Painting plaits creation story, pride of Snoqualmie Tribe
I stood outside the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum in North Bend and looked from Mount Si to Rattlesnake Ledge yesterday, looking for the swing.
It was a giant rope swing, plaited by the wives of the star men, and it connected earth and sky.
Even though I know the Snoqualmie Tribe creation story says that Rat chewed through the rope and it fell to the ground, I had just seen a young girl and woman — sisters — climbing down the rope, carrying infant Moon.
They're the center of a lovely, realistic painting hung yesterday inside the main gallery in the museum. The painting will be unveiled today.
I wasn't the only one impressed with Everett artist Chris Hopkins' work.
"It is absolutely wonderful," said Ray Mullen of the Snoqualmie Tribe. "The artist came to the tribal council a couple times for guidance, and he did a magnificent job."
The painting was commissioned by businessman Tom Bernard and his wife, Gloria. It is the fourth in a series of 21 historical-representation paintings of Native Americans that Hopkins has been painting for the developer.
"The Snoqualmie rope-swing painting is the only noncoastal tribe in the series," Tom Bernard said. "But with my office in Preston and my farm in Snoqualmie Valley, how could I do a painting series like this and not include the Snoqualmie?"
Bernard said he and Mullen chatted about what Snoqualmie story to use. They considered a story about how the tribe eliminated an Eastern Washington chief who frequently raided the Snoqualmie.
"In that story, the Snoqualmie snooker the chief," Bernard said. "They get him to follow them down the river in their canoes and when they get to just above Snoqualmie Falls, they steer to the rock there and are safe. The other chief doesn't know about the falls and follows them and his canoe goes over the falls."
Instead, Bernard and Mullen picked the creation story. The rope swing from the sky is just a small portion of the entire piece. The baby Moon, also called Snoqualm, grows up and creates the plants and animals we know today.
The traditional tale covers baby Moon's kidnapping, his growing up and his return to the Snoqualmie Valley. Earth people spend the time before he comes back enjoying the rope swing. It takes a half day to swing from Mount Si to Rattlesnake Ledge.
It also explained one major landmark in the area — a giant rock between North Bend and Snoqualmie. The tribe believed it was the petrified remains of the rope swing.
When settlers came to the area, they named it Quarry Rock and excavated and crushed part of it for road building. The remains are near Tollgate Farm on Highway 202.
One reason the painting is so convincing is the background work art Hopkins and Bernard did.
Bernard chartered a helicopter and pilot who hovered over the Upper Snoqualmie Valley and Mount Si with Hopkins aboard. He took 174 photographs.
"The helicopter didn't have doors and I could lean out," Hopkins said. "Tom wanted the painting as accurate as possible."
Then there's the size. Like Mount Si, the painting is big. Unframed it measures 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide.
In the museum, it hangs between a vignette of a 1930s gas station and another of a general store. It is bright and colorful. Details such as the cedar-bark dresses worn by the sisters stand out in vivid detail. The two sisters and the rope are mid-arc in a swing. Mount Si is behind them. A flock of Canada geese soar beneath them.
The painting is on loan to the museum for several weeks, said Dale Sherman, a member of the museum board.
"We will be getting a copy of it to hang permanently," Sherman said.
Bernard hopes the painting sparks interest and support in the museum. He sees it as a good way to connect the Snoqualmie, visitors to the area and residents who may not be familiar with the Native American stories.
"The Snoqualmie Tribe worked hard to get recognition," he said. "I hope the display of this painting pulls them out to participate in the larger community."
Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com
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