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Founders |
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The
Suquamish Tribe
Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe
North Kitsap School District |
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“4
Brothers,” by nytom, John Goodwin, noted Makah
artist, is the design that has been adopted by
North Kitsap Common Threads |
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FOUR BROTHERS
After the Government signed treaties with the First Nations Peoples in and around the Pacific Northwest, the Indian Agents gave the peoples English surnames. Not having any regard to us as a people with a living culture, they never stopped to realize that we came from a strong and proud family background. I created this design in response to the disregard the government’s Indian Agents had for my people, in denying them their family connection. The four brothers that I am referring to this design are the McCarty, Johnson, Greene and Guy families from
Waatch. All four families continue to remember their strong families ties to one another, even though they have different last names. nytom |
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 John
Goodwin (nytom), a member of the Makah Tribe, has worked all his life as an Artist and a Fisherman.
He is a renowned artist and uses several mediums -
including carving in silver and Screened Originals that
teach the legends of his people.
John was born in 1948 to John and Norma Goodwin. He has lived and worked on the Makah Reservation, located in the upper northwest corner of the United States, most of his life. A year after graduating from Neah Bay High School, John spent 18 months overseas fulfilling his military tour in Vietnam. Honorably discharged from the Army, he returned home and became involved with the cultural life of his people.
By utilizing his artistic abilities he realized he could contribute to his culture. He began by painting dancing robes and creating and painting bentwood cedar boxes. He then continued his artistic expression through limited edition prints and started signing his work with his adult Native name, nytom. Wanting to learn more about the different mediums in West Coast native art, he apprenticed under Loren White, a master carver, who made John his first set of engravers. He continued engraving for two years, and then started an apprenticeship with Art Thompson.
Currently John resides in Sequim, Washington.
Because of his involvement in his culture, John will continue to create his own style of design for many years to come |
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