Renowned Bill Holm to Speak in Friday Harbor

The San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA) presents the iconic Bill Holm – expert, carver, performer, museum curator, teacher, painter, mentor and chief. Holm has enriched our understanding of NW Coast First Nation art and culture and has devoted his life to perpetuating these rich traditions.

The talk will be at 7:00 p.m. on August 8 at Brickworks in Friday Harbor. This very special presentation is one of the Art As A Voice interpretive programs, which accompany SJIMA’s exhibitions.  Holm will discuss NW art, his adventures and the culture of our First Nations. As an example, Holm will describe the carving of the canoe Kwigwatsi, currently on display at SJIMA in the exhibition EMERGENCE Legendary and Emerging First Nation Artists. Holm is personal friends with many of the artists whose work is currently shown at SJIMA

Bill Holm is curator emeritus of Northwest Indian art at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle. His lectures at the University of Washington were among the most popular, and brought a number of artists into their own practice of NW Coast art.

As an author, his seminal book, Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form, is the standard text in the field. His eight books have won acclaim and recognition with Washington State Governor’s Writers Awards, and two special Governor’s awards. As an artist his works were celebrated in a Sun Dogs and Eagle Down, The Indian Paintings of Bill Holm.

Kwigwatsi – photo by Robin Wright

Many in the San Juan Islands or their children, have attended Camp Nor’wester and experienced in the weeks-long camp on Lopez or Jones Island. There, Holm regaled the kids with the dance, culture and legends of the NW Coastal First Nations. Mungo Martin, one of the 20th century’s most distinguished carvers, came annually to the camp and always brought a group of the Kwakwaka’wakw.

“Martin gave Bill the name, Ho’miskanis (Plenty of Everything, literally, Surplus Food from the River), the name by which Bill is called at Kwakwaka’wakw potlatches. Still another of his names is Tlalelitla (Continually Inviting), given by Chiefs Bill Scow, Henry Bell, and Joe Seaweed. Marty Holm had also won the affectionate respect of the Kwakwaka’wakw people, become a highly skilled dancer, and was given one of Abayah Martin’s Winter Dance names, Heligaxstegalis, which means “Taming (the Hamtasa) Everywhere.” At the 1959 Turnour Island potlatch Martin gave Marty the name, Dladlawikagilakw (Ready to Stand Up [for her family in potlatching]),” states Lloyd J. Averill in A Man from Roundup:
The Life and Times of Bill Holm.

Martin gave a name, Tsekelilakw (Ready to Give the Winter Ceremonial) to Carla Holm.

Averill also writes, “These names are among the Holms’ most treasured possessions. Such privileges are never casually given. The most important wealth of Native people is not in material goods, as in the West, but in their cultural patrimony- -the names, songs, stories, dances, and crest figures which are the peculiar possession of individuals within a clan, which can be obtained only when that right is conferred by the one who owns it.” Bill’s wife, Marty and daughter, Carla will also be attending the SJIMA talk.

Bill Holm has been recognized with major consultancies at, to name a few, the Field Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian, and the Peabody Museum at Harvard. In 2001, he was honored with a certificate of appreciation from the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska through the Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Tickets are available at 540 Spring St. Thur.-Mon. 11-6, or at www.sjima.org. As space is available, tickets will be sold at the door starting at 6:45. Tickets are $25, $20 for members, $15 students. 360-370-5050

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