walk.
The Sea Is My Country is a history of the Makah from the time of contact with Europeans in the 18th century to the present day.
It examines the political structure of the Makah, their concept of territory, how they controlled their waters and resources, and their use of technology.
Reid was born and raised in Washington and is a member of the Snohomish tribe.
He is a professor of Native American studies at the University of Washington. He has a bachelor’s degree from Yale and a master’s and doctorate from the University of California at Davis.
For more information about the lecture, call Brooke Weber at 360-385-1003.
Art show
The art show opening Saturday will combine work by contemporary Native artists with rare artifacts from the historical society collection.
The pieces show a range of techniques in materials including wood, cloth and paper.
Marvin Oliver, a respected sculptor and print maker of Quinault/Isleta-Pueblo heritage, provided the image “Mystical Journey” for the exhibit logo.
Oliver works in cedar, bronze, steel and glass, and has public works installed in the U.S., Canada, Japan and Italy.
Contemporary pieces on display include carvings by Joe Ives of the Port Gamble S’Klallam, Makah painter and carver Bill Martin and pieces by carver Dusty Humphries from the House of Myths carving shed on the Jamestown S’Klallam tribal campus in Blyn.
Contemporary baskets by Cathy MacGregor of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe are shown along with older traditional baskets.
Becky Schurmann, historical society collection manager and exhibit designer, said some of the items in the show were collected by such early settlers as N.D. Hill, Lucinda Hastings and James G. Swan.
Among the items is a cane created by Charles Edensaw, a Haida master carver. Swan collected the cane in 1883 for the newly formed Smithsonian Museum, Schurmann said.
For more information, see www.jchsmuseum.org.
