Photo: Photograph of the Welcome Woman, by herself, courtesy of Shayna Clayton.
Interview by Marta Tahja-Syrett
On Oct. 2 of 2019, Makah carver Greg Colfax and Skokomish artist Bunni Peterson-Haitwas revealed their beautiful restoration of the Welcome Woman—a joint project which they presented to the Evergreen community through a fall unveiling ceremony. Peterson-Haitwas, who graduated from Evergreen in 2019, says that she was honored to be able to refurbish the Welcome Woman and that working with Colfax was “ … a dream come true.”
The Welcome Woman originally began her life in 1984, after being carved by Andy Wilbur-Peterson, who is Peterson-Haitwas’ father, and Colfax. Watching her father work is a childhood memory that Peterson-Haitwas, still to this day, recalls fondly.
“I remember dad carving … underneath the shed of the library. I really fell in love with watching him carve the welcome figure back then, in honor of Mary Ellen Hillaire. I’ve always been so proud of my dad’s creativity and the ability to move wood the way he does,” Peterson-Haitwas said. “I just remember rolling down the grass hill in Red Square, as we would watch him carve and how wonderful it was to have that kind of experience growing up at Evergreen, and really making Evergreen feel like it was a part of my home.”
Mary Ellen Hillaire, who the Welcome Woman serves as a tribute to, was an Evergreen faculty member from the Lummi tribe. She worked at the college from 1971 until her death in 1982. According to the “History of the Longhouse” section of The Evergreen State College’s website, Hillaire is credited with having founded Evergreen’s Native American Studies program in 1972. Her vision for “… a culturally appropriate facility … so that people from different cultural backgrounds could teach and learn with each other” lead to the creation of the Longhouse.
Around fifteen years after Peterson-Haitwas made those fond memories of playing in the grass at Evergreen and watching her father carve, she started her own journey as an artist—something that came about at the same time she was becoming a new mother. “I started carving when I was twenty-years-old, pregnant with my oldest son. I had just completed college at Clover Park but didn’t want to leave him so I started doing bentwood boxes and panels,” Peterson-Haitwas said.
For a decade, Peterson-Haitwas carved and painted, before taking a 10-year-long leave of absence. During her studies at Evergreen, though, Peterson-Haitwas began working on art again, which she is excited about.
“I did a linoleum print with Linley Logan and I did a plywood print with Alex McCarty and a mask-making class with Alex McCarty. Also, [I’ve] been working on weaving projects—I did a fiber arts program with Gail Tremblay last fall, weaving six projects, all different styles. But [I’m] especially proud of my 2/2 twill traditional Salish-type weaving, done on a non-traditional four-harness loom,” Peterson-Haitwas said.
It was also during her time studying at Evergreen that Peterson-Haitwas noticed how desperately the Welcome Woman needed to be restored. “I looked at the welcome figure and I was like ‘oh my gosh, she’s so sad,’” Peterson-Haitwas said.
After seeing the Welcome Woman’s condition, she began asking if refurbishment was an option, and when she found out that she would have the opportunity to work with Colfax on it, Peterson-Haitwas was very honored.
While working on the Welcome Woman, Peterson-Haitwas gained important teachings from Colfax. From him, Peterson-Haitwas learned that “Restoring a pole is completely different than carving a pole from scratch.” In the future, she hopes that the two of them will work together again.
Peterson-Haitwas is herself in the process of sharing artistic-based teachings—her own children are already waiting anxiously for the opportunity to start creating art alongside her.
“I know that Cougar likes to do glass work with my mom, so I see that he’ll be probably doing glass or bronze work with her. Ruthie always denies that she’s an artist, but this morning she claimed she was so there’s hope. Conner, he’s my carver, he wants to carve with me and learn how to make different projects and [he is] anxious to start bending wood,” Peterson-Haitwas said.
Peterson-Haitwas is unsure, though, what direction her 4-year-old daughter will take in life. With a laugh, she makes her best guess: “Maddie, she’s probably going to be a fisherman because she likes fish!”
Peterson-Haitwas also shares, with everyone who’s seen the Welcome Woman, the love that she has for her culture, and for creativity. She wishes to instill her artistic teachings into the lives of her children because she realizes how important it is for them to carry on her family’s intergenerational legacy of carving.
“I think what inspires me most, to be an artist, is to teach my kids to be proud of our culture and carry on the legacy of generations of carvers. My great-great-grandpa [was] a canoe carver, and I’m sure people before him were woodworkers, as well. I feel really proud to be a woman carver because there’s not very many women that do the tough work of carving. I feel like if I show my kids [that] it’s possible that our traditions of our art won’t die in my time, and even in my grandkids’ time, then I think [that] it’s important to carry on those teachings,” Peterson-Haitwas said.
