sGena "canoe away"

Whiteground, aquatint, and hardground, Black Ink on Hahnemuhle Copperplate warm white paper -2022

Image size: 17 3/4”x12 1/4” (HxW)

Paper size: 23”x16 3/4” (H/W)

Made at the Sitka Center for my 2022 Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency

This print is about the first small journey I made with some of my tribe after we carved one of the our first traditional dugout canoes that had been made in many years. When we would get into the canoe we would put our paddles in, smile, and sGena!

Cordelia Flat

Whiteground, aquatint, and hardground, Black Ink on Hahnemuhle Copperplate warm white paper -2022

Image size: 17 3/4”x12 1/4” (HxW)

Paper size: 23”x16 3/4” (H/W)

Made at the Sitka Center for my 2022 Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency

This print is about my first visit to Cordelia Flat in Beatty Oregon. It is named after my great grandmother Cordelia George. My family lived here until the Klamath Termination Act in 1954, a measure authorizing the sale of reservation lands and establishing procedures for terminating the federal government's relationship with Klamath Tribes. The Klamath Restoration Act was adopted into law in 1986, reestablishing the Klamath as a sovereign state. My grandmother grew up playing in this field and would tell me stories about this place.

kani dal hoot Skell

Whiteground, aquatint, and hardground, Red Ochre Ink on Hahnemuhle Copperplate warm white paper -2022

Image size: 10”x11 3/4” (HxW)

Paper size: 15”x16” (H/W)

Made at the Sitka Center for my 2022 Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency

In Klamath culture our name for creator is Gmukamps. Gmukamps dons the mask of pine marten to take physical form in the world. In this form he is named Skell, or old marten. This print tells the story of when I was out harvesting cotton wood buds to make medicine one spring. I was sitting on a logging road taking a break in the sun. I looked next to me and just a foot away sat Skell! He visited with me for what seemed like an hour we had to continue on our way. Skell watched me stand up and he stood up on his hind legs and wandered back into the forest. The red brown of the ink and the cream white of the paper reflect the color of pine marten's fur. The open path in the middle of this print show the logging road and the patterns etched into the print are a written message gifted to me that day by Skell.

The stars fell like rain

Whiteground, aquatint, and hardground, Blue/Grey Ink on Hahnemuhle Copperplate warm white paper -2022

Image size: 10”x11 3/4” (HxW)

Paper size: 15”x16” (H/W)

Made at the Sitka Center for my 2022 Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency

This title is taken from the Klamath story of when there was a great meteor shower that hit Klamath basin many years ago. The story says the stars fell down like rain into Klamath Lake and made the sound ciw ciw!

C'waam

Drypoint intaglio print, Black Ink on Hahnemuhle Copperplate warm white paper -2022

Image size: 12 1/2”x24” (HxW)

Paper size: 17 3/4”x28 1/4” (H/W)

Made at the Sitka Center for my 2022 Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency

During my residency at Sitka Center, I had the privilege to work with master printer Julia Damario. With Julia’s guidance I was able explore how I could use this new medium of copper plate intaglio printmaking to express the movement and patterns I create with my paintings. I tried different techniques on the copper plates and ended up loving the fluidness of white ground to create the gestural movement and shades. I followed this by using hardground to etch the patterns on my plates. I also came with a project I wanted to work on that was strictly illustrative using dry point to scratch a copper plate image of my tribes sacred and endangered C’waam fish. These were once the most important food fish for my tribe and the Klamath Lake region, C’waam were caught by the thousands and remain a centerpiece of my Tribes’ way of life and annual Return of the C’waam ceremony.

Historically, C’waam fed our people. We have a physical and spiritual connection to these fish and the health of our people have really suffered from their loss. These fish are so important to my tribe that within our oral tradition we are told If the C’waam die, we as a people die as well. Some people marginalize these fish and say they are not as important as other food sources like cattle. Unfortunately do to bad farming techniques the cows are not raised regeneratively and often are allowed to trample into the rivers and lake degrading the water in our homeland.

As stewards of this land for time immemorial this is a blatant disregard of our cultural traditions and our senior water rights.