Emma Noyes (Sinixt and Colville tribes of the Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation) is an author, artist, and researcher based in Spokane, WA. She views each of these roles as an extension of her responsibilities as a Sinixt person and parent. Her works are an expression of love for storied landscapes, first foods, language learning, cultural continuity and justice. Emma has kept daily illustrated journals for nearly 20 years and this practice has become both a refuge and a starting place for many creative projects, including zines, books, murals, and poems. Her book, Baby Speaks Salish, was published in 2020 by Scablands books. Her writing can be found in a variety of publications and her public art can be seen in a growing number of locations around Nelson, BC.
How did you come up with the design for your Gyro Park Mural?
The design was largely inspired by the place. It meant a lot to get to paint somewhere in Nelson that is near and dear, not just to children right now, but also to people who grew up in Nelson. When I talked to people they would say “I know that park and that pool!”.
I wanted the design to incorporate water. Between the name of the park and those beautiful, sweet little wading pools that I got to take my kids to, it made me think “Okay, what is the story that comes to mind with this?” And there was a story that came to mind for me as a Sinixt artist. So much of the landscape of our traditional territory is now underwater because of hydroelectric dams. But because of our rich oral history tradition, I grew up with stories about places I’ve only been to via story because they are now underwater. One of those places was described to me by a dear relative, mentor, and grandma to me, Jeanette Timentwa. She called it “Coyote’s Waterslide” and she helped me picture it. She was in her 80s when she shared this. It’s not within Nelson proper, but it’s within our traditional territory near Kettle Falls. It was along the river, where kids could sit down and safely go down the rocks on a bit of a slide, get whooshed around, and then back out onto the water again. I imagined kids lining up to do that, and then I used the Čaptíkʷł story characters that I frequently work with and pictured them doing the same. That was the overall inspiration for that mural.
Tell us a bit about the colour palette you chose for this mural!
I had this “We’re doing it for the kids!” approach. I know that infants and children of all ages are drawn to the high-contrast, black-and-white work I usually do. When I was growing up there was such a fusion of both pop culture and traditional culture that helped create my imagining and vision of what these places from stories would be like. In the US, in the 90s, we had a gum called Zebra Stripe Gum; you have to look up YouTube videos of the commercials. In the commercials there’d be something happening in the forefront, the Zebra with multicolour striped characters, and in the back, there’d be these waves and these landscapes of white, pastel, and dreamy, whimsical colours going on. That’s what I wanted for the feel; I wanted a little bit of Zebra Stripe Gum. Traditional Čaptíkʷł plus some geography of story.
Expanding on that a little bit, a lot of viewers in Nelson will remember your work as black and white, from your Extant Mural; is there anything else that’s drawing you to use colour other than just the location of the mural?
I think some more colour might show up in my work in the future. For context, other than my personal aesthetic preferences, there is also a more philosophical reason for the black and white. The stories, culture, songs, and references to things that I got to learn through our traditional knowledge or from life experiences from those that came before me or from my own life experiences, that is so vibrant and electric. It has a pulse and it’s real. That kind of vibrancy is the sort of “colour”. I’m merely laying down the outlines, the bare bones. Nothing I create will fully represent or tap into the full energy or ethos of all of that. I like being able to say “Here are the bare bones. Here is the simplest suggestion of paying close attention to everything that unfolds from these types of teachings.” And I think that lends itself well to being in black and white. Being able to represent some of those literal colours in this mural; I think it’s a fun invitation for those who are drawn in—even more than the black and white. I have a seven-year-old and a two-year-old; kids know when things are for kids, you know? It’s often through colour, shape, or the size of something. So, colour is another invitation to show children this artwork is for them.
We’ve already had feedback from some kids; they love the piece!
Oh good! We had some visitors while we were painting who enjoyed the salmon in the floaty toy with the hat.
How long did the piece take to paint? Any memorable moments from the process?
We worked on it during two sessions of about 5-6 hours on a Saturday. We took a break in the middle because it was a really hot day—Nelson was having some of those this summer. On Sunday, we worked again for another 5 hours. We were able to move through really quickly because we had great volunteers and staff involved.
For memorable moments, I got to paint alongside a volunteer who I will likely have some work side-by-side with in other settings, so it was really great to get to know one another. Another deeply memorable part was that I brought my good friend Danica Parkin, who is also a Sinixt woman, and we road-tripped up together. Danica painted with me and when we took our break in the middle of the day, we decided to hit higher elevations. We checked out a lot of our traditional foods and medicines that are growing higher in the mountains. We were trekking around in these little sundresses and checking out different plants. We put on tennis shoes because we were wearing flip-flops before and had to sort of mountain goat our way up. It was really good.
Moving into a big-picture topic, what effect do you think murals have on public space?
Murals and other public art put imagination and creativity right in front of everyone. There’s some radical imagination needed to get communities, cities, and Nations to the place that we need to be for more people to thrive. Sometimes you can drive through a place, or grow up in a place, and it doesn’t really dawn on you. You can look around at the big picture of the community living there, but even if you reduce it down to observing the built environment, ask: “Is this what your wildest dreams look like? Is this what our imagination looks like?” I think murals give someone a wall to say “This is what my wildest dreams look like”. And that is remarkable, more so than painting a colour. That is an invitation to everyone who sees it to engage in that kind of imagining.
You have a few pieces in Nelson now; for the record, where can everyone admire your work?
Sure! But I do so at the risk of scaring someone away from asking me to do anything else in Nelson! Emma laughs Cause it’s like, is this getting overdone? But no, I had the opportunity to paint a commissioned mural on the back of the Capitol Theatre. It’s pretty visible from several streets and great if you are walking around since there are businesses throughout that alley. That mural was completed in 2022.
I have a couple of other public art pieces, one of which has yet to be unveiled in front of the Capitol Theatre. A portion of it is my work, painted on the work of a carpenter who created this remarkable pole. I got to paint all over it and I’m excited to see it when it’s installed. And then I have a piece I just completed at Selkirk College on the 10th Street Campus. Behind Mary Hall, there is a location that recently had its grand opening; it’s called the Indigenous Gathering Space. It’s an outdoor education, learning, story-sharing, and knowledge-sharing space that has four large panels. These panels help reduce the wind flow but they also make for a really nice canvas to paint. That one is probably one of the most detailed large-scale pieces of mine that is publicly viewable. At present, it’s the only panel that’s painted. I look forward to seeing the other artwork that is going up in that space.
Anything else you’d like to put out in the world right now?
I would like to add gratitude and appreciation to be asked to do multiple projects and bring my work up into traditional homeland and territory that I haven’t personally gotten to spend a lot of time in—that’s been wonderful. I’m excited to see more Sinixt artists getting a similar bridge and connection back to traditional homeland. I think that will increase over time, thanks to the great work that you all do, and everyone else that’s showing up for the arts.
Interviewer: Ingrid Love – 2024