Nigel Fox Artworks

Todd, Sophia, Paula, me and Dempsey

Well, the meeting with Sophia today was a hoot.  Everyone showed up and we even had a surprise visit from Dempsey Bob and his wife, Margaret.  We all had tim’s coffee and talked about a variety of things from teaching kids to showing in art galleries.  It was a surprise to see that Sophia knows a bit of sign language and it looks like she must have learned it somewhat fluently, because she was able to speak it faster than I could understand; granted, I only know a few words.  We have another artist friend who is deaf and speaks sign language, so it is always a good thing to know how to sign.  Sign language is quite a fascinating language and, like painting and carving, it is a visual language.  I think that it is a good idea to teach young children and toddlers how to sign because I have heard that they can learn to sign before they can learn to speak.  It’s worth investigating, either way.

We have come to the end of our reading week today and start school again tomorrow.  This should be a really great week.  We are continuing to work on our portrait masks and we have an official visit by Roy Henry Vickers.  Roy is going to do a presentation this week, on Wednesday I think.  I also think that Roy will be speaking on motivation, though this may have changed since I was last informed, too.  Anyways, I hope to keep putting out updates during the week.  Stay tuned.

View of my home page about a week ago

Well, it has been over a week since my site was overtaken by Tunisian revolutionaries and though this is an art-based blog, I feel the need to talk about this a bit.  For those of who who did not bear witness to this, it is not a joke, my site was changed over a week ago.  The screen shot above was what it looked like.  The attack was not personal and appears to have been done with the help of a script.  As a bit of background, Tunisia is where much of the anti-government movement within Libya is based and is also where Egyptian refugees are headed in the wake of the chaos in Egypt.  Canada announced today that it will be sending a military presence in to help find Canadians who may still be in Libya.

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Anyways, I was a little over a week behind on my security updates and after blocking the network traffic from the attacker and doing a complete overhaul of my blogging software, everything seems to be back to normal, except that some of my photos are not restored yet.  I am working on this.

Best of the BEST Entrepreneur Workshop, Night before presentations

The Best of the BEST competition for entrepreneurs, down in Vancouver last weekend, was good.  I didn’t win anything, but I did meet with some people, including someone who’s mother was born in the same reserve that my dad’s mother was born in, Sagamok, Ont.  That was the highlight for me.  He says that he keeps in touch with the elders in Sagamok and that he is willing to introduce me to them.  He said not to be disappointed when they don’t reply to my calls or emails, because “that’s just how they are.”

I had a couple practice presentations at community futures this morning for the Best of the BEST competition in Vancouver this weekend. I will be going down to Vancouver for this competition. It should be a good time. I was critiqued by an audience of two people at Community Futures today, but I have to say that it was actually harder doing the presentation for my wife last night. She is a way harder critic.

Raven on a tree on the NWCC campus, Terrace Raven on a tree on the NWCC campus, Terrace

I caught the tail end of Harold Demetzer’s speech today and he was talking about galleries. Harold said that even the most prestigious artists use galleries. He described the variety of galleries that are in Vancouver and he made it clear as to what ones were more presentation oriented and what ones were more production oriented. I definitely want to go with a presentation oriented gallery if I have the choice. Stan Bevan told us that we need to make our own decisions as to who we feel comfortable doing business with.

In the afternoon, we resumed our projects. I am working on two bowls right now and I am almost finished my spoon.

Evan Aster and another afternoon carving

Harold Demetzer came all the way from Thunder Bay to speak to the class today. Harold, described as a friend, collector and adviser to native art and culture, came to speak to the class for the duration of the week on a variety of subjects.

Today’s subject was a bit of an informal timeline on the history of some of the nations of the northwest coast. Although he didn’t have too much time to go into detail about the various things that have happened in the north west coast, he went through a personal history on what he knew about the first nations on the coast.  He lived here for 25 years before moving to Ontario.

Tomorrow he is going to be discussing art galleries and business.

Harold is an amazing public speaker, with an uncanny knack of exuding integrity in what he discusses.  After one day of listening to Harold, I feel like I have a whole new perspective on what is happening on the west coast among first nations.

Todd Stephens working on paddle design commision

I did something today that I have been meaning to do for a while now, I visited Todd Stephens in his carving studio, Wilp Simgan (House of the Sacred Tree).  Todd is a very amiable person, who likes to brag that he has never been in a fight.  I dropped in on his studio this afternoon in order to catch up on things and work on my alder spoon for class.  Todd and I talked from any number of things from aliens to religion to business and we went our separate ways at closing time with more of an understanding of each other and our backgrounds.  Todd and I have very similar backgrounds, we both are from Prince Rupert, we both went to PRSS, we both know little about the family on our father’s side.

I know that my father is Ojibway from the Sagamok reserve near Massey, Ontario, I know that his mother’s name was/is Mary, I know that he was taken into custody by child services at infancy, I know that he had severe hypothermia at the time, I know that he was raised in the foster care program, but I know very little else.  Neglect seems to be a common theme among aboriginal people that I know, such as in my dad’s case.   And according to a 2003 Canadian Incidence Study put out by the Canadian government, neglect is the most common form of child abuse among first nations [1].  And although, I try to keep the subject matter of this blog art-related and on a positive note, I feel that I have to say something about this.  As a christian, I believe that God looks after those who have no fathers, the widows and the orphans.  And for exactly the reason that God values what man rejects, I went with a notion that God is among the first nations people, myself included, in a way that is unique and strong.  And I have seen him do great things on my behalf even in these past few months.  And as the book of Romans says, in the Bible, God works all things to the good for those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.

God has blessed me with a purpose, and I believe that God is the source of my aspirations and inspiration.

Kitimat Exhibit

Well, another busy week is over and the Kitimat show opening has come and gone, the exhibit goes on until March 26th.  It truly was an honor to show along side artists such as Sammy Robinson and Lyle Wilson.  I got to meet Summer Breeze-Kent for the first time as well.  I’m glad that I did.  We have similar backgrounds, in that we both have computer science degrees and it turns out that we both drew in our youth.  I told Summer that I drew my first comic book when I was twelve, she upped me on this and told me that she drew her first comic when she was twelve, too, plus she made a replica by hand.  She was in to color and I am in to color.  Ironically, as she left, she said “talk to you on the internet” to me, which is probably exactly what we will both do.  I even think that we have similar plans to expand our respective art businesses.  It was funny.

Anyways, the exhibit went good.  A lot of people commented on the high quality of the work being displayed.  A few people commented on the contemporary nature of the work that was there.  I think that they were right in some regards.  But as Dempsey always says, “the contemporary always has to come from the traditional.”  Because, “you can’t make something from nothing.  Something always has to come from something.”  I believe he meant that even the contemporary art forms have to have roots, but that is my own paraphrase.  It is so true.  I find more and more people saying that they buy the “traditional” art work, but what I think they mean is that they buy the work that has a sense of history.  It seems to give the work meaning.  Incidentally, we were also displaying our work beside museum pieces of old bent wood boxes, petroglyphs, and other artifacts.  They were so much more than artifacts in this context, though, and like the Terrace exhibit was a retrospective of the old, along side the emergence of the new; the Kitimat exhibit was a juxtaposition of ancient and fresh.  Sort of like combining the enthusiasm of the new with the temperance of the old.  It made for quite a powerful show in its own right.  The exhibit will be on until the 26th of March.

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