I created this print during a residency at The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. 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.
Creating this plate was important not only because of my connection to this fish but to create conversation and awareness about this ongoing and terminal situation.
