After reading a Twilight fanfic that involved Edward and Bella going on a date to the Seattle Art Museum, I decided to go to the SAM website to see what exhibits are currently showing. When I looked at the list of upcoming exhibits, I was pleasantly surprised to see information for an exhibit of Quileute art focusing on the legend of the wolves and, in particular, how the real legends were misrepresented in the Twilight series. The exhibit will begin in August and will run until August of next year. And if you're an art lover like myself, I suggest waiting to go until October when they will also be showing the largest and most comprehensive Picasso exhibit to ever come to the Pacific NW, if not the entire country. Definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to see that exhibit, and also being able to see the Quileute exhibit at the same time is the icing on the cake. So here's the exhibit information for the Quileute artwork, for those of you who are interested-
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=18532Behind the Scenes: The Real Story of the Quileute Wolves
August 14, 2010–August 14, 2011
SAM Third Floor Galleries
Wolf headdress, Quileute
The wolf is central to the cultural beliefs of the Quileute Native Peoples of coastal Washington, and wolf imagery is prominent in their art forms. According to oral traditions, the first Quileute were changed from wolves by the Transformer, Kwati; those ancestral beginnings figure significantly in the Quileute world view, even today.
For better or worse, the Quileute were thrust into a media firestorm with the publication of the Twilight books and the release of the first Twilight movies. Because the Quileute were not consulted, their "wolf origins" were misrepresented, and in the books and films they have been portrayed as sexed-up teen werewolves. This has precipitated unwanted visitors to their territory (in the thousands!).
This exhibition consisting of about 30 objects seeks to provide a public platform for the display and interpretation of art works that represent Quileute wolf mythology specifically, and also the larger sphere of their beliefs about spirituality and transformation. As was true for the Coast Salish prior to SAM's 2008–09 exhibition S'abadeb, there have been no prior exhibitions of Quileute art. Although this exhibition will be modest, these carefully chosen works will reveal aspects of Quileute art history, style and meaning.
—Barbara Brotherton, Curator of Native American Art
