Communications Department - (360) 943-5001 - Fax 586-6838 - 415 Tumwater Boulevard SW - Tumwater, WA 98501
Reference & Information line: 704-INFO in Olympia area or toll-free 1-800-562-6022. 
TRL Web site: http://www.trlib.org.  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Leanne Ingle, Communications Specialist, 360-704-4508, or outside Thurston County calling area: (877) 284-6237, ext. 2508; e-mail: lingle@trlib.org.

Northwest artist and speaker, Barry Herem, will present his slide lecture on masterworks of Native and Native-style art at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 16 at the Salkum Timberland Library, 2480 U.S. Highway 12, Salkum. Entitled “Arts of the Raven Coast” after Raven, the primary creature of Native myth and legend, this Humanities Washington “Inquiring Mind” presentation is free of charge and suggested for a high school to adult audience. It is sponsored by the Friends of the Salkum Timberland Library.

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. The presentation features slides of fine old and new pieces from museums and private collections throughout the world. Herem also briefly discusses 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 other media.

Barry Herem is a writer, photographer, teacher and award-winning poet, as well as an artist whose work is widely commissioned. For 30 years, he has examined and photographed tribal art of the Northwest Coast. Each summer Herem adventures by canoe to British Columbia and Alaska, researching historic sites.

For more information, people may call the Salkum Timberland Library at (360) 985-2148.

Revised 10/15/03