Spawning Salmon [print]

In the spirit of spindle whorls, this circular Coast Salish design depicts four spawning salmon perpetually swimming around a salmon egg. This design is a continuation of my "cultural conFUSION" paintings. In the disCOURSE on Northwest Coast art, Coast Salish art has been beLIEved to be "lacking" the assumed aesthetic superiority of northern and Wakashanrt forms. Some scholars on Northwest Coast art, in their authoritive wisDUMB on Northwest Coast art, have proclaimed that Coast Salish art "lacks" the bLACK oVOID and split u-form characteristic of northern Northwest Coast art. The most significant aspect of this deSIGN is the orange, eccentric circle. This orange, eccentric circle symbolizes the possible design element from which northern ovoids may have "evolved" from. Peter MacNair once hypothesized that the concentric circles of Coast Salish art are the possible evolutionary "precursors" of northern style ovoids. In my research on Northwest Coast art, I assumed that the term "ovoid" was derived from the term "oval." In my mINd, this would have explained Steve Brown's theorized "evolution" of northern style ovoids from the concentric circles and concentric ovals of Coast Salish art. To my surprise, upon looking up the term "ovoid" in the dictionary, I found out that the term "ovoid" is derived from French and Latin terms such as "ovum," and is "shaped like an egg." Hence the salmon egg in the center of the deSIGN, which alludes to the "c-forms" which are common to all Northwest Coast art forms. --lessLIE