Mouse Woman drawing by Luke J. Parnell

The Beat

A monthly newsletter about the art of

First Nations on Canada’s West Coast

Welcome to the seventh edition of The Beat, a monthly newsletter about the art of the First Nations on Canada’s Pacific Coast.

We respectfully acknowledge the Coast Salish Peoples, on whose traditional territories we live and work.

In this issue

Work continues on stunning Heritage Site on Skeena River
Important historical First Nations art in Victoria’s Free Spirits

And more:

Terrace and Kitselas

Art instructors at Terrace BC’s Freda Diesing School of Art, Stan Bevan and Ken McNeil have been working on the Kitselas Canyon National Historic Site . The site of an historic Tsimshian village of the Gitselasu, the canyon is at the narrowing of the Skeena River 15 miles east of Terrace. Whoever controlled the river at that point controlled the important trade and traffic along the river, so the village always had great strategic importance. The homes of the villagers were perched on the steep and lushly-forested sides of the canyon; the site was occupied for at least 10,000 years. Now board walkways have been built along the canyon sides, with platforms where one can stop to enjoy the dramatic and beautiful gorge with the rushing river. In the middle of the river are Ringbolt and Dry Islands, home to ancient rock carvings. In more recent times Ringbolt Island was also the site of a navigation device (ring bolt) used to enable steamboats to continue the voyage along the river beyond Kitselas to Hazelton. Four large houses have been built near the canyon, for interpretive displays and events. Work is progressing on the painting of the house fronts, from designs by Dempsey Bob, Stan Bevan and Ken McNeil. Poles are being carved of the crests of the Kitselas families. Students from the Freda Diesing School are deeply involved with the project.

Although the site will not be opened officially until 2009, visits can be arranged through Web Bennett at the Kitselas Treaty office at 250 635 8882 x231. The Kitselas website is www.kitselas.bc.ca .

For more photographs and information on the challenges of navigation of the Skeena in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, see www.terracelibrary.ca/history1/skeena/skeena.htm

The Freda Diesing School of Art at Northwest Community College in Terrace, British Columbia is holding a show of student and faculty work on April 25-26.

Prince Rupert Tsimshian House Front

In Prince Rupert the local secondary school has unveiled a new house front by artist Russell Mathers and a team of artists and students. Called “Lu Sagayt Gyeks”, meaning inner strength, the large low-relief and painted carving depicts in the centre a chief with his arms outstretched to welcome those entering the school. Four designs on the side represent the four directions of the wind, while four masks along the top frame represent four mentors to the artist. Eagle, Raven and Blackfish represent house clans of the area, with Hummingbird and Butterfly for those who do not have a house. Three other faces in the design symbolize the past, present and future students at PRSS. The house front will dominate the foyer of the school and has aroused much pride there. The Learning Feast and unveiling took place on March 11. Sam Bryant and the Sm’Haalyt Dance Group performed for the crowd before the traditional meal. Mr. Mathers has also created a house front for the Prince Rupert Friendship Centre in 2006, and a 30’ canoe called Aiyooh, stored at the Friendship Centre and used for community events.

Free Spirit in Victoria

In Victoria, the Royal British Columbia Museum’s exhibition Free Spirits opened on March 13 and will run until January 11, 2009. The exhibition marks the 150 ^th anniversary of the establishment of British Columbia as a British Crown Colony, an event that can be seen as a non-event for the First Nations of British Columbia. And yet the works chosen by the RBCM’s Curator of Ethnology Martha Black provide a stunning sense of presence of the great cultural traditions that have been long present in this part of the world. Key historical works such as a chief’s settee by Heiltsuk Captain Richard Carpenter called Wuxvuas, Mungo Martin’s Cannibal Spirit Curtain, used during potlatches and also at this own funeral in 1962, and the Great Killer Whale copper by Willie Seaweed (1873-1967). Many contemporary works by artists in the RBCM collection are displayed, including spectacular feast regalia and weaving.

If you are looking for interesting works of First Nations art (or lunch or a drink) outside the museum in downtown Victoria, we would recommend a visit to Swans Brewpub ( http://www.swanshotel.com ), which houses some First Nations works from the art collection of Michael Williams , with carvings by Tony Hunt and Art Thompson . Another newer site is the Legacy Café at the corner of Yates and Broad Streets, a downtown extension of the Maltwood Art Gallery of the University of Victoria. Mr. Williams bequeathed the art collection and real estate portfolio which includes the Swans Hotel and other downtown properties to the University of Victoria. The entire Williams Collection at UVic can be viewed on line at www.maltwood.uvic.ca/mcw

More Art Action in Vancouver’s Stanley Park

The National Museum of the American Indian has announced the inaugural awards for its new Visual and Expressive Arts Grants program.

One of the awards goes to Tania Willard , a multimedia artist from the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation of British Columbia As part of the restoration of Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, which was damaged by a windstorm in 2006, the Stanley Park Environmental Art Project brings together artists to work in collaboration with ecologists, park stewards and educators to create site-specific artwork. Ms. Willard will create work responding to new evidence of Native history in the park and integrate the knowledge of elders. Through this project, Willard will work alongside other commissioned artists, including T’Uy’Tanat Cease Wyss (Coast Salish), Peter Von Tiesenhausen and Shirley Wiebe. The other award to the Pacific Coast area is to Tsimshian artist and performer David Boxley from Anchorage, Alaska. He will teach a Tsimshian dance to the Alaska Native Heritage Center dancers, oversee the inaugural performance of that dance and produce a working box drum for use during ANHC dances and theatrical performances. He will serve also as executive producer for a dramatic performance of a new play based on Tsimshian cultural traditions and provide a mask-making workshop for ANHC staff, which will use the mask in the dramatic performance. The thirteen grants totaling $145,000 will support artists and cultural collaborations. Visit the museum’s Web site at www.AmericanIndian.si.edu this summer for information about next year’s grant applications and deadlines.

Curators of Native American Art in the Northwest

A new Curator of Native American Art began work at the Portland Museum of Art in February 2008. Anna Strankman replaces Bill Mercer, who was fired in February of 2007. Strankman, who is “partially native,” comes from a position as Curatorial Assistant of Native American Art at the Seattle Art Museum. Mr. Mercer has since assumed the position of Manager-Director of the Montana State Historical Society in Helena Montana. Dr. Barbara Brotherton continues as Curator of Native American Art at the Seattle Art Museum, and is preparing a fall 2008 exhibition of Coast Salish art (see The Beat March 2008).

Haida Gwai’i/Queen Charlotte Islands

The Haida nation suffered a great loss in March with the death of Chief Skidegate , whose English name was Dempsey Collinson . He had been hereditary chief at Skidegate since 1973 and was held in great esteem. In deference to the community in mourning, the official opening celebrations of the Haida Heritage Centre in Qay’llnagaay near Skidegate have been postponed from May to August 21-22 2008. Note that the Centre is already open to welcome visitors throughout the year. See www.haidaheritagecentre.com or telephone 250 550 7885.

Haida curator Vince Collison has returned from a collaborative project with the Pitt Rivers Museum of Ethnology in Oxford, England. Visitor groups expecting to learn about exotic vanished cultures were interested to meet Mr. Collision and learn that the fine Haida masks, carvings and poles they encountered in the museum were created by a dynamic, living nation and that Haida traditions continue to inspire the artists of today. The largest object in the Oxford museum is an 11.36 metre pole from Star House in Masset, probably carved about 1882. Curator (Americas) Dr. Laura Peers has worked on a number of collaborative projects with the Haida and other Canadian First Nations, and values the important role of these partnerships for museums. You can find records of Northwest coast art in the Pitt Rivers Museum collections database at www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections.html

Mr. Collison is also organizing an exhibition of Haida art in collaboration with the British Museum, to be held in the summer of 2009 at Canada House in Trafalgar Square in London. He is seeking sponsors for the exhibit, and may be reached by email at: maaman@mhtv.ca

Haida artists Robert and Reggie Davidson and Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson gave two feasts in March in Masset and Skidegate, to honour the weavers of these communities.

Continuum at Bill Reid Gallery, Vancouver

The 2009 exhibition project Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast is launching its first artist-community event at the Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver in mid-April. Artists have been commissioned to create works in a context of community consultation and discussion of themes of tradition and innovation. The U’Mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay and the Haida Heritage Centre at Qay’llnagaay near Skidegate in British Columbia will also hold forums where these issues will be discussed by artists and cultural leaders. Continuum draws attention to the false dichotomy that places traditional or classical style in opposition to contemporary art. The exhibition will open in spring 2009. Watch this site for updates. The Bill Reid Gallery at 639 Hornby Street will be opening to the public on May 10, 2008. www.billreidgallery.ca

Charlene Vickers in Richmond

Vancouver-based artist Charlene Vickers (Anishinabe) has an exhibition at the Richmond Art Gallery until April 20 in Gallery Two. Brown Skin Before Red includes two bodies of work completed since 2004: Sleepwalking “re-creates moccasins and blankets with materials that point to current social and cultural conditions in urban First Nations life and combines them with personal artefacts. Her painting series Supernatural Indian reinterprets the copper plate photographic portraits of First Nations peoples [by American photographer] Edward Curtis in collaboration with his subjects”. The thoughtful and deeply-felt works are well displayed and presented, with a reading table offering a useful amount of background information about the artist, who has exhibited widely in North America and Europe, including Changing Hands 2: Art without Reservation .

More at www.richmondartgallery.org and the artist’s own website www.charlenevickers.ca

For First Nations Artists

By submitting your information to this Artist Registry, you will be included in a centralized database that members and affiliates of VANOC can reference when programming events. Note: The Olympic Committee may eventually share this list with their partners, supporters, affiliates, sponsors, and all those involved in the Olympic Movement.

http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/CultureEducation/CulturalOlympiad/ArtistRegi

North Van Commissions First Nations Art

The City of North Vancouver Public Art Program is planning a new public art project, and has invited BC West Coast First Nation artists or artist teams to design a public artwork into the western entrance of the new North Vancouver “Spirit Square”. The Square is part of the new City Library project. The call was circulated on March 10 and the submission deadline was March 28. Tight timing!

Congratulations to the Aboriginal Tourism Industry for its accomplishments. On March 5, the British Columbia Aboriginal Tourism Association of British Columbia presented the Cultural Authenticity Award to the Kitselas Canyon National Historic Site near Terrace BC ( www.kitselas.bc.ca ), and the Tourism Conservation Award to the Haida Heritage Centre near Skidegate on the Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands ( www.haidaheritagecentre.com ) The ATBC website is www.aboriginalbc.com

Salish Artists in Canada/Japan: A Bridge Over the Pacific

Coast Salish artists John and Luke Marston are preparing for two weeks in Japan as visiting artists in the Ome Art Jam in Ome City, and as exhibiting artists at the Canadian Embassy’s Prince Takamado Gallery in Tokyo. With painters Robert Amos and Jimmy Wright, they will participate in workshops, lectures, and demonstrations. The Marstons also have new work at the Alcheringa Gallery in Victoria. The Tokyo exhibition runs from April 1 to May 15 2008. For more www.canadanet.or.jp/p_c/bridge_e.pdf

Art Auction

Seahawk Auctions holds an auction of First Nations art on May 31 2008 at noon at the Engineers Auditorium in Burnaby. For more www.seahawkauctions.com

Paris Museum Lecture

The Musee du Quai Branly in Paris is a world-famous ethnological museum which has important holdings of Northwest Coast First Nations art. The director of the Musee du Quai Branly, Stephane Martin , will be speaking in Vancouver on April 9 2008 at 5 pm in Room 102 of the Lasserre Building at the University of British Columbia. This is the last in a series of lectures “Curating Institutions: International Curators Talk About Their Practice”. For more information call 604 822 3640.

Also at the University of British Columbia, the lecture series Porous Borders: The Loss and Return of National Treasures , from April 24 to 26, at the Museum of Anthropology, presents speakers discussing the legal and ethical concerns relating to issues of looting and cross-border transport and the international art market. For more, see www.moa.ubc.ca/programs

BC Government Grants to Local Art Centres

The Assembly of BC Arts Centres and the government’s BC 150 program are offering community art centres and aboriginal culture centres grants for projects which must be completed by December 31, 2008. Deadline for applications is April 18 2008. www.assemblybcartscouncils.ca

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Comments, news and new subscribers are welcomed. Please write to: editor@coastalartbeat.ca

Past issues are available at our website www.coastalartbeat.ca

Thanks for assistance from Reggie Davidson, Rocque Berthiaume, Vince Collison, Dr.Martha Black, Stan Bevan and Simon Davies