Coast Salish Art on Display at Lt. Governor Offices

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Submitted by Lt. Governor Brad Owen

Aspire - Salish art
Aspire, serigraph; ink on cotton by Peter Boome

A display of Coast Salish hand-carved objects, serigraphs and painted canvases by University Place artist Peter Boome is currently on display in the office of Lt. Governor Brad Owen.

A native of McCleary, Boome is an Upper Skagit Tribal artist specializing in Coast Salish art. Peter earned his AA from Northwest Indian College, his bachelor’s degree from the Evergreen State College and a doctorate in law from the University of Washington. He is currently finishing his Masters of Environmental Studies at Evergreen State College. His work has won numerous awards and is collected internationally.

Boome’s work reflects the culture and experiences of indigenous peoples of the northwest coast with a specific emphasis on the environment and human relationship with the natural world. He currently resides in University Place with his wife Lois and their children.

Peter Boome retells his motivation for his work, Aspire, featuring a raven who steals the sun and returns it to the sky.

“I created this design for the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis as part of a fund-raiser. I happened to be preparing to graduate from law school at the time and was doing some serious self-reflection. An unfortunate truth of being an Indian and growing up on a reservation is there are not many positive expectations placed on me. Be that as it may I was preparing to graduate from law school despite societal expectations or the lack thereof. I started thinking of the famous story of the raven and the sun.

Kindred - Salish art
Kindred Spirits, serigraph; ink on cotton by Peter Boome

The story basically states that the raven stole the sun and returned it to the sky. I couldn’t help but admire the audacity of the raven. Why did he think he could do what he did? Why did he put himself in a position to be criticized, mocked, or even killed if he were to fail?

As I thought about that story I realized that I had surpassed any expectations that had been placed on me as a youth. I had a successful career as an artist having shown around the country and being internationally collected. I was also about to experience academic success well beyond my own wildest expectations. I realized one the main reasons for my personal success was my willingness to ignore social expectations and simply have the audacity to have goals and pursue them.

It is amazing what we can accomplish when we simply put our heads down and work, when we have a goal and decide to go for it, even if we don’t have a road map to success, we can figure it out and make it happen. This piece is called “aspire” because when we aspire to succeed we will.”

Ten of Boome’s works of art and four hand-carved objects are featured in the lobby of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor. Please stop by and visit or check out our brochure. Our doors are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays on the second floor of the Legislative Building in Olympia.

 

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