Welcome Figure

Item number 1-1124 from the The Burke: University of Washington.

Public

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Exhibit Label

Along the beaches of Washington and Vancouver Island, huge human figures stretched their arms in a gesture of welcome traditional among First Nations people. Welcome figures faced the water, to greet and honor guests as they arrived by canoe.
At a 1930 potlatch in Clayoquot, British Columbia, Annie Williams made Charlie Swan her heir and gave to him this welcome figure. Annie Williams was the daughter of Tla-o-qui-aht carver and curer, Atlieu (Charlie Williams). Swan was a Makah leader from Neah Bay, Washington. His daughter, Helma Swan Ward, remembered that the figure had worn a tunic. This particular figure could pivot, and the arms could be raised and lowered on special occassions.
When the figure was donated to the Burke Museum in 1952 the head was missing. A replica head was made by Steve Brown in 1969, based on a photograph of the original figure. In 2002, the Burke Museum commissioned Makah weaver, Melissa Peterson, to make the cattail tunic for the figure.