Nigel Fox Artworks

Gary Wyatt, a director from Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, came in to talk to the class today. He spoke on numerous topics in the west coast art world. His words varied to almost a poetic stance at times. One thing that stuck with me is that “formline is a language…formline is music.” Which is totally true. There is a certain creative formality to west coast native art that allows it to stand out in melody, rhythm and tone.

You could just feel Gary’s enthusiasm for the art, even after many years in the business. It was quite refreshing and very informative. Gary seemed to want to make the presentation fun, yet educational and throughout it all, he had integrity. He seems like the perfect gallery director for an artist to work with and I hope to do business with him in some point in the future.

Gary Wyatt and the FDS Teachers Walking Away in the Snow

Butterflies #2

My newest painting is entitled “Butterflies”. It is about respect.

Terrace is built upon land that is traditionally First Nations–Tsimshian to be more accurate. Although I am not Tsimshian, I grew up in Prince Rupert and find North West Coast art to be fascinating, especially considering that it still lives in a modern context and adapts to the tools and methods of today.

Years ago, I was told by some friends that in Tsimshian culture, the butterfly crest has a special meaning and is usually reserved for those who are not Tsimshian by blood—outsiders. The interlocking nature of the butterfly motifs on this painting suggests teamwork and co-operation—each one respecting each other’s borders and not going outside or falling short of their appointment. The repeating geometry within the design also suggests that it can be extended infinitely. Thus, it is universal that for harmony to be maintained between differing peoples, respect is mandatory.

Well, everything went quite well at Friday’s exhibit opening at the TAG.  Please check out the TAG exhibit for photos of opening night and directions to the Terrace Art Gallery. Now that this exhibit is under way, we have another exhibit at the Kitimat Museum and Archives, which also doubles as an art gallery, coming up this Friday, 11 February.

Click below to see images from Terrace Exhibit Opening:

Group photo, TAG Exhibit, 2011

The art exhibit opening at the Terrace Art Gallery was a huge success. We had what appeared to be about 200 people show up for the opening, with people from as far away as Hazelton showing up to meet the artists. I met people that I haven’t seen in years there, including a friend that I knew since I was ten years old that I haven’t seen in years and a lady whose portrait I drew in Gitsegeukla at a church meeting in 2007. I think that tonight has been a fulfillment of my best expectations, with an offer coming in to connect me up with a print maker in Victoria. Making reproductions is a key part of my business plan that I handed in on the aboriginal BEST entrepreneurship deadline today. It has been a very busy week that all came to a head this evening. My wife and I are going to watch a movie and go to bed. Stay tuned for more on the exhibit opening in a couple of days.

Opening Night at the Terrace Art Gallery, Feb 2011

Gary Wyatt, a director from Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, is scheduled to come up next week. In keeping with Bill McLennan’s presentation, yet to my knowledge not collaborated, Gary will be talking about traditional and contemporary artwork. In addition to this, Gary will be speaking about where he sees the market going: traditional or contemporary. Perhaps these presentations are not as unconnected as I think, because they are part of the art history lesson for this year.

Spirit Wrestler is one of the biggest first nations art galleries in Vancouver, displaying works from artists such as Dempsey Bob, Robert Davidson, Stan Bevan and Ken McNeil. In addition to aboriginal artists on this continent, Spirit Wrestler also exhibits works from Maori artists.

Below is one of my newest works. It is an alder spoon that I am finishing right now before I paint it. I like alder because it is such a beautiful material, it is easy to work with and it doesn’t give off overbearing odors or unbearable dust.

My Alder Spoon

Bill McLennan, curator and project manager for the UBC Museum of Anthropology, made another presentation today before going back to Vancouver. Bill touched on a number of different topics, including what characterizes west coast style first nations art?

Bill pointed to the flowing curves and stark angles that balance each other in typical west coast style artwork, all brought together with a sense of tension.  In fact, Bill’s description of NW coast art reminded me of Bill Reid’s description of the art form in The Transforming Image, where he describes the expanding and contracting tension of  NW coast style art.  It should be noted that Bill McLennan and Bill Reid were friends up until Reid’s death in 1998.

So, what makes art, west coast art?  And a question related to this: what makes a piece traditional?

Though this was not quite an easy question to answer, Bill, in true scholarly fashion, gave us some material to work with in order to make our own conclusions. Bill went through a number of photos of bowls that were made over one hundred years ago, and he gave us examples of contemporary work done by Doug Cramner.

Doug Cranmer's "Killerwhales"

Old Grease Bowl

With the examples of “traditional” work that were given, Bill showed us what I thought was a stark example of how tradition isn’t always what it seems. He showed us examples of Nuxalk carvings that looked more similar to northern styles than to the Nuxalk style that is generally accepted as traditional.

Dempsey Bob always tells us that “innovation must come from tradition”, but he also reminds us that tradition had to start somewhere. So, where does tradition start? I think that this question is as easy as answering where the wind comes from, because what is considered to be traditional changes as social norms change. And social norms can change with technology, geography…any number of items.

Anyways, I have finally completed my most extensive painting yet.  Is it traditional?  All I can say is that many people have already commented about it.  Come to the Terrace Art Gallery on Friday, between 7pm to 9pm, to see it.

Cheers

Bill McLennan talking with Barry Sampere, Stan Bevan, Chaz Mack and Ken McNeil

Bill McLennan is an author, project manager and curator for the UBC Museum of Anthropology. He gave a talk today for the students at Freda Diesing School for his exhibit on Charles and Isabella Edenshaw. It was quite informative. Bill displayed photos of bracelets, spoons, weavings and mats by Charles and Isabella, indicating methods that he has developed to verify the authenticity of Edenshaw’s works. Though I won’t go into detail on this, but it was quite interesting.

Bill also knows quite a great deal on traditional paints and pigments. He answered my questions on the use and substance of yellow, white and blue pigments in traditional work. Much of what Bill spoke of was not in his book: The Transforming Image. Bill described many of the traditional pigments and binders used. Bill told us that blue earth, used for blue paint, was worth about $20 for a thumbnail in the early 1900’s; that’s about $500 if you consider an inflation rate of 3% a year. It was expensive stuff and usually only used by simoghets–chiefs.

A list of other pigments that were not commonly used were clam shells for white, mercuric oxide for yellow and cinnebar for red. Perhaps this is a good thing, as the last two are considered to be accelerators for parkinson’s disease and a number of other neural disorders.

Bill describes in his book the method that he developed for recovering images from patina covered artifacts: infrared film. Bill mentioned that mineral based pigments tended to show up on IR film much more clear than “trade pigments” from China and Europe. Mineral based pigments, if you’re careful, seem to be better paints than many of the modern paints used. This was also clear from observing the old poles at Gitanyow, where some blue-green and white paint was still on some of the poles.

Dean Heron and a student getting ready for the TAG exhibit

Also, I am preparing for a group exhibit at the Terrace Art Gallery next month.  The opening is on Friday at 7pm at the Terrace Art Gallery.  This will be a good show.  I have seen some of the work already and it has surpassed my expectations.