Coast Salish Art Analysis

There’s also a break from gender roles in carving and sculpting, as it’s traditional for men to do these activities. However, that does not stop her due to her background of experiencing deculturization in the residential schools. As Point states, “Medium or means has never been an issue for me, nor do I see woodcarving as a male versus female accomplishment. I love to try new mediums, so I just do what I feel like doing, and wood is a medium I love to work with.” This is what makes Susan Point’s work rather unique because she likes to work and collage with new materials. She enjoys learning from these techniques and like many artists, wants to go through processing and learning each stage of medium. The art path for her was rather challenging

due to these non-traditional materials like her glasswork and “the northern style of First Nations art was very prominent and highly recognized, so most galleries and the general public were totally unaware of Coast Salish art.”
One of the main pieces that Point is extremely interested in are spindle whorls. These pieces are often decorated with symmetrical geometric designs and sometimes have figures. Traditionally, spindle whorls are made from “the wood of the broadleaf maple tree, about 20 cm (8 inches) in diameter, with a centre hole through which extends a spindle shaft that is 90 cm (36 inches) long.” Looking at Fig.3, traditional designs showed both animal and human figures as well as that interweaving similar to Point’s installation. Musqueam men would often be making the tools, but they were usually not decorated or have very little decoration. However, for tools used by women to create wool and to create textiles, which include “mat creasers, spindle whorls, swords for beating wool, the posts of weaving frames” were often decorated, but still made by men. Wayne P. Suttles suggests that “the tools, weapons, canoes, etc. made by men and used by men seem to have been usually undecorated or decorated sparingly . . . Perhaps this was because of the association of skill and success with vision power and the dangers inherent in revealing or calling up the source of that power.”
The designs that are painted on spindle whorls have similar style to cleansing rattles, sxwayxwey masks, and grave monuments. Suttles gives a suggestion from Laura Greenberg and Marjorie Halpin stating why there are similarities to these tools and ritual objects: “A structuralist analysis would show a parallel between the rattle and the spindle whorl: both are involved in transformations, the rattle in the transforming of human beings from one state into another, the spindle whorl in the transforming of wool into wealth.” Spindle whorl designs often paired with human and animal so with Point’s spindle whorl, she is bringing in both the eagle and the salmon. The bird is interwoven into the human and the arms of the human show a pair of salmon. The pair of salmon could suggest the wealth and importance of the salmon. In Coast Salish myths, the ancestors have always been portrayed as human figures and some animal species are the descendants, which could explain the interweaving of both the bird and human:
When the Transformer came through the world and brought the Myth Age to an end, he transformed some of the First People into animals but left others, who pleased him to become founding ancestors of village. Some of these founders received, form the Transformer or from other sources, the ritual words, incantation, and ritual paraphernalia of the cleansing rites, which have been transmitted generation after generation to their present owners.

The Welcome Figures come from traditional Salish house posts that bring in both human and animal figures. The house post imagery would depict “mythical creatures associated with family history, notably ancestors, or events that displayed the spirit powers of ancestors or the magical privileges of the family.” These house posts are carved in high relief to where the figure is fully shown with a solid background or the animals are completed lifted off the figure. Interestingly enough, a mortuary box had similar designs to the Welcome Figures (Fig. 4) that show the concentric circles that Point demonstrates on the back panels of the figures. The carvings of the mortuary box are similar to one of the figures that have four animals on the front. These animal figures are named “carved fishers” within the title of the mortuary box so it’s assumed that these animals are part of Coast Salish’s culture of salmon fishing. The figures themselves are similar to the style of house posts that were created to show both ancestors and heritage that are part of their rituals. For example, Fig 5a & 5b is in the same style as the figures and both represent their ancestral background that was part of the Musqueam village. Fig. 5a represents a famous warrior named qiyəplenəxʷ (“Capilano I”) and Fig. 5b represents a founding ancestor of a Musqueam village that represents ćsimlenəxʷ, which is a famous name to this village, who is holding a rattle. These posts are prime examples of showing both ancestors and their heritage. In Coast Salish style, these figures often have distinctive features within their face especially with the eyebrows and nose yet there is still simplicity in the face so it doesn’t resemble anyone.
There’s always been an assumption on Coast Salish art that it’s considered underdeveloped or that the Coast Salish people did not create good work.

One of the popular assumptions is that Coast Salish art was part of Northwest Coast development; therefore, it was often considered undeveloped and often forgotten in the art world. Coast Salish art was often compared to Northwest Coast art possibly due to Western perspectives of art. Consider how art is often critiqued. Western art often considers the style, the color, and the composition; basically what’s aesthetically pleasing about it. Coast Salish art is often seen as simple compared to Northwest Coast where Northwest Coast style focuses on the likeness of their clan to identify themselves “but also disclose a more specific, subjective and momentary content.” While Coast Salish is seen as part of the development of Northwest Coast, Paul S. Wingert sees that these two art forms are clearly differentiated through their differences of their nature in their

society:
The Salish are proud and reserved, temperamental self-contained and conservative; while the northerners are haughty, aggressive and acquisitive . . . Although power and prestige also count for much among the Salish, their society is more democratic or communal; that is, it is basically organic rather than parasitical, interdependent rather than interrelated.

When looking at the differences of these societies, it’s not about the matters of a timeline of development; it’s about the difference in culture and nature of their society and that is something that Western perspective did not recognize when looking into these different art forms.
Understanding how Coast Salish art should not be seen as inferior to Northwest Coast art creates recognition on how the Salish people use simplicity in sculpture as well as their purpose of decoration.

Functional pieces have little or even no decoration and show vague imagery compared to Northwest Coast. Most of their forms of art come from their ritual arts, which come from their music, dance, and storytelling. These arts are rarely recorded or sold, as there is an aspect in Coast Salish culture that there are certain visions and dreams that remain with the individual. These visions make up the individual that give “the means of personal fulfillment, focusing and giving strength to individual lives.” Visual imagery can also be dangerous as realism can show the connection to their visions and powers. Musqueam use their dreams or visions as their way of power “that are fundamental to a full life and capable of imparting extraordinary benefits, yet always dangerous.” This could be the reason why imagery could be more abstract to Northwest Coast as formline shows their crest imagery. As said previously, Salish people are often conservative and self-contained so this is why visual images are more abstract because “To discuss images openly, to treat them casually, to reveal too freely what is known of their origin, is to court danger.” When trying to convey some of their ancestral heritage and individual visions while also not revealing any secrecy of the individual,

it’s why Coast Salish art can be simple in their imagery and designs.
Part of native modern art is the fact that it’s in constant criticism of the idea that it has to remain in traditional styles and culture. Perhaps it’s the desire to not lose it again from deculturization or the idea of primitivism as many native artists who try to pursue contemporary styles often get criticized. With Coast Salish art, that was never the case because Northwest Coast art was seen as far more superior to the public and unfortunately, it was pushed away as an art. Susan Point faced these trials in Flight and Welcome Figures when trying to revive Coast Salish art and with her interest in contemporary materials trying to bring back and evolve Coast Salish traditions. Looking at what Point had to face is what all modern native artists had to deal with when wanting to bring contemporary styles into their traditional culture.