ʔálʔal Café Gallery
Image credit here.
About the Gallery
Chief Seattle Club will host seasonal exhibitions featuring Native artists in their new gallery space, at the ʔálʔal Café at 122 2nd Ave S, Seattle. ʔálʔal Café is an Indigenous, non-profit café showcasing pre-colonial and locally sourced ingredients. As a social enterprise owned and operated by Chief Seattle Club, they strive to provide sacred space to nurture, affirm, and strengthen the spirit of urban Native people.
Exhibitions are accessible during the café’s regular hours. Original artworks and prints are available for purchase, with proceeds benefiting the artist and Chief Seattle Club programs that support our unhoused Native relatives. Exhibitions are curated in collaboration with yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective, and funded by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.
Current Exhibition
Ty Juvinel
March 11-June 3, 2024
Chief Seattle Club and yəhaw̓ Indigenous Creatives Collective are proud to present the spring exhibition in ʔálʔal Café featuring artwork by Ty Juvinel (Tulalip). Spring is a time of fresh beginnings. Bears wake up after a long rest. Eagles nest and prepare for their young. The sun returns for a new year. For this show, Ty created a series of carved paddles, along with a painted drum, that honor our animal relatives ushering in the season across Coast Salish lands and waters.
About the Artist
With the traditional name of Zu Waq' Sub Waq'Waq' (Lightning frog), the Tulalip artist Ty Juvinel has been submerged in his culture for as long as he can remember. Raised around his Grandmother Grace Goedel, Ty Juvinel was always influenced with his Native heritage. Ty Juvinel grew up watching Grace Goedel help bring the Lushootseed language back to the reservation and beyond. This is where Ty gets his can do attitude. Ty established his creative outlet at a young age with drawing and painting graffiti. Later in life he discovered Coast Salish art and carving. He became a graphic designer for the Tulalip Tribes until earning the spot as an Apprentice Carver. Over time, Ty Juvinel has perfected his craft and expanded his artist reach. From Children's books which he writes and illustrates, to carvings of paddles, masks, house posts, panels and much more. Ty looks towards a bright future sharing his gift with those around him. Ty has worked with Seattle Children's Museum, UW Burke, Seattle Library, Tulalip Hibulb Museum, Edmonds Historical Museum, City of Edmonds, City of Olympia, MOHAI, and art for a Bernie Sanders rally. Visit lightningwaqwaq.myportfolio.com to learn more.
Past Exhibitions
Photo by Mel Carter
Winter Show
Crystal Christopherson and Kalee Nelson
December 5, 2023 - March 1, 2024
Chief Seattle Club is proud to present the winter exhibition in ʔálʔal Café featuring artwork by Crystal Christopherson (Tlingit) and Kalee Nelson (Tsimshian). Winter for many is a season for remembrance and reflection. In Alaska Native communities, people return home, gathering inside to make art and pass stories from one generation to the next. For this exhibition, two artists bring us comfort in a time of cold by sharing works that uplift their cultural traditions and relatives who have passed on.
About Crystal
Crystal Rosé Christopherson is an enrolled member of the Tlingit tribe - Raven/Beaver clan. Crystal took her first formline class with David A. Boxley in November 2012 and is grateful to be one of his lifelong students. Christopherson's designs are often inspired by nature, her 3 children, her faith, and in honor of loved ones gone too soon. Crystal says, ‘Winter is a season to slow down, spread joy and light, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Thank you for allowing me to share my artwork with you.’
About Kalee
Kalee Nelson is a Tsimshian artist from Seattle, Washington. She is currently an apprentice in traditional Tsimshian wood carving and formline painting under Master Carver David A. Boxley. She also studied traditional cedar basket weaving under Master Weaver Loa Ryan. Kalee’s current collection is inspired by the winter moon and in loving memory of her aunt Louise Craig and her father Richard Melton, who passed earlier this year.
Fall Show
Naomi Parker
September 12-December 3, 2023
Naomi Parker comes from the Makah, Yakama, and Chippewa/Cree people. Drawing on her intertribal ancestry, she uses oil paint on canvas to create scenes of far flung Native relations coming together at pow wow grounds and campsites. Through images of friendly faces and joyfully clasped hands, Naomi shows the power we have to create community wherever we gather.
Photo by Andrew Balmer
About the Artist
Naomi Elizabeth Parker—Yakama, Chippewa/Cree (of Rocky Boy) and an enrolled member of the Makah Nation—is a graphic designer and visual artist based in Tacoma, WA. She attended the graphic design program at the Seattle Central Creative Academy and received her degree in 'Interdisciplinary Visual Arts' from the University of Washington in 2008, where she learned drawing and painting from Ann Gale, David Brody, Philip Govedare and Helen O'Toole. She worked professionally at Pacific Standard, Microsoft, Tactile and Sur La Table headquarters as a graphic designer for nearly a decade before taking a pause to become a full–time parent in 2017. During this time, she started creating more visual art and has now shifted her entire focus to oil painting, quilting and beading. In the last few years, her art has been held in private and public collections, including the Seattle University Art Collection, the Chief Seattle Club and Google. Her art has recently been in solo and group shows at the Nii Modo Art Gallery and the Bainbridge Brewing Company and is currently being featured and sold at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, WA.
Summer Show
Paige Pettibon
June 13 - September 8, 2023
Paige Pettibon is a mixed-race descendant of the Salish and Kootenai Tribes, raised on Coast Salish territories alongside one of the country’s largest urban Native populations. She draws on her lived experience to create images that highlight the complexity of Indigenous identities, and uplift shared community values. Paige works across many media, from digital design to painting, to handcrafted jewelry and public art. Inspired by the summer season, the artworks in her show at ʔálʔal celebrate Indigenous joy. Her series of new original paintings feature images of plant relatives and Seliš language, reminding us of all the ways we can gather and grow this time of year.
About the Artist
Paige Pettibon is a Tacoma-based artist who incorporates her Indigenous and Black culture in her work. She has identified as a painter from an early age, but has added sewing, creative writing, digital art, and jewelry making into her repertoire. Pettibon’s studio practice centers around building community within culture and identity in various art forms. She believes we can create social change through creative expression by sharing our narratives. As a Lushootseed speaker, she practices the virtues carried out through the speaking community, which are to be kind, helpful, and sharing. The work she creates is formed with these good intentions, knowing it is important to be careful with the content you create in the world. See her work on Instagram @plain_to_sea and @paige_pettibon, or on her website www.paigepettibon.com.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Stay tuned for information on future shows.