Paintings, photography and mixed media by prominent native artist and storyteller Roger Fernandes are now on display at the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center.

Fernandes, 58, lives in Sammamish and grew up in Seattle. His native name is Kawasa. He is a member of Lower Elwha Band of the Klallam Indians from the Port Angeles area of Washington on his mother’s side. His father’s side is Portuguese and Hawaiian.

Fernandes won a folk life award from the Washington Arts Commission for his work in teaching about Coast Salish art. He also has a degree in Native American Studies from Evergreen State College.

He was on a select roster of speakers for the Washington Commission for the Humanities and created a special performance entitled “Teachings of the First People.”

“A lot of people assume storytelling is a way to pass time or explain the world through legends, myths, and folk tales," said Fernandes. "It’s so much more profound than that. It’s innate in people to tell stories and to gather something from them. It has been this way for thousands of years, before the written language.”

At his Longhouse art opening July 23 Fernandes told traditional stories to a group of kids, and some grown-ups who seemed to be kids at heart based on their focus of his every word.

Fernandes sees an important overlap in his storytelling, and paintings and photography.

“I explain my artwork by telling the story behind it,” he said. “This show is an opportunity for me to present my visions, my artwork that comes out of the stories.”

His painting “Taproot Red Cedar Spirit” was just completed, done on hardboard rather than canvas. The vertical painting depicts a cedar tree the color of flowing red blood. Two spirit figures, or “ground spirits” peak out from behind. Unusual is a sort of tail that extends out of the bottom front of the painting and dangles a few feet.

“What hangs down is a cedar root I dug up this morning and stripped the bark off it,” he explained. "I was taught that a taproot is when a seed is in the ground it grows a root to anchor. A family, community, culture needs something to anchor it in the ground. The cedar tree represents our culture, the metaphor for what we all need, a taproot. These stories were known to our ancestors and a lot of us modern natives are trying to recapture that understanding.”

“Roger is a good and close friend of the Duwamish people and one of the foremost experts of Duwamish and Salish art,” said James Rasmussen, Longhouse Museum and Cultural Center Director. “He helps many in the area and we are very proud to feature his work.”

Roger Fernandes’ work will be displayed for three months. He will have two more openings and plans to be present to tell stories as well.

Contact the Duwamish Longhouse for more information; 4717 West Marginal Way S.W.,
Seattle, WA 98106 (206) 431-1582.