Shining a light on local history

Published 10:23 am Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Born out of the memory of a massacre — and more than a decade in the making —“Dungeness,” a historical novel by Bainbridge High School teacher Karen Polinsky, will debut as part of the upcoming celebration of the life and work of Washington historian Mary Ann Lambert early next month.

A complex figure in regional history, the daughter of a S’Klallam girl and a Swedish mariner-turned-farmer, Lambert grew up living between worlds, watching native villages swallowed up by the towns and cities taking shape around growing ferry docks.

She wrote stories from eyewitness accounts, uniquely capturing the Native American perspective during the half century that followed the signing of the 1855 Point No Point Treaty. Recording cultural shifts in the economic and social climate of the Olympic Peninsula, Lambert advocated for a historical record that honored divergent viewpoints.

Inspired by Lambert’s most famous piece, “The Dungeness Massacre,” the novel and included historical essays speculate on one possible motive behind the 1868 ambush of 17 Northern Indians by S’Klallam warriors on the five-mile Dungeness sandspit.

One pregnant Tsimshian girl, protected by a special pair of earrings, survives. A coming-of-age tale loosely based on Lambert’s own life, the novel then follows fictional protagonist Millie Langlie as she journeys from an isolated beach on the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victorian Port Townsend and then back again, and further into the heart of the mystery.

Polinksy and island artist Cara Thompson, the book’s designer, will visit Eagle Harbor Book Company at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14 for a special reading and preview event.

The project has received support from Cultural Arts Foundation Northwest, the Port Gamble and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribes and the Port Madison Suquamish Tribe, as well.

Lambert’s legacy will also be recognized at the upcoming art exhibit “tá?kwt (To Shine a Light on Something),” a unique collaboration from regional artists and writers on display from Thursday, Feb. 4 to Sunday, Feb. 28 at Northwind Arts Center in Port Townsend.

Thompson’s interactive piece “Magic Lantern,” a remake of a vintage Port Townsend souvenir, will be on display as part of the exhibition.

There will be readings by Tlingit poet Robert Hoffman and Seattle poet and essayist Paul Nelson at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 4.

Polinsky will be a featured speaker at the exhibition’s panel discussion event “Feminist Writers on the Coast Salish History” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25. She will be joined by Llyn De Danaan, author of “Katie Gale: A Coast Salish Woman’s Life on Oyster Bay” and Sherry Lou Macgregor, author of “Coast Salish Cultures Past and Present.”

“This is a unique collaboration between local artists and local writers, the Jefferson County Historical Society and tribes,” Polinsky said. “The common link is that everybody wants to make [Lambert] more known for what she did.

“She just seemed to me kind of this special person people don’t know about,” Polinsky added.

Her first novel began as a way to explore her interest in regional history and eventually grew into a decade-plus long creative process, Polinsky said.

“I was enthralled by the history here,” she explained. “It just seemed especially that 19th century period when people first arrived and where the Native American villages on the shoreline had been the predominant way of life is just so interesting.”

With pieces by four contemporary S’Klallam artists and artifacts from the Jefferson County Historical Society, the exhibition will pay homage to the power of storytelling objects, which give more dimension to stories of the past.

Some of the other pieces in the show include master carver Joe Ives’ 9-foot salmon sculpture and carver and printmaker Jimmy Price’s sculptures, prints and printed shirts and slippers.

Cathy MacGregor, Lambert’s great-niece, will also showcase her traditional baskets and contemporary objects made of cedar bark, including a baseball cap and a manikin head.

Patrick Maher’s silver pendant earrings will recreate a storytelling object from his grandmother’s most famous tale.

Visit www.northwindarts.org to learn more about “tá?kwt (To Shine a Light on Something)” and other upcoming exhibitions at Northwind Arts Center in Port Townsend. For a list of future author events, visit www.eagleharborbooks.com.

A life and legacy

What: “tá?kwt (To Shine a Light on Something)” an exhibition celebrating the life and legacy of Mary Ann Lambert.

When: Thursday, Feb. 4 to Sunday, Feb. 28.

Where: Northwind Arts Center in Port Townsend (701 Water St.).

Admission: Free.