OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Squaxin Island Tribe is looking forward to hosting this summer’s tribal canoe journey. More than 100 canoes are expected to land at the end of July at the Port of Olympia.
In preparation, tribal carver Andrea Wilbur-Sigo is teaching bentwood box making at her home studio near Shelton. She says handmade boxes will be among the gifts for the potlatch on the Squaxin Island reservation.
The Olympian reports (http://is.gd/pFGIzB ) the bentwood box workshops are funded through a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to the tribe and The Evergreen State College Longhouse Education and Cultural Center.
Wilbur-Sigo says she enjoys teaching the artwork because it’s a form of language that needs to be practiced and preserved.
