[PAIR OF ARTWORKS RIGHT OF LANDSCAPE MURAL]
“Mary Agnes Capilano is one of the main matriarchs of Squamish Nation. Everybody looks up to Mary. She was a strong leader, she was a weaver.
When they evicted everybody from Stanley Park, she was one of the last people to live there, in our largest village.
When they opened the Lions Gate Bridge, she was the first person in the whole city to go over that bridge.
She was recognized everywhere in the city by Squamish people.”
— Chepximiya Siyam Chief Dr. Janice George, Squamish
Left
Lixwelut Mary Agnes Capilano, Squamish
swéwḵw’elh (Squamish Language)
“Mountain goat wool woven blanket”
This weaving’s prominence in the background of the portrait displayed to right implies that the blanket was important to Mary Agnes Capilano.
Its deliberate presence suggests that she had a great deal of pride in the piece, as a weaver.
Mountain goat wool, dyes
Pre-1939
MOV AA 1268, Museum of Vancouver Collection
Right
Nan Lawson (Painter)
Painting of Mary Agnes Capilano and Blanket
Mountain goat wool
1935
On loan from Linda Collins and Zoe McDonell
[CORNER PLATFORM]
“The plants are always talking and are you listening?
Are you someone that the plant wants to share its secrets with?
And dear plant, are you an entity that finds this human worthy to share your secret, to bring the medicine of color.”
— sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel, Filipina married into Skokomish
“There’s that interplay of color that speaks its own language. The plants will want to speak in that way as well, when they are sharing their color to put protection on a person, to wash away something, or to make your eye revert to a different thing.
Color can do that work, that way.
As humans, we need to recognize this, this color is trying to speak its language. And our job is to listen.”
— sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel, Filipina, married into Skokomish
sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel, Filipina
Salish Sunrise
Mountain goat wool
2004
2006-169/1, Purchased with funds donated by Lawrence Christian
“I was downstairs at the Old Burke.
All of a sudden, this weaving jumped out of the case and was talking to me. I stopped—this piece is braided. That it was braided was jarring. Because up to that point, we had only ever seen overspun skirts and capes. Nobody had braided, at least in our understanding of people making skirts and capes, no one was braiding them. They were all overspun.
I was inspired by it, because I only know of one braided cape. And it’s at the Burke."
- sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel, Filipina, married into Skokomish
sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel, Filipina
waysəb ćićaxʷ
Reborn Braided Cape
Moved by the unique spun and braided cape (Burke 148) Susan Pavel painstakingly created Reborn with help from Marla Beth Elliot, Sakari Marie Schlehlein, Steilacoom, Thalia Richardson, Ogalala Lakota Nation, and Burke Museum staff.
Mountain goat wool blend, alder cones
2025
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
“The thing that lies inside of all of us is our chance for some kind of immortality. My sense of immortality incorporates the knowledge that I want to leave behind.
When we hold onto our ancient traditional customs and language we remain intact like a rainforest that has all kinds of things to offer.
And the roots that hold us together is our knowledge of practicing the ways of our ancestral teaching.”
— subiyay Bruce Miller, Skokomish
subiyay Bruce Miller, Skokomish
siyam Tunic
Wool, wolf fur, natural dyes
2004
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
[TEACHERS AND TEACHINGS AUDIO STORY]
“Okay. Funny story. So when uncle and I were first dyeing, doing the natural dyeing, you know, some of it was experiment. Like, we didn't know, like we just didn’t know, I mean, some of the things we knew, like the Oregon grape, we knew, alder bark somewhat.
So some things we knew, but we would, go on these driving expeditions, him and I, and we would just kind of experiment, honestly.
On one of these driving times, I'm driving, he's in the passenger seat, and we were just driving like, hey, what about that plant? What about this plant?
You know, so we're driving by this field of white daisies, you know, white daisy things. And I, I'm like, you know, I'm all excited, right? Because these are fun trips. We’re just experimenters, tramping around in the woods and stuff, and, I'm like, hey, uncle, what about these white daisies?
And I'm driving, and he doesn't say anything, and I'm like, I look over at him and he's like, honey, girl, the yarn is already white.”
— Dr. Susan Pavel
“So sometimes Bruce and I would sit and weave until like 3 or 4:00 in the morning if I was on a roll, he would just let me weave, and he would always sit right behind me and watch me weave. And I was just weaving away. And all of a sudden— "you made a mistake 25 rows back", and I turn and I look at him and he goes "right there, 25 rows back, what are you going to do?"
And I said, I'm going to take it out. So I took it out 25 rows and then started over again. And that was a big teaching for me, because you should check every row.”
— Gail White Eagle
[COLUMNS WITH PLANT INTERACTIVE]
Photography credits
Chris Light
Oregon grape bark & root
CEKeech
Oregon grape berries
Herbert Baker
Lobster mushrooms
Alan Rockefeller
Western dye mushrooms
Noël Zia Lee
Alder cones
小石川人晃
Indigo
Bruno Karklis
Huckleberries
Skein of wool dyed with Western dye mushroom
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
Western dye mushrooms
Cortinarius smithii
Locally foraged and dried
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Skein of wool dyed with alder cones
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
Alder cones
Alnus rubra
Locally foraged and dried
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Skein of wool dyed with Oregon grape bark & root
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
Oregon grape bark & root
Mahonia aquifolium
Locally foraged and dried
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Skein of wool dyed with Oregon grape bark & root
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
Oregon grape bark & root
Mahonia aquifolium
Locally foraged and dried
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Skein of wool dyed with Oregon grape bark & root
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
Oregon grape bark & root
Mahonia aquifolium
Locally foraged and dried
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Skein of wool dyed with Western dye mushroom
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
Western dye mushrooms
Cortinarius smithii
Locally foraged and dried
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Skein of wool dyed with huckleberry juice
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
Huckleberries
Vaccinium ovatum
Locally foraged and dried
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Skein of wool dyed with lobster mushroom
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
Lobster mushrooms
Hypomyces lactifluorum
Locally foraged and dried
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Skein of wool dyed with indigo
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
Indigo
Indigofera tinctoria
Locally grown and organically processed
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Skein of wool dyed with Oregon grape berries
Handspun and dyed mountain goat wool blend
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
Oregon grape berries
Mahonia aquifolium
Locally foraged and dried
On loan from sa’hLa mitSa Dr. Susan Pavel
___
Sm3tcoom Delbert Miller, Skokomish
wəq́əb x̌iʔićduxʷ (Skokomish Language)
"Dye box"
Yellow cedar, red cedar, paint
2023
On loan from SiSeeNaxAlt Gail White Eagle
