Run, Salmon, Run

Object/Artifact

-

Calvin University Center Art Gallery

The image features an Alaskan mask with striking colors and patterns, prominently centered against a backdrop suggestive of salmon swimming upstream, evidenced by elongated, fish-like shapes in motion on a light blue panel. The mask itself has a fierce yet serene expression, with red and white painted details, and is adorned with feathers around the head, framed by a vertical structure with orange dot patterns on the sides.

The image features an Alaskan mask with striking colors and patterns, prominently centered against a backdrop suggestive of salmon swimming upstream, evidenced by elongated, fish-like shapes in motion on a light blue panel. The mask itself has a fierce yet serene expression, with red and white painted details, and is adorned with feathers around the head, framed by a vertical structure with orange dot patterns on the sides.

Name/Title

Run, Salmon, Run

Entry/Object ID

2011.8.1

Description

Wooden mask painted red, white, and black, and surrounded by duck feathers. The rising back depicts salmon swimming up a stream.

Category

Vault, People, Animals, Indigenous, Objects
Ethnic

Made/Created

Artist

Perry Eaton

Date made

2011 - 2012

Dimensions

Dimension Description

overall

Height

32-1/2 in

Width

14 in

Depth

4-1/2 in

Exhibitions

Permanent Collection: Center Art Gallery - September 2, 2014 - May, 2015
90 Years of Collecting - September 4–October 20, 2012 Center Art Gallery

General Notes

Note

This mask was rough out during a week long residency at Calvin College in February of 2011. The Mask originally was shown in a solo show in May and June of 2011 at the Orenda gallery in Paris France. In its original form it lacked the hoop and feathers around the effigy and the slashing lines and dots on the face The story of the mask centers around the perpetual cycle of Salmon life and death. Symbolism on the mask includes the spawning stream with salmon in annual migration; eggs laid in the graval; and mans relation to the balance of the cycle.