
Lelooska
The Life of a Northwest Coast Artist
Chris Friday(Author)
University of Washington Press
Published on 17. August 2015
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-0-295-99820-6 (ISBN)
Description
Don Smith - or Lelooska, as he was usually called - was a prominent Native American artist and storyteller in the Pacific Northwest. Born in 1933 of "mixed blood" Cherokee heritage, he was adopted as an adult by the prestigious Kwakiutl Sewid clan and had relationships with elders from a wide range of tribal backgrounds. Initially producing curio items for sale to tourists and regalia for Oregon Indians, Lelooska emerged in the late 1950s as one of a handful of artists who proved crucial to the renaissance of Northwest Coast Indian art. He also developed into a supreme performer and educator, staging shows of dances, songs, and storytelling. During the peak years, from the 1970s to the early 1990s, the family shows with Lelooska as the centerpiece attracted as many as 30,000 people annually.
In this book, historian and family friend Chris Friday shares and annotates interviews that he conducted with Lelooska, between 1993 and ending shortly before the artist's death, in 1996. This is the story of a man who reached, quite literally, a million or more people in his lifetime and whose life was at once exceptional and emblematic.
In this book, historian and family friend Chris Friday shares and annotates interviews that he conducted with Lelooska, between 1993 and ending shortly before the artist's death, in 1996. This is the story of a man who reached, quite literally, a million or more people in his lifetime and whose life was at once exceptional and emblematic.
Reviews / Votes
"Lelooska offers readers an engaging look into the life of a Native American artist, a life at once unique and representative of the tribulations and triumphs of Indigenous peoples in the twentieth century."(BC Studies) "Friday has given Pacific Northwest historians, anthropologists, cultural scholars, and the general public a great gift in Lelooska."
(Pacific Northwest Quarterly)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
35 illus.
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
586 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-295-99820-6 (9780295998206)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Chris Friday is professor of history and director of the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies at Western Washington University.
Content
Preface
Acknowledgments
Note to the Reader
A Life (Un)masked: Placing personal narrative
Growing Up Indian
Family across the Generations
Learning from People
"A Kind of Hunger"
Opening the New Worlds
Producing Art
Learning from Experience
A Family Complex
New Foes, Old Friends
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Note to the Reader
A Life (Un)masked: Placing personal narrative
Growing Up Indian
Family across the Generations
Learning from People
"A Kind of Hunger"
Opening the New Worlds
Producing Art
Learning from Experience
A Family Complex
New Foes, Old Friends
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index