Susan Point, Coast Salish Artist

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

This beautiful book records and celebrates the carvings, prints,
jewelry, and semi-abstract sculpture of Coast Salish artist Susan Point,
as she emerges from venerable traditions and forges some new directions.


Michael Kew’s opening chapter describes traditional Coast Salish art,
culture, and beliefs. Peter Macnair, former curator of ethnology at the
Royal British Columbia Museum, points to the artist’s desire for new
challenges, and her willingness to explore new mediums (such as glass
and bronze) and to work on a massive scale: “In this way, the age-old
process of adaptation is ongoing.”

Four major essays supplement the visual feast. In one of the essays,
Bill McLennan, a curator of Northwest Coast art exhibits and consultant
to the Canadian Museum of Civilization, comments on Point’s
contemporary architectural carvings.

Consonance, a magnificent dark bronze and polymer sculpture was
inspired by a Salish legend of the Whale People and suggests the
inter-connectedness of life forms and generations.

Point’s work inspires meditation, joy, and thankfulness. This
exceptionally fine book is one to be enjoyed slowly over many viewings.