Teachings Tree People, 2006

Containers:

Digital-materials RL13074-SET-0053_u > Video-file JenningsKatie_TeachingsTreePeople.mp4

Physical description:

58 minutes

Scope and content:

Bruce Miller is a Skokomish spiritual leader who nourished a renaissance of art and culture in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. He's a master of Skokomish basketry, weaving and cedar-mat making, oral history and storytelling. Knowledgeable in topics as diverse as medicinal herbs and ceremonial protocol, Bruce is a Renaissance man and a leader in the movement to bring back native art and culture in the Northwest and beyond. The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the National Heritage Fellowship for this work. He's also known as "uncle" to the many apprentices who discover their own dormant strengths as they learn to practice cultural traditions at his side.Teachings of the Tree People chronicles Bruce's childhood on the Skokomish reservation; his young adulthood in college, in war, and with a national theater company; and his return home to lead a cultural renaissance. With the help of apprentices, he strips tree bark and annoints it with natural dyes, grows and prepares medicines, weaves with wool and cedar, and prepares wild foods for a community Ceremony of First Foods.Four is an important number in Indian country. It's the number of the seasons and the number of cardinal directions. It's also the number of times one is expected to listen to a story to really begin to hear it. Bruce tells his own bittersweet tale of cultural knowledge in four chapters that grow, branch, interconnect and reach toward the sky. Produced by Katie Jennings.

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