Mouse Woman drawing by Luke J. Parnell
The Beat
A monthly newsletter about the art of
First Nations on Canada’s West Coast
This is the thirty-second issue of The Beat, a free, independent newsletter that brings you up-to-date on the art, artists and 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.
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Sonny Assu. Longhouse #1, 2009
Photo: Scott Massey
Sonny Assu is exhibiting work at the Equinox Gallery in Vancouver, May 13 to June 12 2010, with an opening reception from 6 to 8 pm on Thursday, May 13 2010. See http://www.equinoxgallery.com
The Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver is launching a new Virtual Exhibition with Canada’s Virtual Museum. The Raven’s Call presents over 200 images of Bill Reid’s work in a variety of media from jewelry to prints and sculptures. An unfinished story by Bill Reid is re-told in an animation by Haida author and artist Yahgulanaas, Michael Nicoll. Essays by Dr. Martine Reid and a photo-biography with multimedia clips, are among other features. An interactive session and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the interactive website will be held at the Bill Reid Gallery at 639 Hornby Street, at 11 am to 12:30 pm, on Saturday May 8 2010. See http://www.billreidgallery.ca
The Virtual Museum is a vast online resource sponsored by the Canadian Heritage Information Network with material based in Canada’s museums. To explore the site, and enjoy other resources offered, go to:
http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/Search.do?ex=on&R=VE_2113&lang=en
Grizzly Bear Bracelet by Haida artist Bill Reid
Photo: Kenji Nagai
The Bill Reid Foundation has received a gift of a 22k gold repousse bracelet by Bill Reid, created in 1964, and donated by Baya Hammoudi and Paul Rowe of Vancouver. The Bill Reid Foundation has also acquired the mask and DVD production by Philip Gray titled Becoming Tsimshian which was commissioned for the Bill Reid Gallery exhibition Continuum. The Phil Gray work was acquired with a gift from the Audain Foundation for the Visual Arts in British Columbia.
Maynard’s Art & Antiques auction house will hold a Northwest Coast and Inuit Art auction on May 19 2010 at 6 pm, at its showroom at Main Street. A 14” high bentwood box by Bruce Alfred, dated 1981, is estimated at $1200-1600. There are silkscreen prints by Robert Davidson and Bill Reid being offered. See http://www.maynards.com
Sotheby’s May 14 auction in New York includes a large Haida feast bowl 23” in length, with an estimate of $60-90,000US. A Tlingit painted wood shaman figure 9” high and estimated at $15-20,000US, was at one time in the Heye Foundation collection.
The Sea to Sky Highway runs between the city of Vancouver and the town of Whistler, through the traditional territory of the Squamish and Lil’wat First Nations. The journey is dramatically beautiful. Now a deeper experience is possible: culturally-based signage and kiosks have been added which tell the traveler about the significance of the land to its original inhabitants. Cultural anthropologist Tad McIlraith’s blog at http://www.anthroblog.tadmcilwraith.com/2010/04/30/sea-to-sky-cultural-journey/ has photographs of all the kiosks. A Cultural Journey map with more information is available at the Squamish-Lil’wat Cultural Centre in Whistler.
Cultural Journey Kiosk at Horseshoe Bay
Photo: Tad McIlwaith
The Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art’s Fourth Annual Graduation Exhibition Northern Exposure will be held May 29 to June 20 at the Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver. The Freda Diesing School is part of the Northwest Community College and is located in Terrace, British Columbia. To learn more about the programs, and view a video of instructor Rocque Berthiaume, see http://fredadiesing.nwcc.bc.ca Twelve students, as well as some past graduates and instructors, will exhibit their work at the Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver. The online preview begins on May 22 at noon, the gallery preview is on May 26 at 10 am, and the exhibition opens for sale on May 29. See http://www.spiritwrestler.com
At the school’s graduation ceremony held in Terrace in April, the first Mature Student Award, donated by Bruce Byfield and Patricia Williams, was given to Carol Young (Bagshaw).
Every year the Freda Diesing students come to Vancouver to attend both the Spirit Wrestler show opening and the YVR (Vancouver Airport) Art Foundation Scholarship presentation.
More about the YVR Art Foundation and its programs is at:
http://www.yvraf.com/artProgram.html
Tlingit Warrior’s Helmet
Photo: Sealaska Corporation
Sealaska Corporation has repatriated a group of 33 objects originating from the Tlingit people in March 2010. The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University has returned objects collected in the 19th century. The group includes masks, rattles, the helmet pictured above, many of them objects thought to have been used by a shaman. The museum agreed that they were most likely taken from a grave.
http://www.sealaskaheritage.org/news/news_article_2010_cultural_objects_repatriated.htm
In Darrington Washington, tribal member Kevin Lenon is completing a new gate for the Sauk-Suiattle Tribal Cemetery to show his respect for the ancestors buried there. He is also is re-roofing the shelter used by tribal elders during funerals. The only carver in the community, Kevin is studying the Coast Salish art tradition. http://heraldnet.com/article/20100426/NEWS01/704269885
SMASH! International Indigenous Weaving is an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria showcasing weaving works by artists from the Coast Salish, Micmaq, American Southwest, Alaskan, and Hawaiian regions. “The exhibition will explore the influences of geographic boundaries; the unique materiality of the practice (including wool, bull rush, cedar root and bark, flax, etc); cultural uses such as ceremonial naming, births, deaths, marriages; as well as confluences and contrasts in design concepts.”
A Curator’s tour with Rose Spahan will be conducted on May 13 at 7:30 pm, and an artist’s Talk by Angela Marston given at 1 pm on June 5 2010. Drop-in tours are available on May 13 and 15, and June 6, 19 and 27. The exhibition runs from April 30 to August 22 2010.
Melvin Williams (Lil’wat) Baskets
Photo: AGGV
An event was held on April 27 2010 to honour the memory of Chief Kenneth Harris (1928-2010) of the Gitxsan nation of British Columbia, who died on March 19. Chief Harris’s life was distinguished by a deep commitment to his community and family. He served as an advisor to the University of British Columbia’s First Nations House of Learning, where the memorial gathering took place, and consultant to the Museum of Anthropology.
The exhibition Eagle Transforming: The Prints of Robert Davidson at the Surrey Art Gallery continues until June 21 2010. An Artist’s Talk, with Robert Davidson in conversation with curator Ian Thom is being held on May 2 at 2 pm at the gallery. An informative multi-page brochure has been published for the exhibition.
For more information see the SAG website: http://www.surrey.ca
The 17th Sydney Biennale opens in Australia May until August 1 2010. The curatorial concept is The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age. Canadian artist Dana Claxton and Gerald McMaster, Art Gallery of Ontario curator and the Biennale’s Canadian Commissioner, are participating in the Opening Week Forum: Power, Poverty, Equality and Freedom (and how we relate to art…). Biennale Focus II, North-South Dialogue on May 21 will be co-convened by McMaster, and “will consider historical ideas of a north–south dialogue, along with key turning points in art practice and policy for Aboriginal art in both Canada and Australia. It also addresses issues of 'otherness' and aboriginality, as well as new agendas for emerging aboriginal artists. Biennale artists taking part in the dialogue include Fiona Foley, Kent Monkman, Christopher Pease, Skeena Reece and Christian Thompson.” For more information, see http://www.bos17.com
The 2010 Gershon Iskowitz Prize was awarded to Brian Jungen by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Iskowitz Foundation. The $25,000 prize is awarded annually to an active established Canadian artist. Gershon Iskowitz (1921-1988) was a Canadian Polish-born abstract painter and concentration camp survivor. A reception will be held on May 6 2010 in Toronto at the Art Gallery of Ontario, followed by a talk by Brian Jungen there at 7 pm. The talk is free and open to the public.
Pervasive Influence: The Mechanical Bride at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto from May 1 to June 6 2010 includes photographic work by Dana Claxton. For more, see http://www.mocca.ca/
The American Native Arts & Cultures Foundation (NACF) is the first permanently endowed national philanthropic organization dedicated exclusively to the revitalization, appreciation, and perpetuation of native arts and cultures. To learn more about its aims, grants and programs, see its website http://nativeartsandcultures.com
The organization is based in Vancouver Washington.
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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, Martine Reid, Tad McIlraith, Sophie Brodovitch, Bruce Byfield and many others for your assistance. The Beat is an independent, not-for-profit project written and published in Vancouver Canada by Ann Cameron. Copyright 2010 Ann Cameron.