SEATTLE — It is silent, yet eloquent. Ancient, but relevant. Relatively light in weight, but heavy in tradition and symbolism.
The pre-1900 cedar mask that is believed to have inspired the original Seattle Seahawks logo is in town — on loan from the Maine museum that owns it — and is scheduled to go on public display at the Burke Museum starting late next month.
Officials at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington this week have been learning about the mask and its use from Bruce Alfred, a native carver from Alert Bay, off the northern coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island.
“It’s very old, and a beautiful piece,” said Alfred, 64, a member of the Namgis Band of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations, in Seattle to view the mask and provide information to be used in its display.
Alfred said the mask may have been the work of more than one artist — collaborations were common on such projects — and appears to have had its paint freshened up at some point over the decades, although its yellow, blue and red today are muted compared to how it may have looked new.
The 2-foot-long piece, about 3 feet wide when opened, weighs about 5 pounds.
Alfred, who has seen a variety of these “transformation masks,” said the dancer who wore the mask in ceremonies might have had a hand in designing it, to make sure it fit correctly and balanced properly.
Perhaps the most dramatic aspect of transformation masks is the effect they convey when worn by a dancer — something that Seahawks fans, who’ve only seen the two-dimensional logo, likely know nothing about.
At such an event, perhaps a memorial or the emergence of a tribal leader, Alfred said, the dancer might circle a ceremonial area as music heightens and dim light from a fire glints off the mask’s paint and its circular glass eyes.
Then at the peak moment, the dancer would whirl around as the face of the mask splits down the middle, revealing the mask of a human face inside, and another bird emerges from the top of the piece.
“I’ve been around this all my life and it still blows my mind.” said Alfred, adding that the transformation is often regarded as a metaphor for mankind’s creation.
The mask is scheduled to be part of an exhibit in Seattle called “Here &Now: Native Artists Inspired,” opening Nov. 22 and running until next July. The exhibit will feature 30 new works by contemporary Native artists, paired with historic pieces the artists identify as key to their learning.
For decades, there has been speculation about what piece of art might have provided inspiration for the Seahawk emblem. The logo was designed by the NFL, not the team, a museum spokeswoman said. And while it’s not known exactly who designed the logo, it is known they consulted works on native art.
Even though the “Seahawks” mask is already in Seattle, Burke Museum officials said the success of the project still depends on a Kickstarter public-fundraising campaign that’s only about 60 percent of the way toward its $14,575 goal.
Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, assistant director of the Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Coast Art at the Burke Museum, said under Kickstarter procedures, unless the goal is hit, the museum won’t be able to claim the money already pledged, $8,700 from some 230 backers.
The exhibit would go ahead, but the museum would be on the hook for its costs, she said.
The budget includes not just the shipping and display of the mask, but the expense of having Alfred come examine it.
The mask was located after a search that spanned the continent. Its current owner, the Hudson Museum at the University of Maine in Orono, received it as part of an estate.
Burke Museum officials are asking Seahawks fans to donate $12 apiece to the project in honor of the team’s “12th Man” fans.
Alfred said he long has recognized the team logo’s resemblance to carvings of his people, and though he’s not a huge NFL fan, he did avidly follow last year’s Super Bowl run.
“I got caught up in it,” he said. “The 12th Man is exciting.”
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