Nigel Fox Artworks

Well, things are busy yet again this week, with another presenter, this time from Emily Carr University–Brenda Crabtree.  Brenda came here to teach us about first nations history on the coast and in BC, plus she is co-ordinating a drum making workshop.  It has been a very full two days.  Brenda brought with her a student from Emily Carr, Luke Parnell, who is currently working on his masters at the university.

There is a very thin line between art and history, this is the impression that I got when listening to Brenda’s talk.  Historians and archeologists try to re-create a picture of the past in the same way that an artist forms an image out of a vision.  An artist may take an idea that starts off as little more than a notion and, over time, form something that makes perfectly clear what their intent is.  The artist may use certain materials at their disposal, such as a model, object or photo, but ultimately the interpretation is theirs.  In the same way, a historian may use documentation, photos and artifacts to mold a picture of what might have been; but ultimately, the interpretation is theirs.

Now, an interpretation will be guided by the beliefs and perspective of the interpreter.  The same is for an artist as for a historian.  This is why there is a trend towards aboriginal historians interpreting first nations history.  First nations understand their culture and are best suited to describing it.

BC's Lieutenant Governor, Steven Point

A certain noteworthy person dropped by the school today, BC’s lieutenant governor, Steven Point.  Steven is an artist, actor and canoe maker, and also the uncle of one of the other students in my class and so he felt quite comfortable.  He went from desk to desk, observing the various pieces and making conversation.  It was good to see him.

Another person who came to the class today was Yukon artist Aaron Smarch.  Aaron is the son of artist, Keith Smarch.  Aaron will be with us for a month in order to observe and report back to his peers and promote the school.  Not too many people have been to the school who are from the Yukon, and having Aaron give a first hand account to his friends and acquaintances is good for the school.

Today we had the honor of hearing the artist Roy Henry Vickers talk to the class. Roy is energetic, enthusiastic and totally engrossing in his speeches. He covered topics ranging from his life history to design. Roy had a way of capturing the attention of his audience with a gentle, yet responsive tone and always was sensitive to his audience. I know that a few times during the presentation he answered questions that I had without me even having to ask them. One of these questions was about where he got such amazing story telling skills. Roy confided to us that he gained these skills from two people, one person being the poet and scholar Chief Dan George and the other person being a gentleman who spoke in his village when he was younger. Roy said that Chief Dan George taught him to speak “from here”, pointing to his chest. Roy also mentioned that one of his elders taught him to speak from the heart, because when you speak “from here”, you speak to others “right here.”

Roy went on to discuss his gallery, the Eagle Aerie Gallery, in Tofino; his family and children; and some of his key prints. Roy described his experiences with tears and laughter. Roy described his prints in tones of emotion and reminiscence. Roy touched upon various issues that are close to his heart, such as the protection of the rivers and waters in the area from potentially destructive influences such as the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway project and the suspended Shell Coalbed Methane development. Roy said something that is true about the rivers–they are the lifeblood of the people. Kill or polute these rivers and you seriously injure the traditional ways of the first nations, possibly forever.

Roy went on to talk about what makes a print valuable and even what makes a print an original work of art. He said that when you make an edition, especially your first edition, your reputation is on the line. To me, he impressed upon me to make my first edition a high quality one and never another cheap old giclee edition.

Tomorrow he will be discussing prints and computer design. Stay tuned.

Dean Heron, Stan Bevan and Harold Demetzer

Today was the first day back for us students at Freda Diesing School. Many were busy over the break working on their masks. I was busy, too; but not as much as some others. Dean confirmed today that there will be a presentation from Roy Henry Vickers on Thursday and Friday. This is not to be missed. We were told that Roy felt inspired by Harold’s presentation a few weeks ago. Roy is a superb public speaker and during his last official talk that I attended, in 2008, I was quite taken in. This should be a good talk.

Also, I learned today that we will be making deer hide drums this semester. Very cool.

One more thing is that we are making plans for our year end show in April. Stay tuned for this.

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.

[mappress mapid=”3″]

I am planning on meeting up with my artist friend Sophia and some other artist friends tomorrow. Sophia is an artist of Ts’msyen, Heiltsuk, and Haida descent from Lax Kw’alaams (Port Simpson, BC).Her work can be described as delicate and beautiful. One of her favorite items to produce are pendants, though she has worked on a variety of carved objects, including a talking stick installment for the YVR airport in Vancouver that she completed as part of the YVR scholarship award. For all her accomplishments at such an early stage in her career, she is very humble. Her encouragement was one of the main reasons that I enrolled in Freda Diesing School. In fact, she also helped me get funding so that I could go to school. I think that I’ll buy her coffee tomorrow, as a start.

Anyways, please check out Sophia’s page at http://www.sophiapatricia.com/.

Tom Daniels and Roy Henry Vickers

Harold started the day off by concluding the presentation on NW coast artists.  Again, it was a good presentation, with a bit of a surrealistic quality due perhaps to the fact that one half of the presentation was on Dempsey Bob, who was sitting at the side, observing the whole presentation.

Harold started the day where he finished off yesterday, talking about the Gitksan artists, covering Ken Mowatt, Robert Jackson Jr, Glen Wood, Phil Janze and Earl Muldon–aka Earl Muldoe.  Ken Mowatt, born Sept 2, 1944, taught at the Kitanmaax (K’san) school in Hazelton during the 70’s.  Ken has been a carver for over 40 years and is known for many works around Hazelton, including many of the poles at K’san.  Robert Jackson Jr was born in 1948 in Port Edward, and grew up with Dempsey Bob.  Robert’s story was one of “greatness, loss and recovery.”

Harold highlighted Glen Wood, who worked with Dempsey on the eagle pole next to the courthouse in Rupert.

Eagle Pole. carvers: Dempsey Bob and Glen Wood

Harold went on to talk about Phil Janze.  Phil was a teacher at K’san and is a noted jeweler and carver.  Harold discussed Earl Muldon, aka Muldoe, who was one of the most notable pole carvers from K’san.  Earl has a long legacy of teaching and excellence.  Earl was named an officer of the Order of Canada on June 30, 2010.

The Tahltan Wolves: Dempsey Bob, Ken McNeil and Stan Bevan

This was a particularly special part of the presentation, considering that two of the above persons were at the presentation while Harold was talking about them.  Dempsey’s legacy was that of an innovator and a teacher.  Dempsey learned much of what he knew from Freda Diesing and passed along much of what he knows to Ken and Stan, his nephews.  Dempsey, Stan and Ken are all part of the wolf clan, and are all Tahltan.

On an interesting note, Roy Henry Vickers was there listening to much of the presentation.  Roy is most definitely a key part of NW coast art history.  Roy, a Tsimshian, Haida, Helstiuk, Scot by birth, went to K’san with Dempsey in the 70’s.  Although, anything that I may know about Roy is probably already on Wikipedia, I will say that he is well known for his silk screen prints, literature and great public speaking skills.  Roy will be coming to do a talk to the class early next month.  The preliminary dates are the 10th and 11th of March.

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).