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button blanket
Button Blankets On Canada’s west coast, the traditional ceremonial bu on blankets and thick kni ed Cowichan sweaters of the Coast Salish peoples include story designs. The Coast Salish heritage is rooted deeply in oral storytelling traditions, and the blankets and sweaters of these peoples o en contain imagery of animals— ravens, beavers, hummingbirds, eagles, or whales— to signify family and clan stories. Bu on blankets are o en made of wool and traditionally were adorned with mother-of-pearl bu ons in a design that denoted the wearer’s family or clan. In contemporary times, the bu on blanket is still worn to feasts or potlatches among the peoples of the north Paci c coast. The Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Nisga’a peoples all wear bu on blankets. Contemporary artists Delores Churchill, Evelyn Vanderhoops, Jennifer Annaïs Pighin, and Dorothy Grant are reinventing traditional blanket designs with modern re-interpretations. In Northwest tradition and etique e, each symbol and its design belongs to one family, and only they have the right to tell their stories verbally and through their art. To be given a blanket or a sweater adorned with these designs and told their stories is an honor, and one that can only be bestowed by someone of Coast Salish heritage.
A lot of my work, including this series, is based on shared experience and focuses on evoking empathy and giving strength by sharing our stories
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