MTK Matriarchs

Malynn Wilbur-Foster is a Squaxin Island tribal member and is the middle daughter of renowned artists Andy Wilbur-Peterson (Skokomish) and Ruth Wilbur-Peterson. She was raised among her people near the Skokomish and Squaxin Island reservations and has lived there most of her life. She works in various mediums , but her focus is primarily in weaving, painting, jewelry and carving both stone and wood. She is passionate about the health and healing of her people and is a voice for the planet and all of her beings. She continues to live by the seasons of her people, grounded in the spiritual essence of resilience and finding new ways to thrive in an ever changing world. These things are often shown in her work. She is honoredto speak the words her ancestors can not.

Malynn’s work has been shown in galleries since 1998 and has been featured in 2 books, S'abadeb, The Gifts and Contemporary Art on theNorthwest Coast: Salish, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Makah, (Norris) and can be found in collections at the Seattle Art Museum, Burke Museum and Washington State History Museum. In 2015 she was commissioned to carve a traditional housepost for the Port Gamble Skallalam tribe with her dad and was part of the team that helped carve the Jake Jones pole there too. In 2017 she had a solo show at Galerie Nativ in Prague, Czech Republic, featuring a series of paintings on canvas. In 2019 she was commissioned to create a series of stone carvings with her husband, Squaxin Island tribal member Mike Foster, for the Washington State Convention Center. In 2020 was commissioned to create a sculpture for the Seattle Water Front at the Salish Steps. She has received grants for her achievements in both art and for being an indigenous knowledge keeper.

Malynn is always looking for new ways to tell the stories of her people fusing traditions and technology. Everything she has learned has been the traditional way under mentors that are masters in their fields. Some of them include her parents, Andy (Skokomish) and Ruth Wilbur Peterson, Mike Foster (Squaxin Island), Richard Cultee (Skokomish), Lisa Telford (Haida), Yvonne Peterson (Chehalis), Roger Fernandes (Lower Elwha), Guy Capoeman (Quinault), and Alex McCarty (Makah).

Tamela LaClair is an enrolled member of the Skokomish Indian Tribe. We are "the people of the river" We have a strong connection to the water. Rivers, streams, canals were all ways of travel keeping all of us connected the lifelinein our culture and families. The water is the seeds of our ancestors. Tamela’s parents are Mark and Darlyn Wilbur Warren. Her mother taught her how to be self-reliant by living off the land. Tamela’s grandpa Bert Wilbur, a hunter, fisherman and carver also inspired her creative artistry. Immersed in art from a very young age, Tamela’s husband Dale RedHawk LaClair and his parents Patrick and Lametta LaClair recognized her talents and encouraged her to pursue her passion for Salish artwork.

Through Lametta’s teachings, Tamela learned how to weave on a loom twilling and twining, weave cedar baskets and gather. She carries those traditions that have been passed onto her. As a family, they gather and harvest. It is essential in the Twana way of life to harvest, preserve and give thanks for the sacrifice that the animals or elements have given us in this great circle of life. We lift our hands up to give thanks to the creator for giving us these wonderful bounties in life. Artwork is a form of expression, handed down from the creator. We need to teach it to the next generation so it’s not forgotten nor lost in transition. Tamela is passing the teachings onto her son.

In addition to her traditional cultural practices, Tamela works in mediums including acrylic, color pencils, traditional drums, and heat press designs and weaving; including cedar and wool. She sells custom apparel including hoodies and T-shirts, with all hand drawn Coastal Salish designs. Tamela’s artwork has been shown in the Washington History Museum and Evergreen State College. She has illustrated a native children's book for Evergreen State College and created graphic art for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. She designed the gym floor logo art in the Skokomish Community Center and a large scale triptych painting in the gathering hall of the building which honors her mother’s legacy.

Tamela would like to give a special thanks to: my mom and dad, my mother and father in law, my gram and gramp, my son; my husband for believing in me in my journey and the great creator for being with me every step of the way.

Kimberly Corinne Deriana is a Mandan and Hidatsa architectural designer and artist who specializes in sustainable, environmental, Indigenous sculpture, architecture, housing, and planning. Her design methodologies focus on incorporating Indigenous lifestyle practices in relationship to designing for seven generations. Deriana strives to achieve exceptional design by weaving together respect for interconnections, honor for cultural identity, and appreciation for contemporary quality, manifested in earth-rooted forms, buildings and communities.

She is currently an independent consultant and design lead on several projects across Seattle with partners like Chief Seattle Club, yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives, Na'ah Illahee Fund, among others. Deriana has worked with Indigenous-owned firms, 7 Directions Architects, as well as Jones and Jones Architects. Her art commissions include forthcoming public pieces at the Washington State Convention Center in addition to the Seattle Waterfront, and past large temporary projects at the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park, and the City of Seattle's Arts at King Street Station.

Her work centers Indigenous based knowledge practices. Co-creating and colearning are key components to this practice. Respect for the land, functionality, craft and beauty are fundamental values that our ancestors taught us to uphold in the creation process. Her grandmother, Corinne Chase Deriana, "Brings the Medicine" and father Dr. Ronald G. Deriana instilled their traditional family values of healing and medicine work. Kimberly interprets these traditions into built environments by creating spaces and places that bring good medicine, and recognize the innovative, holistic ways Indigenous people have cared for the land and community since time immemorial.