BEADS, BUTTONS AND

BLANKETS

20^TH CENTURY CEREMONIAL ROBES

OF

THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

OUT of the MIST GALLERY

APRIL. 17 TO MAY 1 2010

THE FIRST REFERENCE TO BUTTON BLANKETS IS IN WRITTEN OBSERVATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS C. 1810 IN ALASKA. THERE ARE NOT MANY EARLY EXAMPLES KNOWN IN COLLECTIONS, PERHAPS THE STORAGE CONDITIONS ON THE NORTHWEST COAST WERE NOT THE BEST DUE TO CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OR THE EARLY COLLECTORS CONSIDERED THE BUTTON BLANKETS TO BE TOO ESOTERIC BEING MADE OF TRADE GOODS NOT NATIVE MATERIALS. AND THEY COME ONLY INTO EXTENSIVE USE BY BOTH MEN AND WOMEN AFTER 1900.

THE CREST DESIGNS ON BUTTON BLANKETS REPRESENT THE CREST OF THE OWNER. THE BUTTON BLANKETS HAVE BECOME THE MOST PREDOMINANT FORM OF DISPLAY OF FAMILY CREST’S AMONG THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTHWEST COAST.

WE HAVE OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS ACQUIRED EIGHT BUTTON BLANKETS.  FOUR HAIDA BLANKETS FROM THE CROSS FAMILY, THREE KWAK WAKA WAKW AND ONE TSIMSHIAN WHICH HAVE BEEN USED CEREMONIALLY AND OR GIVEN AT POTLATCHES FROM EARLY TO THE LATE 20^th CENTURY. FROM A CHILD’S BLANKET MADE BY HIS GRANDMOTHER FROM A 19^th C. BLANKET DAMAGED BY FIRE IN THE 1920’S FOR A GRAND- SON, A CHIEF’S BLANKET MADE BY HIS WIFE, OR A BLANKET MADE FOR A YOUNG MAN’S PUBERTY CEREMONY, AND BLANKETS GIVEN TO FRIENDS AN HONORED GUESTS FROM OUTSIDE THE CULTURE. WE WILL ALSO HAVE ON DISPLAY ONE OF FOUR KNOWN 19^TH CENTURY BEADED SISYUTL HEAD DRESS MADE BY MARY EBBETS HUNT FOR HER SONS AND THE ONLY ONE HELD IN PRIVATE HANDS. WE WILL LET THE PHOTOS OF THE BLANKETS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AT THE GALLERY AND IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO CALL US.

 YOURS Thomas, Joyce and the Cos

OUT of the MIST GALLERY

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