Posts Tagged “Freda Diesing”
Posted by Nigel in Freda Diesing School, Northwest Coast Art, Northwest Coast Artists, Other Artists, tags: Alver, Ben Davidson, Bill Reid, Chuck Heit, Dempsey Bob, Don Yeomans, Freda Diesing, Gitksan, Glen Wood, Haida, Harold Demetzer, Jim Hart, Josiah, Ken McNeil, Nisga'a, Norman, Richie Price, Robert Davidson, Stan Bevan, Tait, teaching, Walter Harris, Ya'Ya
 Harold Demetzer
I managed to get Harold’s permission to post his photo onto my blog, today. Originally, Harold didn’t want “anything done” with the photos we took of him, I managed to convince him to let me show this as he pulled out the camera to take photos of us this afternoon, though. He tells me that this will be one of two photos of him on the internet.
Harold spoke of west coast artists today and the connections between the artists. Harold went highlighted a list of seventeen artists from the Haida, Nisga’a and Gitksan nations today. Although it was clear that more artists were on the list that we didn’t manage to cover today, what we did cover was quite informative and even a bit inspirational. Starting with a tree graph of the connections between the various artists, Harold highlighted who taught whom. For example, Bill Reid taught Robert Davidson, Don Yeomans and Jim Hart; Robert Davidson taught Reg Davidson, Freda Diesing and Chuck Heit; Freda Diesing taught Dempsey Bob and Glen Wood; Dempsey Bob taught Stan Bevan and Ken McNeil. Harold pointed out that all great north west coast artists taught.
Harold then went through a list of these artists one by one, starting with Bill Reid. Bill was an artist who stood out, as Harold described it, because of marketing and talent. Bill’s career as an artist spanned many decades and in the later years, he had many artists working under him. One of Bill’s most famous works is on the Canadian $20 bill, “Black Canoe”. When the 3 meter high bronze sculpture was made and installed, Bill specifically stated “Do not prevent people from touching it.” The patina has since naturally worn off in spots on the bronze sculpture located at YVR. Bill died in 1998 of parkinson’s disease.
Next Harold went on to speak of Haida artist Don Yeomans. One of the most interesting thing about Don was his tendency to mix art and subject matter not typically north west coast with the north west coast style. Ken McNeil reminisced that the first time that he met Don, Don was wearing a elephant frontlet headpiece. A frontlet is part of the head dress of a simoyget, or chief, and typically has a motif of either a human or figure from nature found in the west coast. Elephants are not found on the west coast.
Harold went on to tell us about Haida artist Robert Davidson. Harold said that the first time that he and Robert met was very similar to the last time that they met. In between these times, Robert was an amazing example of a northwest coast artist. Robert started his career raising a pole that was the first pole in 90 years in all of Canada, since the potlatch law of 1884. Incidentally, before the pole was made, Robert was talking with his grandma, Florence Davidson, daughter of Charles Edenshaw, about the need for a pole and how he said that he should raise one; Florence quite seriously agreed that he should. And so in 1969, the pole was raised. Robert went on to be an instructor at Ksan, and even taught Freda Diesing, herself.
Harold went on to describe artists of Nisga’a lineage. Including the Tait brothers: Norman, Alver and Josiah. I know that Josiah worked on a few major installations in Prince Rupert, with Freda Diesing.
 Students from Freda Diesing School stand in front of a large plaque at the Prince Rupert Hospital. The plaque was designed by Freda Diesing and carved by Josiah Tait.
Harold then went on to describe some Gitksan artists, such as K’san co-founder Walter Harris and controversial artist Ya’Ya (Chuck Heit).
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 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.
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Posted by Nigel in Business, Freda Diesing School, Northwest Coast Art, Northwest Coast Artists, Other Artists, tags: ABEST, art gallery, artwork, Barbara Highe, business plan, Freda Diesing, group show, opening, retrospective, school, string instruments, students, success, terrace
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
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Posted by Nigel in Freda Diesing School, Northwest Coast Art, Northwest Coast Artists, Other Artists, tags: artwork, Bill McLennan, Charles, Dean Heron, Edenshaw, Elizabeth, Freda Diesing, Nathan Wilson, Nuxhalk, school, survey, terrace
 Beautiful Sunrise in Terrace this Morning
I am in the car on the way back to Topley with Amy as I am writing this right now. The skies are sighing a mellow hum of purple in the distance as the mountains salute the dying remnance of a glorious day that the Lord has made. The week is now past and with two exhibits in the next two weeks, I have work awaiting me at home where I need to finish a painting that I have been working on. I think that this painting is a milestone in my studies and I look forward to exhibiting it. In fact, there are numerous works that are going to be on display that are quite impressive. I saw a painting by Kelly Robertson that I never thought existed; it is a Nuxhalk style painting in typical Kelly flavor–totally crisp, well designed and professionally executed–that appears to tell of a story about a lesson. I will have to ask him what it is about.
As those who have been following already know, we started on spoons this week and most of us are almost done our first spoon; some of us are on to our second spoon. Just like my first spoon, my second spoon is off to a bad start as I seemed to have misjudged the grain on this spoon. When carving in wood, grain is everything. Carving with the grain makes carving wood a breeze, but carving against the grain makes a person want to cry–it can be wrought with frustration and disappointment. Anyways, my first spoon is turning out much better than I thought that it would and it started on a bad note as well, so we will see how this second spoon turns out.
 My second Spoon
We had a survey teleconference at noon today in the main building at school. The survey was part of a three year periodic interview of post secondary first nations students asking them the difficulties of college education. Many opinions and concerns came forth in the groups. There were three groups in total, one from Hazelton, one from Terrace and one from Rupert. The main concern that came out in the survey was funding and being able to afford college, even for those who are single, in fact I heard very little from those who may have been single parents in the group. Other than this, a main issue was the sense of belonging and this is something that I struggle with myself sometimes, but I usually get over it by realising that others around me are going through something similar. I find inspiration in the book of proverbs in the Bible that “to have friends, you must be a friend”. This is a paraphrase, but the idea is what matters, that to have friends, you need to take the initiative and be a friend.
Next week, we are expecting a presentation by author Bill McLennan. The plan is that Bill is going to do a presentation on the Charles and Elizabeth Edenshaw exhibit that he is directing at the UBC museum of anthropology. Two people at Freda Diesing School have gone to see this exhibit so far, Dean Heron and Nathan Wilson; both have recommended it to the other students. I hope to see it when I am down in vancouver.
Also, next Friday, February 4th, is the opening night of the Terrace Art Gallery exhibit. See my page entitled Terrace Art Gallery Exhibit for more details and directions.
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Posted by Nigel in Business, Freda Diesing School, Northwest Coast Art, Northwest Coast Artists, Other Artists, tags: business, carving, Dempsey Bob, Freda Diesing, galleries, gallery, Geo, Geo McKay, George, George McKay, how to sell art, museum, prince rupert, Royal BC Museum, selling art, vancouver, victoria

Geo McKay is an aboriginal artist from the Nisga’a nation, who resides in Terrace. Geo has been at this game for a whole lot longer than I–40 years in fact–and has a lot to offer the native art market and the local community of artists.
I invited Geo McKay out for a coffee tonight with the intentions of gleaning some of his wisdom and maybe a good story or two. Geo, not wanting to miss a beat went into telling stories right away. Geo told me about his childhood and difficulties with school and how he dropped out to help out his family at home. Geo later came back to school and graduated within a short period of time. In drafting and architecture classes, Geo excelled with an A+ average.
Geo was mentored for a time by Freda Diesing, a Haida artist whom Dempsey Bob described as “the only teacher [of traditional northwest coast art] around at the time.” Also, one thing that Geo noticed about Terrace when he started carving, was that there was no native representation in the tourist markets around Terrace. Geo was determined to change this and worked hard over many years to develop his skills.
Over the years, Geo would come to sell to the museum in Prince Rupert–where a friend told him that people were buying. Geo lived for 15 years in Prince Rupert. Geo also sold to certain galleries in Vancouver, developing relations with the Spirit Wrestler Gallery and the Royal BC Museum.
Geo related to me a story about how he had three masks that he had carved that he was hoping to sell to the Royal BC Museum. He said that one of the masks he was selling for $800, another for $1200 and another for $1500. When asked why the difference in price, Geo referred to the fact that the first mask had one face, the second two and the third three faces. So, the buyer purchased the first two masks, but told Geo that she couldn’t afford the third mask. Not wanting to let Geo get away with the mask, she made a counter offer; she would take the mask on a 40% commission. Geo got a fraction of what he was hoping for, but he was still happy because it was more than what he would have had otherwise. I think that the moral of the story was that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Geo also went on to say that when an artist sells to galleries in Vancouver “it doesn’t matter how many emails or photos that an artist sends to the galleries down there, the artist has to actually meet with the gallery owners that he wants to do business with, because the artist is selling himself.”
Geo went on to share his knowledge on pricing, mentoring, artist representation, target markets, relevant market factors, sponsorship, business partnership, and why some art businesses fail.
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It was a busy day in class but I managed to get most of my design painted on the paddle. The photo below shows the paddle design in progress. In this photo I still needed to paint the rest of the yellow formline and add a few more coats. When I am done, it will look something like the second photo below, but not quite, because of the darkness of the red cedar.
 
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Learned about cash flow in entrepreneur’s workshop today.
Finished preliminary paddle template design.
 Preliminary Paddle Design on Template
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