Family Dance Curtain
July, 1980
In its most elemental form, a thliitsapilthim (dance curtain) is set up at the back of the dance house and used to hide performers as they don their masks and regalia during potlatch dances. Originally made with family crests painted on wood boards, modern dance curtains often use canvas or other industrial textiles as the foundation for the painted designs. The screen’s deeper function is to visually document important family histories, including encounters by ancestors with supernatural beings. The complex imagery seen here includes two Wolves (referencing Thompson’s family’s rights to the white wolf dance) facing a central form shaped like a stone mortar. Two facing Thunderbirds soar above. Thunderbirds are not a natural species of bird—they are powerful mountain-dwelling beings that create violent weather and are known for their abilities to hunt whales.
Silkscreen on Arches Buff paper
21 x 30 in. (53.3 x 76.2 cm)
Gift of R. Bruce and Mary-Louise Colwell
2018.29.141
Provenance: [Pacific Editions Limited, Victoria, British Columbia]; purchased by Bruce and Mary-Louise Colwell, Seattle, Washington, Nov. 21, 2003