Natasha Brennan
Thu, December 23, 2021
Peeking through the mist and trees of Evergreen State College are intricately carved wooden welcome figures inviting students, staff, artists and visitors to the school’s Indigenous Arts Campus in Olympia. The flags of Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim Tribes line the ceiling of the grand welcome hall of the longhouse.
Known as an international hub for Indigenous arts, culture and education for more than 25 years, the Longhouse Education and Cultural Center is the first Tribally-directed Native arts center on a college campus in the U.S. Named s’gʷi gʷi ʔ altxʷ or “House of Welcome” in the Lushootseed language, the longhouse provides space for students, artists and the community to gather in celebration of Native art.
Today, the Indigenous Arts Campus is made up of a series of buildings and studios that form a salmon-shaped design; but the world-renowned public service center aimed at promoting Indigenous arts and cultures got its start in 1995.
Becoming a community hub
Evergreen State College is well known regionally and within the world-wide Indigenous community for its Native American and Indigenous Studies program offering an interdisciplinary examination of the histories, cultures, politics and contemporary experiences of Indigenous peoples in the Northwest and beyond.
The program was founded in 1972 by Mary Ellen Hillaire of Lummi Nation, the first Native faculty member at Evergreen. She expressed the need for a culturally appropriate facility that allowed people from all cultural backgrounds to teach and learn from one another on campus.
Working alongside leadership from elders of Pacific Northwest tribes – known as the pillars of the longhouse – students in the Masters in Public Administration program and Longhouse Project Coordinator Colleen Jolie joined Hillaire in bringing the vision of the longhouse to life.
Vi Hilbert, an Upper Skagit elder and conservationist of the Lushootseed language, provided the name s’gʷi gʷi ʔ altxʷ or “House of Welcome” to help foster an environment of hospitality and support for the students and community.
Both the exterior and interior design of the building reflects traditional Coast Salish longhouses but with modern twists. Convertible walls can retract to connect classroom spaces to the welcome hall, forming an open gathering space.
Most of the timber used to build the longhouse was donated by the Quinault Indian Nation with cedar shakes and posts donated by the Burke Museum from the Sea Monster House – a longhouse built for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle where the Space Needle debuted.
After its establishment, the longhouse was expanded by 1800 square feet in 2009. The carving studio, fiber arts studio and cast glass studio were built in 2012, 2017 and 2021 respectively and offer programming that support the preservation and expression of Indigenous cultures and art.
With classes at the Olympia campus and local Tribal centers, the curriculum continues to strengthen the college’s connection to Indigenous peoples of the United States, Canada, Aotearoa (the Māori name for what is now called New Zealand) and the Pacific Rim.
The intricate design of the fiber arts studio at Evergreen State College Indigenous Arts Campus in Olympia is inspired by the cultures and art styles of both Coast Salish and Māori (the Indigenous people of what is now called New Zealand) people. Opened in 2017, the studio is fitted with equipment conducive to the specific needs of Indigenous weavers, such as dyeing traditional weaving materials.
Investment and commitment in Native art
Since its opening, the longhouse has hosted gatherings of local, regional, national and international artists, including the first gatherings of the Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association and Northwest Native Woodcarvers.
In 2001, the longhouse hosted the Gathering of Indigenous Visual Artists of the Pacific Rim and continues an artist-in-residency exchange program with Māori artists.
“We host such life-changing events for the artists that join us that they call us family,” said Longhouse Director Laura VerMeulen, who is Tlingit and Haida.
The public service of the longhouse is mostly funded by grants with the generosity of Tribes.
“It means a lot to us that they’re committed and invested in what we do, and we are committed and invested in what they need,” VerMeulen said.
The studios were built with Indigenous artists in mind, each fitted with equipment and stations conducive to their specific needs, such as dyeing traditional weaving materials or carving intricate canoe paddles.
Some of the Indigenous Arts Campus studios only recently were completed and were not open for very long before the COVID pandemic closed the campus. However, when in-person classes were allowed to resume, those in the studios became the experiment and model for how they can work safely at the college.
“This whole campus, along with the carving studio, is new again because of the pause with the pandemic. There’s still artists that are discovering it and others coming here for the first time. It remains exciting,” said Evergreen’s Vice President for Tribal Relations, Arts and Culture Kara Briggs – a Sauk-Suiattle Tribal member.
With a mission to serve contemporary Native artists, most of the art on display is of the vintage of the longhouse.
“Twenty-six years – especially in the Native world – is a very long time. Some of the art is from influential elders who have passed on, others from artists who have become more famous in the years since they got their start at the longhouse,” Briggs said.
Joe Seymour Jr. – a Squaxin Island and Pueblo of Acoma artist known for pieces like his recent salmon project on the Views on Fifth Tower in Olympia – spent some of his early time as an artist at the longhouse.
“He came to a workshop with Preston Singletary and said, ‘That’s it, I want to be an artist.’” VerMeulen said.
The carving studio hosts numerous carving workshops and programming for Indigenous artists at Evergreen State College’s Indigenous Arts Campus in Olympia. Opened in 2012, the studio is fitted with equipment and stations conducive to their specific needs, such as carving intricate canoe paddles.
Multi-generational impact
The longhouse was founded to promote Indigenous art and provide opportunities to Native artists that were non-existent in the region before. Today, there’s a whole generation of local Native youth who have never lived in a world without the impacts of the school’s Native programs and longhouse.
For many in the local Native community, like Squaxin Island artist and carver Andrea Wilbur-Sigo, the school and longhouse have been part of the family for generations.
“My dad went to the school in the ‘80s. I grew up at the longhouse, I was part of it from day one,” Wilbur-Sigo said.
Embedded in the floor of the welcome hall, two wolves intertwined on black granite invite longhouse visitors. The design – depicting the animals that mate for life – was created by Wilbur-Sigo as a wedding present for her husband. She and her mother installed the tile in the hall where generations of their family have and will walk.
“My kids all grew up there. They were babies just toddling around. Now I have one daughter who is a graduate, one daughter currently there, one starting and soon I’ll watch my grandbabies grow there. It’s our legacy,” she said.
In 1995, her father – Skokomish carver Andy Wilbur – completed and installed the wooden Thunderbird that watches over the longhouse entrance with Makah artist Greg Colfax.
Beginning in 1997, Wilbur-Sigo started working with the longhouse as a visiting artist teaching workshops and classes. She said the impact of the longhouse cannot be overstated.
“It brings so many opportunities that people – especially from the non-urban Tribes – wouldn’t be able to have. The longhouse connects different Tribes and people who work in public art while also giving us a place to gather and get to know each other better,” she said.
“Thunderbird,” created by Skokomish artist Andy Wilbur and Makah artist Greg Colfax in 1995, watches over the longhouse entrance at Evergreen State College in Olympia. The longhouse recently celebrated 26 years of working with students, the community and Indigenous artists of the Pacific Rim.
Being in the state capitol has allowed the Indigenous Arts Campus to become a central space for emerging artists to gather, work together and draw inspiration from each other while accessing industry professionals to lead them in the right direction, Wilbur-Sigo said.
This collaboration is put on display during the many annual gatherings at the longhouse, particularly their three popular youth events.
“We work hard to make engaging and exciting events, particularly for the Native youth, because we want people to see a home for themselves here and in a college setting for generations to come,” VerMeulen said.
A model for the country
Since 2005, the public service center has re-granted over half a million dollars to Indigenous artists through grant programs.
The notable Supporting Indigenous Arts Mastery program – or SIAM, a Salish term for a respected elder – that helps colleges achieve its goals of supporting Tribal art is modeled after the work of the longhouse.
“As a leader in Indigenous representation, the work of the longhouse continues to be a model for programs throughout the country,” said Briggs, the Evergreen vice president for Tribal Relations, Arts and Culture.
Despite the challenges of COVID, longhouse faculty and students have persevered through semesters of in-person classes and calls for Indigenous artist participation in “The Longhouse at 25: Across the Waters” exhibition were successful.
VerMeulen said they are working hard to develop curriculum for a proposed Master of Fine Arts in Indigenous Arts program at the college and are hopeful that Native arts sales, exhibitions and performances – though currently paused – will soon be back and outdoors when weather permits.
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