Water has often been used as a metaphor for life and spirit. In his series with the working title The Pool, Herman James means to transport the viewer down below the ocean waves into what he describes as a setting, a matrix, a pool into which he can place, and in a way act out, his ideas about beings who are born, live, work, and play on this watery planet.

James believes that surreal imagery carries our minds and psyches in more powerful ways than traditional representation. The artist also believes that paintings, unlike other forms of picture making such as digital imaging and printmaking, suggest the immediacy of an artist’s thinking process. As the artist moves hand and brush over paper or canvas or board, he believes that this evidence of creative thought is left behind as a kind of archaeology made available to the viewer's eye.

In his recent work, James blends aspects of human physicality with those of the creatures of the sea. In so doing, the artist offers observations about the current assertive re-emergence of First Nations peoples as they work to reclaim tribal lands, waters, territories, languages, origin stories, sacred places, and much more. This re-emergence is necessarily seen as being between First Nations peoples and the colonizers of their lands and waters, and the drama that arises as both try and sometimes struggle to come to terms with sharing the land and waters together.

The artist respectfully states that he does not attempt to retell or interpret origin stories of the First Nations peoples around him. Rather, he uses aspects of the human body and of the creatures in the sea that, when combined or placed opposite one another, may pictorially suggest associations that could lead to visual stories about lives lived now.

These sorts of pictorial interests include James’s attention to the rediscovery and the reclamation of the ancient mariculture (a subset of aquaculture) that was practiced near the water’s edge by the peoples of the Pacific Northwest coast for at least 3500 years.

The Clam Garden

In his painting The Clam Gardener Welcomes the Incoming Tide, Herman James depicts a clam gardener in her clam garden with the tide coming in through the passage behind her, which by design, was left in the wall of the garden to allow tidal water to pass freely. In addition to clams and other shellfish, other sea life including seaweeds and other sea creatures were encouraged to inhabit these spaces.

Clam gardens once existed in the thousands from southern Oregon to Haida Gwaii and western Canada to Alaska, in Hawaii as well, and possibly even farther afield. These human-constructed spaces for mariculture allowed for an abundant and rich source of protein and other essential nutrients for the First Nations peoples living along these coasts.

As Europeans arrived and began to dominate the coastlines, clam gardens began to disappear. At first unaware of, or unnoticed by Europeans, this extensive mariculture was ultimately discouraged. Sadly, by the early 20th century, clam garden locations with their attendant methods and practices were close to being completely forgotten by the peoples who had cultivated them for thousands of years.

However, a few First Nations held on to their ancient mariculture, as can be seen in the uncredited photo (shown below) of two women collecting clams. The shoreline structure behind these women suggests the classic half-moon shape of a clam garden. Now, many First Nations peoples are engaged in archaeological discovery, and in some cases, restoring the remnants of clam gardens they find along their coastal homelands. Some, like the Swinomish tribe of northern Washington, are building them anew.

As professional archaeological exploration of clam garden sites is being conducted and many old gardens are being restored or new gardens being built, it seems certain that lost clam gardening secrets and techniques developed by ancient First Nations citizen scientists will once again come to light.

Clam Garden Clips and Articles:

• Hakai Magazine link


• Native Watchman of the Mamalilikulla Qwe'Qwa'Sot'Em territory, Tom Sewid, takes us on a tour of the ancient clam gardens (lo'hewae) of coastal British Columbia. Andrew Elizaga is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, sea kayaking enthusiast, and the author of the Dash Point Pirate blog based in Tacoma, Washington. link.


• A Modern Clam Garden Under Construction: link.



• From KUOW: link.
  
  

I offer my respect to all First Nations Peoples



Jamestown S'Klallam link
A Gathering of Coast Salish link
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Logo designed by Gregory David Prince