Woven in Wool @ Burke Museum

As the days turn cooler, many of us are no doubt grateful for our fuzzy sweaters and blankets. But have you wondered how Indigenous folks here kept warm? The answers are on display at Woven in Wool: Resilience in Coast Salish Weaving at the Burke Museum.

Co-curated with members of the Coast Salish Wool Weaving Center, it’s a rare chance to see the depth, artistry and living knowledge embedded in Coast Salish wool weaving traditions. The exhibition pairs ancestral pieces from major museum collections with newly created works made using traditional methods. The result feels both ancient and electric.

Visitors move through the seasonal cycle of the craft, from gathering huckleberries, alder cones, mushrooms, cattail fluff and mountain goat hair to carding, spinning, dyeing and finally weaving on handmade looms. Along the way, you’ll meet two stars of the story: mountain goats and the now-extinct Salish Wool Dog. Coast Salish peoples once bred these small, fluffy white dogs for their long, silky fibers, which were blended with mountain goat wool to make prized blankets and ceremonial garments. The last surviving woolly dog pelt — “Mutton,” on loan from the Smithsonian — makes a star appearance here, equal parts adorable and awe-inspiring.

The exhibit also highlights the detective work contemporary weavers are doing to revive techniques that were historically undervalued and under-documented. Blankets, tunics, skirts, looms, tools — and the stories behind them — make this a lively, layered look at an art form that’s as resilient as it is beautiful.