The Beat
A monthly newsletter of First Nations art
on Canada’s West Coast
Mouse Woman drawing by Luke J. Parnell
On May 13, 2007 the beautiful Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre on Quadra Island, one of BC’s small treasures, re-opened after a hiatus of several years. Many of the ceremonial objects and winter dance regalia on display were part of the first Canadian repatriations in 1979 to the Kwagiuth Museum, as it was then called. A new feature at the museum is a group of five life-sized puppets which dramatize the ancient dance of the Hamatsa secret society, shedding a new light on the meaning of the ritual. The puppets are the work of Clan Chief Adam Dick and his apprentice George Shaughnessy. The Nuyumbalees Centre is a short drive from the Quadra ferry dock at We-Wai-Kai/Cape Mudge village. Winter hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 11 am – 3 pm. Special group visits can be arranged by calling the Band Office at 250 285 3733.
Marianne Nicolson’s art will be featured in a solo show at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria November 2 to January 12, 2008 which includes major paintings and
sculptural installations “that reveal current cultural
narratives and economies while incorporating traditional and contemporary formats.” Ms. Nicolson is well-known for her huge pictograph on a vertical rock face in Kingcome Inlet depicting Kwadilikala, a wolf ancestor of her nearby village.
Events: Keynote Address with, Gerald McMaster, Curator of Canadian Art, Art Gallery of Ontario. 6:30 pm at the Truth Centre, 1201 Fort St., Victoria. Ticketed event. Plus Artist’s & Curator’s Talk November 17, 2007.
TRANSPORTERS: Tradition and Innovation in Contemporary Aboriginal Art features the work of ten Coast Salish artists in a cross-section of ideas and images that express new and long-held Coast Salish visions and stories of the land, and post-colonial critiques of cultural appropriation. Artists are: Charles Elliott, Susan Point, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Marvin Oliver, lessLIE, Shaun Peterson, Chris Paul, John Marston, Luke Marston and Maynard Johnny Jr. On Saturday November 3, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in conjunction with the University of Victoria and the First Peoples' Heritage, Language, and Culture Council presents Transporters, a groundbreaking one-day symposium, to consider the current directions of aboriginal visual arts at the outset of the 21st century. Register by October 15. More info on Victoria events at 250 384 4171 x228.
Anishinabe artist Rebecca Belmore and Cuban-born artist Osvaldo Yero participate in an artists’ residency project called Launch, a poetic reflection on contemporary global ecology. It will also provide a unique mentorship opportunity for local aboriginal youth who will participate in the project and present to the public on November 4.
Artists in Residence Talk 2 pm, Market Square, 560 Johnson
For more information on all these Victoria events, www.aggv.bc.ca
A solo exhibition by Don Yeomans opens October 13 at the Douglas Reynolds Gallery in Vancouver with his talk about his new directions in art and a presentation on his Vancouver airport totem pole commission. Thoughtful words from the artist: “In the ten years since my last show, the primary difference in the work stems from an attitude of surrender. As Native Artists trained in the formal sense, we become burdened by the need to keep the tradition alive and to pass on what we know. In essence, we teach by example, carefully outlining our footsteps so that others may follow an honourable goal for an artist… if there were someone who wanted to follow. The world has changed, standards are different, and who am I to tell someone that they need to learn what I learned and follow my path.”
Opening on October 13 at 4 pm at Douglas Reynolds Gallery at 2335 Granville, Vancouver
www.douglasreynoldsgallery.com
Brian Jungen has been invited by curator Trevor Smith to participate in the Lyon Biennial 2007: in eastern France: the 00s —The History Of A Decade That Has Not Yet Been Named, curated by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, 17 September 2007 to 6 January 2008.
The Art Gallery of Ontario has purchased a pole from Brian Jungen’s sold out show at Catriona Jeffries Gallery in Vancouver last May. www.catrionajeffries.com
The Haida Heritage Centre at Qay’llnagaay near Skidegate in the Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands had its “soft” opening on July 1st. Over the summer over 4000 visitors from all over the world enjoyed the museum at the centre, with Aaron Hand a standout interpreter/host. The Carving House at the Centre is a busy place with three canoes being carved by Guujaaw, Garner Moody and Billy Bellis, and apprentices, as well as a totem pole by Marcel Russ. Further innovative programs are being developed in collaboration with several educational institutions in British Columbia, among them Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr School of Art and Design and the University of Northern BC. The Centre’s Manager of Operations Jason Alsop is gearing up for a grand opening in May of 2008. www.haidaheritagecentre.com
Vince Collison, Lucille Bell and Kwiiahwah Jones of the Haida Repatriation Committee were in England recently. At the British Museum they assisted in the re-positioning of a Haida pole from old Kayung village now lower Old Massett in the Queen Charlotte Islands. Vince is also working with the British Museum to prepare an exhibition of Haida art for Canada House in London in the summer of 2009.
A Nisga’a pole was also raised the same week in the British Museum, with Jacob Russ representing the Nisga’a people.
Musqueam artist Susan Point’s sculptural project People Amongst the People will be three large gateways carved with Coast Salish designs to welcome people onto the paths leading to the totem area in Vancouver’s Stanley Park at Brockton Point. The project is intended as a gesture of welcome to the traditional lands of the Coast Salish peoples. Carved motifs will include eagles, mountains, sea, and valleys, herring, whales, weaving designs and welcome figures, all relating to the natural environment and Salish culture. The project is one of several Storyscape projects of the City of Vancouver, designed to enable local aboriginal people to share their stories of the city. Susan Point is also creating a public art piece for the Richmond Oval (home to the speed skating events during the 2010 Olympic and Para-Olympic Games). She is designing artwork to be inlaid into channels in the 15 large concrete buttresses on the north side of the building facing a large festival plaza.
The Bill Reid Foundation has moved into the Chief Dan George Centre in Cathedral Place at 639 Hornby at Georgia in Vancouver. The opening exhibition of the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art there is being planned for spring of 2008. The Foundation has received a $200,000 grant for its Continuum: Vision and Creativity of the Northwest Coast project to commission more than twenty First Nations artists to create works of art which “explore the relationship between contemporary and traditional practices”. Hornby Vancouverwww.billreidfoundation.org
Outside the Surrey Art Gallery this summer, Nisga’a/Tlingit carver Mike Dangeli and his team have created a 30-foot ocean-going canoe. On September 22 a steaming and blessing ceremony was held, increasing the width of the canoe from 12 to 32 inches. The project is part of the Awakening the Spirit project, a partnership of Kla-how-eya Aboriginal Centre, the Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey Crime Prevention Society and the Katzie First Nation.
The Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa is holding a group of exhibitions organized around the themes of ownership of aboriginal art and knowledge, and the interpretation of First Nations tradition.
De T’a Hoti Ts’eeda We Live Securely by the Land, a collaborative project of the Tiicho First Nation and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, NWT and the National Museums of Scotland and the University of Dundee. “It features rarely seen 19th-century artifacts selected from the National Museums Scotland’s Northern Athapaskan collection, the oldest and most extensive collection of 19th-century Dene material in the world today.”
Confluence: First Nations Art from John Cook’s Collection is the latest in a series of exhibitions highlighting local collections. Confluence presents a selection of First Nations art from the holdings of the Ottawa architect John Cook, a longtime devotee of the work of Canadian First Nations artists. It includes works of BC artists Brian Jungen, Rebecca Belmore and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.
On Saturday, October 27 a symposium The Past in the Present: Historical Aboriginal Art in the Contemporary Gallery will “assess the status of historical Aboriginal artifacts and the uses to which they are being put today”.
The shows will run from September 24 to December 16
Carleton University Art Gallery, St. Patrick’s Building
1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa. (613) 520–2120
http://www.carleton.ca/gallery
Canada’s national broadcaster the CBC inaugurated a website on aboriginal issues and culture on June 21, 2007. The majority of the Featured Personalities live in British Columbia. www.cbc.ca/aboriginal
NativeWiki is a new website about indigenous nations and peoples (past and present) of the world. It has major sections on Nations and Peoples, Documents and Materials, Geographic Regions and a Picture Gallery of selected images. Begun in April, 2007, it currently has 1,126 content pages, 1,066 media files, and 331 registered contributors.
Coming Next Issue ** Pictures! **Update on Olympic Games Art in Vancouver **Great Films on First Nations Art on the BC Coast**
The Beat is an independent, not-for-profit project written and published in Vancouver Canada by Ann Cameron. Copyright 2007 Ann Cameron.
I thank and acknowledge the Musqueam Nation and all the Coastal Salish nations within whose traditional lands I work and live.
“Hey ce:p qwa” – hunqaminum language for “I thank you all”.