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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Leanne Ingle, lingle@timberland.lib.wa.us; 360-704-4508, or 877-284-6237.

Northwest artist and speaker, Barry Herem, will present his slide lecture on masterworks of Native and Native-style art at 2 p.m. Sunday, January 12 at the Aberdeen Timberland Library, 121 E Market Street. Entitled "Arts of the Raven Coast" after Raven, the primary creature of Native myth and legend, the program is the first of the library’s new Winter Lecture Series. This Washington Commission for the Humanities "Inquiring Mind" presentation is free of charge and suggested for a high school to adult audience.

Herem examines the form, meaning, and esthetic achievement of the arts of the traditional Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian and Kwakiutl people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. The legacy of dramatic art forms includes the famous totem poles and carved house posts, huge tribal houses and 70-foot canoes, as well as spectacular masks, feast dishes, carved chests and boxes, and woven Chilkat dancing robes. Herem’s presentation includes discussion of some of the traditional beliefs, rituals and ceremonies that underlay the origins of this heritage.

Himself an artist in the Northwest Coast style, Herem also shows how traditional themes, styles and figures, such as Raven the culture hero and trickster, continue to inspire artists today. Herem includes a look at contemporary works in cedar, bronze, cast paper and computer graphics.

Barry Herem is a writer, photographer, teacher and award-winning poet, as well as an artist. His work has been commissioned and featured by many companies and organizations. For 30 years, he has examined and photographed tribal art of the Northwest Coast. His presentation features slides of the finest old and new pieces from museums and private collections throughout the world. Each summer Herem adventures by canoe to British Columbia and Alaska, researching historic sites.

The Aberdeen Timberland Library’s winter lecture series continues on February 23 with a visit from noted naturalist and award-winning author, Robert Michael Pyle. On March 23, calligrapher Shari Jobst discusses the St. John’s University (Minnesota) Bible project. For more information, please call the Aberdeen Timberland Library at 360-533-2360.

Revised 01/30/03