P R E S S  R E L E A S E

Karuk Tribe

For Immediate Release:  January 30, 2013

For more information:  Julie Burcell, Historic Preservation Officer for the Karuk Tribe, (530) 493-1600, x. 2202

KARUK PEOPLE’S CENTER AND MUSEUM HOSTS AN EXHIBITION OF KARUK ART AND CULTURE

In Collaboration with The Clark Museum in Eureka, CA, The Karuk Tribe opens

Pi’êep Káru Payêem – Long ago and Today Exhibition

Happy Camp, CA – The Karuk Tribal Historic Preservation Office announced today that the Karuk People’s Center and Museum in Happy Camp, CA will display the art and culture exhibition Pi’êep Káru Payêem – Long ago and Today through September 2013. 

The exhibition showcases treasured cultural pieces as well as contemporary traditional and modern art.  The community-led exhibit was developed to focus on variety of interpretive/educational themes featuring the Karuk Tribe’s people and environment.  Museum displays include men’s and women’s food collection and preparation tools, baskets and other objects, ceremonial regalia, and contemporary art influenced by long-held cultural traditions.

Karuk Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Julie Burcell, notes that the exhibit “illustrates the amazing cultural continuity between modern Karuk people and their ancestors.  The exhibit will allow visitors to visualize important aspects of the Tribe’s culture and religion, but also emphasizes that the Tribe’s connection to its past is alive and well in modern communities all along the Klamath River.”

Conceptualization

Unique to this museum exhibition is the wide-angle perspective of the Karuk culture: cultural botanists, forest ecologists, master basketweavers and artists, regalia makers, hunters, fisherman, and ceremonial dance leaders all contributed time and knowledge to the exhibition’s design.

Karuk elders, Tribal Council members, ceremonial leaders, artists, and Clark Museum and People’s Center staff worked together to highlight those aspects of Karuk life that have largely gone unchanged: the connection to the river and environment, ceremonies and spirituality, and artistry of diverse mediums.

Additionally, the Karuk language is found throughout the displays and explanatory texts, facilitating documentation of the indigenous language. Tribal member Julian Lang, editor of the exhibition’s catalogue, stated that this “is a perfect example of another goal of the exhibit: making the exhibit relevant and useful to tribal-efforts.”

About the People’s Center and Museum     

The People’s Center is situated near the confluence of the Klamath River and Indian Creek in Happy Camp, at the location of ancestral village site athithúfvuunupma.  The museum and cultural center of the Karuk Tribe is devoted to the preservation, promotion and celebration of Karuk history and language. The People’s Center is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 am to 5 pm and closed for lunch from 1:00 to 1:30 pm.

The Tribe is sponsoring an opening reception for the museum’s special exhibit, Pi’êep Káru Payêem – Long ago and Today, on Saturday, February 9, 2013 from 1-3 pm.  Please RSVP at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or contact (530) 493-1600, x. 2202. The exhibition runs through September 2013.

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P R E S S  R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release:   December 3, 2012

For more information:  Jaclyn Goodwin, interim Historic Preservation Officer for the Karuk Tribe, (530) 493-1600 x2041

KARUK CEREMONIAL SITE RECOMMENED FOR NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

Tishawnik Ceremonial Grounds near Orleans, CA Deemed Historically Significant Area by California State Parks

Happy Camp, CA – The Karuk Tribe’s acting Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) Jaclyn Goodwin announced today that the Tishawnik Ceremonial Grounds, located just south of Panamnik,  present day Orleans, California, has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (National Register).

In a recent letter from the State of California, Office of Historic Preservation, State Historic Preservation Officer Milford Wayne Donaldson stated, “As a result of being determined eligible for the National Register this property has been listed in the California Register of Historical Resources, pursuant to Section 4851(a)(2) of the California Code of Regulations.”

Tishawnik is one of three locations where the annual Karuk World Renewal Ceremony or Pikyávish, has been celebrated since time immemorial.  According to Karuk Tribal Chairman Russell ‘Buster’ Attebery, “Karuk People have been conducting these ceremonies and performing our sacred ceremonial dances at Tishawnik since the beginning of time.  Today’s announcement moves us one step closer to ensuring that these sacred ceremonies and dances will continue to be held here until the end of time.”

Tishawnik is located along the thinly populated middle reaches of the Klamath River in northern California and has been used since time immemorial by the Karuk Tribe, as well as visiting neighbors, the Yurok and Hupa Tribe’s.  These ceremonies and ceremonial dances are still performed at this site each year.

Besides the flats on which ceremonial dances occur, Tishawnik contains large sacred rocks, priest trails, rock alters, sacred trees, rock seats for dancers, and sacred fire locations where medicine is made.  Of most importance to the Karuk, Tishawnik contains the exact locations where the ceremonial dances must be performed, as determined by views to sacred mountains and by the way shadows from the mountains fall on Tishawnik.  These ceremonial dance locations are precise and cannot be changed.

Renowned author and Ethnographer Joseph Chartkoff states:

...Tishawnik is also an extremely significant sacred site, that it has its roots in prehistoric times since it was in full use and importance by the time of the onset of recorded history, and that it merits the same status as Amekyaram and Katimin as among the most significant prehistoric sites in North America. [2010 Email to Donald Verwayen, Research Associate, Cultural Resources Facility, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, July 31, 2010.]

About the National Register of Historic Places       

Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.

The mission of the Karuk Tribal Council is to promote the general welfare of all Karuk people, to establish equality and justice for our tribe, to restore and preserve Tribal traditions, customs, language and ancestral rights, and to secure to ourselves and our descendants the power to exercise the inherent rights of self governance.