Magazines - Tribal Art Winter 2010

By Barbara Brotherton, curator of Native American art at the Seattle Art Museum.

Introduction
The Quileute trace their proud ancestry back to primordial wolves but have never been the “werewolves” they are depicted to be in the runaway best-selling books and films of the Twilight saga. Thrust into international notoriety because of the popularity of the vampire vs. werewolf storyline (with scenes from the Quileute reservation), the real Quileute have collaborated on an exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum in order to tell their authentic story. The exhibition, Behind the Scenes: The Real Story of the Quileute Wolves, on view until August 14, 2011, features twenty-five objects on loan from the National Museum of the American Indian, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Anthropological Archives, the Olympic National Park Service, and the Washington State Historical Society, including dramatic wolf headdresses used in their Tlokwali, or Wolf Ritual.