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 sixteenth issue of The Beat, a free, independent newsletter that brings you up-to-date on the art events of the First Nations on Canada’s Pacific Coast.
We respectfully acknowledge the Coast Salish Peoples, on whose traditional territories we live and work, and all the First Nations of the Pacific coast.
Peace and goodwill to you all in 2009!
++++++++++++++++++++
A Master of Coast Salish Culture Dies
A deeply loved and respected elder of Upper Skagit tribe died on December 19, 2008. Vi Hilbert , known as Taq Se Blu, was a leader in preserving and teaching the Lushootseed language and all the traditions of her people. Mrs. Hilbert was the most honoured guest at the ceremonial opening of the S’abadeb exhibition of Coast Salish art at the Seattle Art Museum. (See The Beat November 2008.)
The Skagit River runs to the Pacific Coast from British Columbia and northern Washington State. From her early childhood along the Upper Skagit River, Vi was instructed in the oral tradition of her ancestors. As a girl, she would listen to the great story cycles, and then had to repeat them until the entire story was committed perfectly to her memory. Because her father Charles Anderson was a traditional story teller and historian, she understood that she was chosen to be a conduit for this knowledge. Her commitment to passing the traditions to future generations of her people animated her life. Moreover, after meeting the linguist Thom Hess, she developed ways to share her deep knowledge of her language and the traditional stories beyond her own people, with other First Peoples, scholars, university students and many others. In collaboration with Professor Hess, she wrote a language textbook, a dictionary and then shared her stories in both Skagit and English in books still available from the University of Washington Press. She also worked tirelessly in transcribing tapes made earlier by anthropologists of Skagit elders telling their stories in their own language.
Vi Hilbert was named a Washington State Living Treasure in 1989. A documentary Huchoosedah: Traditions of the Heart tells of her life and work.
At the ceremonial opening of the Coast Salish art show at the Seattle Art Museum on October 21 2008, Vi Hilbert dominated the room with her quiet presence; the intensity of the respect shown her by the Salish people present was great. Blind, frail and in a wheelchair at 90 years of age, she spoke in a strong and clear voice about the significance of the exhibition and the endurance of the Coast Salish culture. For more complete biographies of Vi Hilbert, see
www.lib.washington.edu and www.historylink.org
The exhibition S’abadeb: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists continues at the Seattle Art Museum until January 11 2009.
In 1909 Seattle was the site of a famed world’s fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, on the site which became the University of Washington’s Seattle campus. The AYP Exposition showcased the riches and new industries and to some degree, the peoples and cultures of the Pacific coast of the Northwest. The Gold Rush of 1897 had resulted in a great increase in population on the coast and great social changes. Many distinctive objects of the Northwest coast’s aboriginal peoples were displayed at the fair, and now are in the collection of the Burke Museum in Seattle. The city of Seattle has organized a number of events to mark the centenary of the exposition, and the Burke Museum will hold an exhibition AYP: Indigenous Voices Reply from May 30 to September 7 2009. It will “examine the representation of indigenous peoples at the fair, explain how the fair shaped the history of the Burke Museum and provide a forum for indigenous voices of today to reply.” There will be original new work of contemporary First Nations artists which respond to the older objects and to the representation of indigenous peoples at the AYP Exposition.
Artists are invited to create pieces for submission to the exhibition committee. Images must be submitted by January 31 2009, and the finished work of those chosen must be delivered by March 31 2009. For details, contact the Burke’s curator Robin Wright at 206 543 5595
or wright@u.washington.edu For more on the upcoming show, see the website of the Burke Museum http://www.washington.edu/burke
The website of the Seattle Centennial is www.aype.org
A World Indigenous Film Festival will be held in Anchorage Alaska on January 9 and 10. See www.alaskanative.net For a listing of all world indigenous film festivals, including Canadian festivals, see: http://www.iiirm.org/Events/Film%20Festivals/film_links/2009_festival_links/2009_festival_links.htm
Chester Patrick 1958-2008
A recipient of a 2007 British Columbia Aboriginal Creative Achievement Award, the noted Gitxsan First Nation artist Chester Patrick died on November 19 2008, and was honoured with a memorial service December 18 in Vancouver hosted by the Urban Gitxsan Society. Patrick was trained as a dancer with the K’san Performing Arts and as an artist in many media at the Gitanmaax School of Northwest Coast Art at K’san, near Hazelton British Columbia. His friends called him “Chaz” and he signed his work with that name.
Patrick was an accomplished traditional dancer and carver, and also impressed his friends with the depth of emotion and sensitivity of his writing.
The Vancouver Art Gallery will soon open an exhibition of new work by 32 innovative BC artists. How Soon is Now: Contemporary Art From Here , in a range of media, will run from February 7 to May 3, 2009. The project is part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad. Among those chosen for the show are three First Nations artists: Jackson Twobears, Sonny Assu and Raymond Boisjoly . Twobears is a Mohawk doctoral student based in Victoria. He states on his website http://www.jackson2bears.net : “ My conceptual interests lay in identifying points of convergence between contemporary techno-cultural studies, and Indigenous teachings”. Kwakwaka’wakw Sonny Assu is a well-known Vancouver artist whose work will also be seen in the upcoming Bill Reid exhibition Continuum , opening in June. Raymond Boisjoly recently completed a Master’s degree. His work in the exhibition, a free-standing sculpture of plywood with Christmas lights is concerned with the misrepresentation of Northwest coast First Nations culture. For more see http://www.van artgallery .bc.ca
The Haida Heritage Society in the Haida Gwaii has a new chair, Miles Richardson . Richardson has been intensely involved in the creation of the Haida Heritage Centre which officially opened in August 2008. He sees his most important task is to oversee the separation of the Heritage Centre operations from the Skidegate Band Council.
Gaaysiigang , a forum on Oceans will take place in Skidegate on January 22 to 24. An art exhibition to inaugurate the program at the Haida Gwaii Museum will be held with the forum: the show opens on January 22 and continues to February 6 2009. Island artists may submit work on the theme of the Ocean to the Museum on January 12 to 14 2009.
The forum will have experts presenting on ocean-related issues, and the community will be discussing transportation, ocean ecology, fishing and all issues related to the sea. For more information call Nika Collison or Lynn Lee at 250 626 3302.
More news: proposals by artists for new exhibitions at the Haida Gwaii Museum in spring and fall of 2009 may be sent to Kwiaahwah Jones, Kwi.museum@skidegate.ca
Also in Haida Laas December edition and of special interest to our readers is an illustration of the preliminary sketch by Robert Davidson for his work commissioned by the Vancouver Art Gallery. It will be a wall-mounted sculpture depicting a Killer Whale transforming into a Thunderbird, carved in red cedar and 10’ wide by 3’ high. The work will be exhibited in 2010 and become part of the VAG’s collection.
The December 2008 edition of The Haida Laas, published in the Haida Gwaii, can be found online at http://www.haidanation.ca
The Bill Reid Foundation has appointed Michael Robinson Executive Director of the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art and CEO of the Bill Reid Trust. Mr. Robinson took up his position on January 1, 2009. With a background in both anthropology and law, Robinson has had a career of involvement in environmental and social regulation of energy mega-projects in the north of Canada, NGO governance and management, community and international development, and cultural planning. He is the former director of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, but is originally from Vancouver. Robinson will also be a consultant with the Haida Heritage Centre in the Haida Gwaii.
The exhibition Bill Reid: Master of Haida Art will remain in the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver until June 2009. Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast will open in June and feature the work of 23 emerging and mid-career artists from Alaska, the BC coast and adjoining Washington state.
On December 15 2008, 2010 Legacies Now, a 2010 Olympics organization, released a list of 14 organizations across British Columbia who will split a total of $142,000 for the creation of art exhibits and performances. Among other grants is one of $10,000 to the Bill Reid Foundation for its first exhibition of contemporary textiles by Northwest coast artists.
The Indian Arts Research Center (IARC) in Santa Fe, New Mexico is seeking First Nations artists to apply for its upcoming fellowships. The next fellowship is the 2009 Eric and Barbara Dobkin Fellowship for Native Women, a three-month fellowship from March 1-May 31. For more details on this and other fellowships, contact Elysia Poon at poon@sarsf.org or 505 954 7279.
The Eighth Annual Talking Stick Festival will be creating a lot of excitement in Vancouver this February 9 to 15 2009. A preliminary opening event on Sunday February 1 involves the carving of two dugout canoes, while an artist documents the carving experience in photography and writing. Another art show Clearing the Path from Saskatchewan, explores notions of continuity and change in indigenous arts. A gala event on February 9 at the Kay Meek Centre in West Vancouver features music and dance from across Canada, including BC groups from the Squamish and Gitksan nations. Many arts, many events, many venues! For more info and tickets, see http://fullcircleperformance.ca
Native Youth Artists Collaborative (NYAC) in Vancouver is offering programs in Beading and Regalia-making from January 4 2009, for artists up to the age of 29 on Thursday evenings at their office at 200 – 2019 Dundas Street. More information at 604 254 5536.
Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa will have an exhibition from February 16 to April 12 2009 with important Northwest coast content. According to the gallery, “ The Art of Transformation features over 30 prints and sculptures in which fantastic, otherworldly creatures are variously portrayed as playful, ominous and grotesque. Subjects depicted include a shaman’s journey, a vengeful Volcano Woman, and a Sea Goddess. The stories of fantastic figures serve numerous functions: they rationalize social taboos, play a role in creation stories, and account for sickness, famine and natural disasters. These characters are frequently depicted in art not only because they possess significant powers but because they allow artists to experiment with form, colour and extraordinary subjects and settings.” Works are by Inuit and British Columbia artists: included are Art Thompson , Tim Paul, Richard Hunt and Don Yeomans. For more see http://www.carleton.ca/gallery and click on upcoming shows.
At an auction of Native Art at Bonhams in San Francisco on December 8 2008, there were a number of lots from the Northwest coast. A NW coast frog effigy bowl sold for $5400, a button blanket on brown cloth for $1080, a Nootka/Makah woven hat for $6000 and two finely carved horn ladles fetched a price of $1440. An unusual and graceful pair of carved Haida figures only 12” high sold for $39,000. Generally, the more distinctive works sold to greater advantage overall. For photographs and details see http://www.bonhams.com
Skinner Auctioneers has an auction of American Indian and Ethnographic Art in Boston on January 24 2009. A classic Northwest Chilkat dance blanket from the later 19 th century is estimated to sell for $20000 – 30000. A silver bracelet by Charles Edenshaw, collected by Marius Barbeau is estimated at $4000 to $6000. The bracelet depicts a sun flanked by ravens.
For more see: http://www.skinnerinc.com
The Vancouver Airport is known internationally for its display and collection of First Nations art. The YVR Art Foundation, which manages the program, offers art scholarships for First Nations students. The deadline for applications for these scholarships is January 31, 2009. For more about the scholarship program see
http://www.yvraf.com/scholarship.aspx
or email Susan Rome at srome@telus.net
Artists can participate in the Display Case Program for their work by contacting the Art Foundation through their website at
++++++++++++++
Comments, news and new subscribers to this free newsletter are welcomed. Please write to: editor@coastalartbeat.ca
Past issues are available at our website http://www.coastalartbeat.ca
Thank you to David Dumaresq, Kathleen Ritter, Bonnie Allan, Martine Reid, Anna Strankman, Barbara Buckman, Martin Landmann, and many others, for your assistance. We are slowly putting up our online slide show related to some of our stories. If you are searching for particular stories covered in past issues, try searching with Google.
The Beat is an independent, not-for-profit project written and published in Vancouver Canada by Ann Cameron.
Copyright 2009 Ann Cameron.