Northwest Native Expressions Art Gallery offers traditional and contemporary art forms created by Northwest artisans. The gallery's collections characterize the high quality craftsmanship that represents the unique forms of Northwest Native American art, culture, and history. Northwest Native Expressions offers artwork in several mediums including limited edition lithographs, masks, clothing, textiles, sculptures, jewelry, drums, artifacts, handcrafts, woven baskets, plaques, wooden boxes, framed prints and music as well as gift and souvenir items - Stop in and see us at the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Center.  Located near the Northwest Native Expressions Art Gallery is the House of Myth Carving Shed, where local master-carvers create all the wood carved work such as totems, signage and building decor for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.  

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe

Bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the north, and by Hood Canal to the east, Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula has always been a rural area whose residents have been dependent on local resources. The location is remote and scenic, with more than 200 miles of rugged coastline, which has long been the place of many S’Klallam villages.  

Inhabiting this area for more than 10,000 years, the S’Klallam possessed a rich social and religious culture based on the abundant natural resources of the Northwest Coast. They moved from village to village in their traditional territory during the spring, summer and fall, for fishing and resource gathering, and settled into more permanent longhouses for the winter months. The inhabitants hunted game and subsisted on the wealth of shellfish, herring and salmon. They were craftspeople skilled in woodcarving and basket making; they fashioned ceremonial masks, serving dishes and utensils, storage boxes from cedar, woven mats, rope, and clothing from cedar bark.

“S’Klallam” derives from “nuxsklai’yem,” the original Salish language name for the S’Klallam people meaning “strong people.” The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is one of three S’Klallam bands; the others are the Lower Elwha Klallam and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribes.