Barry Herem to Speak on Clan Treasures of the Klukwan Whale House today at 4:30

Barry Herem, an artist and author, will give a lecture about the Whale House treasures of the Klukwan Whale House at 4:30 p.m. today (May 31) in Miller Hall Room 138; the lecture is free and open to the public.

The exquisite at.oow, or clan treasures of the Klukwan Whale House, has interested scholars, private collectors, gallery owners and museums since the late nineteenth century. Despite almost a century of natives and non-natives attempting to purchase the Whale House treasures, the owners of the Klukwan Whale House, the Gaanaxteidi clan, still retain ownership of this impressive collection today. The Chilkat Tlingit Whale House was also carved by Kadjis du axtc, the Tlingit’s most famous artist of his day, and relays the powerful history of the Gaanaxteidi people of Klukwan.

Herem was born in Michigan but raised in Portland, Oregon. He lived in Seattle from 1964 to 2007, and now resides in Everett. He studied at Portland State University, Brigham Young University, University of Washington, and University of Edinburgh, Scotland. His work is influenced by ethnographic field work among the native people of Southeastern Alaska in a study funded by Sealaska Corporation of Juneau, Alaska. This resulted in a published 850-page landmark study titled “Historic Site Survey of Southeast Alasakn Grave and Village Sites,” that was edited and written by Herem.

A part from training in bronze casting and steel welding at Pratt Institute in Seattle, Herem’s training in design has come from his association with several Northwest Coast artists and scholars. Herem has also studied historic and contemporary work from museums, private collections and galleries.

For more information, contact Chris Casquilho, Western Washington University’s College of Fine and Performing Arts manager of marketing and special events at (360) 650-2829 or chris.casquilho@wwu.edu.