See photographs that document the ceremonies and traditions of Coast Salish people and hear from the photographer herself during Bellingham's monthly Downtown Art Walk, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3.
Maxine Stremler, a photographer and member of the Lummi Nation, will exhibit a collection of her work during the event at the CedarWorks Gallery, 217 W. Holly St. near Bay Street.
CedarWorks is part of the Lummi Cultural Arts Association, whose mission is to preserve and promote original Lummi art.
Normal hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the first Friday of every month. For more information, call 360-647-6933 or go online to lummiventures.org/LCAA/events.
Several other galleries and venues are participating in the monthly event, including Whatcom Museum's Lightcatcher galleries, where admission is free and the Youth Jazz Band performs from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. For a map that list participating venues, go online to downtownbellingham.com and look under "events."
Stremler, mostly a lifelong resident of Whatcom County, attended Meridian schools and studied art at Northwest Indian College on the Lummi Reservation.
Her focus is photographic depictions of Indian life, especially documentary representations of the events and celebrations that define her culture.
She has photographed Lummi conferences, the annual Stommish celebration, and the Paddle to Lummi, when the local tribe played host to Coast Salish paddlers on their annual traditional canoe journey. She sees her work both as a way of opening the native culture to non-Indians and as a way of preserving Lummi traditions.
"We have a lot of people who visit the gallery and say 'Oh! How long have you been here?'" Stremler said. "It's really opened doors to the Lummi Nation. There's much more awareness."
She sees her work as a window into her culture.
Her art includes such iconic Northwest images as Mount Baker and bald eagles, and documentary depictions of the traditional Coast Salish manner of barbecuing salmon.
"That's my goal, to show what Lummi Nation and the Northwest Indian College has to offer," Stremler said. "It opens up the culture through art. I wanted to gather as much of Lummi for future generations so they could see the way things were done in our time."
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE CONFERENCE
For fans of children's books, three big names in the genre will discuss their work later this month in Western Washington University's annual Children's Literature Conference from 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at Western Washington University. Cost is $75. Register at www.wwuclc.com. For more information, contact Sylvia.Tag@wwu.edu.
Speakers this year will be:
• Gary D. Schmidt, author of "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy," which won a Newbery Honor and Printz Honor; "The Wednesday Wars," which won a Newbery Honor; and the hilariously poignant 2011 novel, "Okay for Now."
• Patrick Carman, author of "Land of Elyon," "Skeleton Creek Series," and "The 39 Clues."
• Kvasnosky, a writer-illustrator who won the Geisel Medal for her "Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways;" and also wrote an illustrated "Really Truly Bingo" and "See You Later, Alligator."
K9 DEMONSTRATION
Bellingham police Officer Shan Hannon will demonstrate how the department's K-9 unit works in a free all-ages presentation that includes canine "officers" Celina and Max from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in the downstairs lecture room at the Bellingham Public Library, 210 Central Ave.
This event was rescheduled from Jan. 19, when it was canceled because of the recent snowstorm.
