I created this painting for a show that will run through March at the Nehalem Bay Recreational Center. The show acknowledges and honors the Clatsop and Tillamook People of the Oregon Coast. They are working to regain recognition as an independent tribe and a portion of the proceeds of this show will go to support their cause. As I researched the history of the people and the direction of the show the image began to formulate in my mind of someone standing watch, waiting for the hunters or warriors to return. The watcher may be the tribal chief. It could be a mother anxiously waiting the return of her husband or her sons. It may even be the Great Spirit watching over all of the people. I think to some degree we are all standing watch. And I find comfort in knowing that there are those who stand watch for me.
Magic
There is a concept in art called the Gestalt Theory, which basically says, "we see the whole before we see the individual parts that make up that whole". It is a concept that continues to fascinate me. Looking close up at the brush strokes on the cape it makes no sense. It's simply a bunch of lines. But scanning back, those lines come together to not only create the shape of the cape, but also the movement as it folds in and out, and the texture of the straw. How magical is that?
Straw Hat
This style of straw hat was traditional for the Tillamook People. It is certainly different than the straw hat my own dad wore when I was growing up. But somehow I imagine that the children of this culture saw it in much the same light I saw my dad's hat. It wasn't a toy, although sometimes he would let me wear it. I knew it protected him from the sun, but was also a symbol to him of what he stood for as a farmer, rancher, and cowboy. It's hard for me to see a cowboy hat without thinking of my dad. I think that the children of the Tillamook people probably also wanted to wear their elders' hats, imagining themselves wearing them one day when they grew older.