Colors of the Salish Sea: Coast Salish Hybrid Tunic Dress

Date2021

Maker Danielle Morsette American (Shxwhá:y Village), born 1987

Label TextMorsette honors the precious elders whose generational gift of wool weaving persisted in spite of brutal efforts to strip Coast Salish tribes of their cultural teachings. Morsette learned from weavers who relearned the skills, almost lost entirely, from their few remaining teachers. Gathering, preparing, and weaving mountain goat and sheep’s wool into ceremonial regalia, Morsette reaches back in time for inspiration while creating her own connection to this legacy with designs that reveal the vibrancy of contemporary Native culture.

Object number2021.41.1

ProvenanceThe artist; purchased from artist by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2021

Photo CreditPhoto: Scott Leen

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, Mar. 18 - May 30, 2022. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: The Stories We Carry, Oct. 20, 2022 - ongoing.

Credit LineAncient and Native American Art Acquisition Fund

Dimensions42 x 21 in. (106.7 x 53.3 cm)

MediumSheeps wool, commercial dyes, red cedar bark, lined with yarn