Colors of the Salish Sea: Coast Salish Hybrid Tunic Dress
2021
Morsette 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.
Sheeps wool, commercial dyes, red cedar bark, lined with yarn
42 x 21 in. (106.7 x 53.3 cm)
Ancient and Native American Art Acquisition Fund
2021.41.1
Provenance: The artist; purchased from artist by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2021
Photo: Scott Leen
