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 ninth 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 our province.
Remarkable Nisga’a and Haida Art in Toronto
The Royal Ontario Museum in downtown Toronto has four imposing totem poles from the west coast of British Columbia. They were brought to Toronto from the Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands in the 1920s, and the museum was literally built around the tallest of them. Wide staircases designed around the poles allow the visitors to view them at many angles as they ascend the stairs. One pole is from Tanu : in the late 1940s and early 1950s was a formative inspiration to Haida artist Bill Reid whose family had come from the Tanu village on the Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands. The other three were raised in the mid to late 19th century by Nisga'a families on the Nass River. The tallest and perhaps most powerful is the enormous 24.5 metre pole carved for the family of the Eagle Chief Sagaween who lived in the village of Gitiks on the Nass River at that time. But how well can we see the fine carving and understand the majestic figures? In the late 1990s, the museum improved the lighting on the poles and began discussions with the Nisga'a in order to give the public a better look, and more information about the poles. Finally, last week, new labeling that discusses the Nisga'a stories represented by the crests was installed in the museum. People can now enjoy an enriched and prolonged viewing experience of these masterpieces of Northwest culture. We are all looking forward to better coverage of the ROM’s West Coast collection on the museum’s website:
The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art is open in Vancouver at 639 Hornby Street, with summer hours Monday to Friday 10:30 to 5 pm, and Saturday to Sunday 11 to 5 pm. The wonderful opening celebrations on May attracted over 1000 people. Information available at 604 682 3455, or www.billreidgallery.ca
British Columbia 2008 Creative Achievement Awards for Aboriginal Art
2008 winners for outstanding achievement are artists: Bruce Alfred (Kwakwaka’wakw) of Alert Bay, Reg Davidson (Haida) Old Masset, Charles Elliott (Salish Tsartlip) Brentwood Bay, Debra Sparrow (Musqueam) Vancouver, and Daniel Tom (St’at’imc) Barriere. The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced prior to the June 10 awards ceremony in Vancouver.
Edward Curtis at the Getty Center … and Beyond
A two-day seminar Documents of an Encounter: Edward Curtis and the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation is being held in Los Angeles on June 5-6 in connection with Edward Curtis's 1914 silent film In the Land of the Head Hunters , set in coastal British Columbia
The symposium
Documents
of an Encounter
is
complemented by the premiere screening of a newly restored version of
Edward Curtis's landmark film
In
the Land of the Head Hunters
,
now reunited with its original musical score, and followed by live
traditional dance presented by the Gwa'wina Dancers of the
Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation, British Columbia. (See
The
Beat
April and May
2008.) Miquel Askren, a Ph.D. candidate at the same university, is
one of the presenters at the Getty seminar.
In
the Land of the Head Hunters
will
be shown on
Thursday,
June 5
at 7:30 p.m. at the
Getty Center
.
The film and
accompanying performance and music will be seen in Seattle on June
10. In Canada, the event will be held in Ottawa, Toronto and
Vancouver.
The Vancouver presentation is at the Chan Centre on June 22 is at 7 pm. Old Images/New Views: Perspectives on Edward Curtis , an exhibit of photography will accompany the screening o. A related panel discussion will take place at the Museum of Anthropology on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 7:00 pm. See www.moa.ubc.ca
Aaron Glass , post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, is one of the Executive Producers of this impressive project. Dr. Glass came upon the original music performed with the Curtis film during research at the Getty Centre.
International Auctions
The Sotheby’s New York auction in May of American Indian Art mentioned in The Beat May 2008 exceeded expectations, with overall sales of USD 3,634,697. Northwest Coast art sold particularly well: an old Bella Coola mask, estimated at $150-200,000, sold at $433,000; a Haida painted wood figure, 30 1/2 “, estimated at $60-90,000 sold at $265,000, and the mask on the cover of the catalogue, a Haida mask of a young girl, estimated at $100-150,000 sold at $634,600.
A small but unusual auction is being held by Sotheby’s in Paris on June 11 2008, of the James Economos Collection. Old and beautiful Haida, “Kwakiutl” and Tsimshian art objects are offered for sale, including a George Young (Haida) pole, commissioned for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair Anthropology Pavilion replica Haida house exhibit (estimate of 12,000-18,000 Euros). Some of the objects have an interesting history of ownership, including noted European artists and writers. Also offered for sale is a 31.5 cm bowl with an eagle cover, from the Dundas Collection, collected in 1863. The bowl was sold in the record Sotheby’s sale of 2007, but is back on the block in Paris at this auction. See www.Sotheby’s.com
First Nations Artists at the Vancouver Art Gallery
The exhibition Rebecca Belmore: Rising to the Occasion opens Saturday, June 7 and continues to October 5, 2008. The exhibition draws together Belmore’s performance works, sculpture, photographs and videos on themes related to the reclining body.
A Curator’s Tour by Daina Augaitas will visit the exhibition on Saturday, June 7 at 1 pm. On Tuesday, June 17 at 7 pm, Rebecca Belmore and Kathleen Ritter will present a program Artist in Conversation . Both events are at the VAG. For more see: www.vanartgallery.bc.ca
Kwakwaka’wakw artist Marianne Nicolson will have a solo show at the Vancouver Art Gallery next season.
Sad Loss in Vancouver
University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology was robbed on the night of May 24. The fifteen lost works, twelve by renowned Haida artist Bill Reid , include Reid’s celebrated 1959 dogfish brooch and another major work, a 1967 gold box with a sculpted eagle on the cover. These two works were in the 2007-2008 exhibition Canada Collects: Treasures from Across the Nation at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and were published in a book of the same name.
A reward of $50,000 has been posted for information leading to the recovery of the stolen art.
Important Exhibitions
Nisga’a artist Michael (Goothi Tsimilx) Dangeli opened a solo exhibition Traditionally Contemporary: The Art of Mike Dangeli at the Copper Wolf Gallery on May 29 through mid-July. A compelling mask with a near-Cubist appearance was called Compulsive Thoughts . The Gallery is on the second floor at 2280 East Hastings, near Nanaimo Street in Vancouver. The exhibition is open by appointment, so call ahead: 604 219 3651. For more see www.copperwolf.ca
Mr. Dangeli and Mique’l Askren’s Git’Hayetsk dance group will be performing in Winnipeg in August and Milwaukee in September.
Inuit Gallery in Vancouver at 206 Cambie Street opens Making Wood Talk , Kwakwaka’wakw artist Bill Henderson’s first solo exhibition June 7 – 27 . More information at www.inuit.ca
Douglas Reynolds Gallery opens exhibition Box of Treasure on Saturday, June 7, at 2335 Granville Street in Vancouver.
See www.douglasreynoldsgallery.com
Haida Memorial Pole Raised in Alert Bay
In the late nineteenth century during the smallpox epidemics that ravaged the native peoples of North America, First Nations of the BC coast were particularly stricken. Among the tragedies is the story of the Haida group who contracted the disease in Victoria. Some returned to the Haida homelands, bringing the devastating disease home and unwittingly infecting their people with huge fatalities resulting. Others were stopped along the coast and quarantined. Many of this group also died.
In May 2008, the Haida nation raised a pole in Alert Bay to thank the Kwakwaka’wakw communities for their generous sheltering of the Haida who were quarantined among their more southern neighbours, at Bones Bay a remote site south of Alert Bay. Preparations for the event began almost a year before with discussions about the form of the ceremonies and the dances. The pole and masks were carved in forms appropriate to the event, says Haida artist Christian White . Haida artist Corey Bulpitt created a mortuary plaque which was displayed in front of the Old Massett Tluu Xaada Naay longhouse until the May event. Other artists involved were Kwakwaka'wakw artists Beau Dick, Wayne Alfred, Bruce Alfred, Richard Baker, Ned Matilpi and Aubrey Johnson .
The first commemorative ceremony was held on Sunday May 18 at Bones Bay where a plaque was installed to honour those Haida who died during the quarantine. A ceremonial fire and food offerings honoured those who died. A bentwood box was left open to collect the spirits. Even the Kwakwaka’wakw lost about 3000 people to the epidemic. That first night featured many songs, dances and masks by the Kwakwaka’wakw people at the welcoming feast in the Alert Bay Big House.
The second day during the evening at the second feast the Haida performed many of their songs and dances. An End of Mourning ceremony included the dancing of a new smallpox mask and a male and female ancestor mask. The Old Massett Tluu Xaada Naay dancers performed several more celebratory songs and new white raven, moon and eagle masks were danced. On the third day, Mr. Bulpitt’s plaque was attached to a burial pole raised at the Namgis Burial Ground in Alert Bay.
Haida Art
Breathing Stone: Contemporary Haida Argillite Sculpture by Carol Sheehan , with photography by Jack Litrell and John W. Heintz, introduces fifteen sculptors and their work, accompanied by over 100 beautiful photographs of the art and the remarkable natural landscape of the Haida Gwaii. Among the artists are Marcel Russ , Donnie Edenshaw, Cooper Wilson and Lionel Samuels . The book appears in June 2008, published by Frontenac House. Sample pages are available for viewing on the publisher’s website:
http://frontenachouse.com/titles/single/breathing_stone_contemporary_haida_argillite_sculpture/
New Media
The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is an international festival that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples on the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio, and new media. To learn more and subscribe to the Festival newsletter, see:
The Grunt Gallery in Vancouver is planning a symposium
INDIANacts on November 29 – December 2 2008, on performance art arising from the Aboriginal culture. Many internationally-known artists, critics and curators will be involved, including Dana Claxton and Rebecca Belmore . The non-profit Grunt Gallery is a centre for contemporary art with a special mandate in First Nations art. Grunt has created an archive of important projects in the genre of performance art by aboriginals, available on DVD from the gallery’s rich website: http://www.grunt.ca
Squamish Art Sale
The Squamish Nation is holding its 5 th Annual Art Sale on June 8 2008, from 10 am to 4 pm at the Chief Joe Mathias Centre at 100 Capilano Road, North Vancouver. For more information call 604 980 4553.
Watch For
Susan Point’s monumental new work People Amongst the People, will be unveiled in early June in Stanley Park in Vancouver.
Art Commissions & Awards
Artists and arts organizations are reminded to follow closely announcements by VANOC , the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games for opportunities to participate in projects and programs in the next few years. See the website
www.vancouver2010.com/en/CultureEducation/CulturalOlympiad/OpenCa
The City of Vancouver is calling for the creation of an “iconic art work” for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Olympic Village Plaza. For more, see:
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/oca/publicart/artistopp.htm
Information on the 2009 Governor
General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts is now available on the
Canada Council web site at:
www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/ggavma/.htm
The deadline for nominations is 27 June 2008.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Comments, news and new subscribers are welcomed. Please write to: editor@coastalartbeat.ca
Past issues are available at our website www.coastalartbeat.ca
Thank you for assistance from Martine Reid, Ken Lister, David Dumaresq and Mike Dangeli.
The Beat is an independent, not-for-profit project written and published in Vancouver Canada by Ann Cameron. Copyright 2008 Ann Cameron.