Art, Identity and Culture: The Politicization O f Contemporary Northwest Coast
First Nations Art

Barbara E. Milmine
B.A., University o f Alberta, 1995

Thesis Submitted In Partial Fulfillment O f
The Requirements For The Degree O f
Master O f Arts
in
First Nations Studies

The University O f Northern British Columbia
April 2006

© Barbara E. Milmine, 2006

1^1

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ABSTRACT

My premise in this thesis is that there is a circular link between art, culture, and identity,
and that this link allows for the transmission o f meanings and messages, either
intentionally or unintentionally, from the artist to the larger society. 1 intend to examine
this link as it applies to the cultures o f Northwest Coast First Nations specifically. To
demonstrate this I examine the history o f Northwest Coast First Nations art, along with
the parameters of the constructs o f culture and identity. I investigate the relationships
within and between art, culture and identity using theoretical principles drawn from
perspectives relating to anthropology, cultural studies, art history, deconstructionist
theory, and First Nations studies. Having demonstrated that art is a mechanism by which
culture and identity are portrayed and disseminated, I turn to a consideration o f what
meanings and messages can be brought forth through their interplay. Exploring the
relationship between culture, history, identity and authority over land, I will examine the
potential for the meanings and messages inherent to Northwest Coast First Nations art to
have a political impact in terms o f bringing awareness and voice to First Nations issues
and policy. In drawing my conclusions I use information gathered through interviews
conducted with Martine Reid, Roy Henry Vickers, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, and Art
Wilson ( ‘Wii M uk’willixw). I assert that Northwest Coast First Nations art is able to
transcend the isolation o f cultural differences, act as a mechanism to rejuvenate eulture
and strengthen identity, and has undeniable potential in terms of bringing awareness and
positive political change to issues affecting First Nations people.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

ii

Table of Contents

iv

List of Figures

vi

CHAPTER ONE - Introduction

1

Objective

2

Choice o f Artists

5

Bill Reid

6

Roy Henry Vickers

9

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

9

Art Wilson (‘Wii M uk’willixw)

11

Data Collection

13

Interview Questions

14

Relevance of Research

15

A Note About Timeframe

16

A Note About Terminology

16

Theoretical Framework

17

CHAPTER TWO - Field of Study

24

Northwest Coast Native Art

111

25

•

Decline and Renewal, or Renaissance?

27

•

Authenticity and the Art Market, Typology, and
Race

38

Identity and Culture

47

•

Art, Culture and Identity - a case study o f
Robert Davidson

Meaning / Political Message

CHAPTER THREE - Northwest Coast Artists on Art, Identity and Renaissance

52
57

64

Bill Reid

64

Roy Henry Vickers

76

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

85

Art Wilson (‘Wii M uk’willixw)

95

CHAPTER FOUR - Discussion

108
Conclusion

Bibliography

116

119

IV

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 - Bill Reid, The Spirit ofH aida Gwaii (1991)

7

Figure 2 - Bill Reid, The Spirit o f Haida Gwaii (1991)

8

Figure 3 - Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Usufruct Landscape (1995)

10

Figure 4 - Art Wilson (‘Wii M uk’willixw), Low Level Ignorance

12

Figure 5 - Robert Davidson, Eagle Transforming into Itse lf {\990)

54

Figure 6 - Robert Davidson, Eagle Transforming into Itself (1990)

55

Figure 7 - Bill Reid, Raven Discovering Man in the Clam Shell (1970)

69

Figure 8 - Bill Reid, The Raven and First Man (1980)

70

Figure 9 - Roy Henry Vickers, Going to the Potlatch (1984)

78

Figure 10 - Roy Henry Vickers, Visions o f the Future (1984)

81

Figure 11 - Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Scorched Earth Clear cut Logging on Native
Sovereign Lands, Shaman Coming to Fix (1991)

89

Figure 12 - Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, MacMillan Bloedel Ecosystem Destroyers and
Their Preferred Weapons (1994)

Figure 13 - Art Wilson (‘Wii Muk’willixw), Beat the Drum Slowly

92

97

Figure 14 - Art Wilson (‘Wii M uk’willixw), Seizure on Luulak’s Land

98

Figure 15 - Art Wilson (‘Wii M uk’willixw), Davis Inlet

100

Figure 16 - Art Wilson (‘Wii M uk’willixw), The Train to Assimilation

101

VI

CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION

“It is becoming clear that the impulses underlying the resurgence o f the art cannot
be neatly isolated from those underlying other expressions o f native vitality; they are
part o f the same cultural fabric in the process o f regenerating itself ”
(Shadbolt, 1998: 11)

Perhaps more so than in any other region o f Canada, First Nations art is both distinct and
widely visible in the province o f British Columbia. The unique colours, forms, and
symbology inherent to the artistic traditions o f Northwest Coast First Nations are easily
distinguishable and evident throughout BC, from the Vancouver International Airport to the
northernmost comers o f the province.

It was upon having moved to British Columbia from Alberta that I first developed a fervent
interest in and curiosity about Northwest Coast First Nations art. As a Métis o f Cree ancestry
hailing from the prairies, I was stmck by the unique nature and qualities o f Northwest Coast
art, not to mention the incredible variety in forms and cultural particularities o f the artistic
traditions o f the many different nations native to BC. Having lived in Victoria before
moving to Prince George to undertake graduate studies at the University o f Northern British
Columbia, my increasing exposure to and discoveries o f Northwest Coast artistic traditions
continued to impress and surprise me in many ways, not the least o f which was the degree to
which they were so distinct from the prairie art forms and traditions which I was familiar
with.

At the same time, I became increasingly aware o f the political climate vis-à-vis First Nations
issues in British Columbia, and began learning more about how and why it was distinct from
the rest o f Canada by virtue of several factors, including the ongoing land claims process and
issues pertaining to logging and resource rights. As my studies in the area o f First Nations
issues continued, so, too, did my interest in Northwest Coast art. It became evident to me
that the link between the artistic traditions o f the Northwest Coast and the cultures and
identities o f its many First Nations was strong and irrefutable. Furthermore, I found myself
wondering if, how, and to what degree the widespread appeal and reach o f Northwest Coast
art might be used in order to raise the profile o f and impact First Nations issues in a political
sense. From my desire to better understand the link between art, culture and identity in
Northwest Coast First Nations, coupled with my curiosity about the potential politicization o f
Northwest Coast art, the topic for this thesis emerged.

Objective
That art has, since time immemorial, had an impact on the history o f the human family seems
like a natural starting point for a consideration o f the relationship between art, identity and
culture. Art has been used to record the stories and events that are history, it is an outlet for
emotion and perspective, and it reflects the defining elements of the artist, including culture
and identity. Insofar as that is true, art is a critical link with tremendous potential to
disseminate meanings and messages from the artists and their culture(s) to a wider audience.

For the First Nations o f the Northwest Coast o f British Columbia, art has historically played
a vital role linked as it is to the tradition and ceremony that is the foundation o f the many
cultures that hail from the region. In the absence o f written languages, art was the means by
which lineage and clan were recorded and communicated. Ceremony was not possible
without art, and culture was not possible without ceremony, hence art and artists were a
central component o f Northwest Coast traditions and heritage.

Just as art can be used to strengthen and uphold a culture, so too can it be manipulated in
order to unravel it. To this end. Northwest Coast traditional art suffered a destructive decline
in the face o f post-contact forces, including legislation and policy intended to cut at the heart
o f the great cultural traditions o f the Northwest Coast First Nations. That Northwest Coast
art and culture has undergone a significant and well-documented resurgence over the course
o f the last half-century is a testimony to the strength and will o f those cultures to survive and
tell their stories to new audiences in new ways.

At the same time, this phenomenon o f cultural and artistic revival also raises several
important questions that speak to the complex nature o f the relationship between art, identity,
culture and politics. Does art or the act o f being artistic inform identity? If so, how does this
happen, and what are the implications? Who defines what constitutes Northwest Coast art,
and who is able to define other issues o f authenticity, including those pertaining to the
cultural identity of the artist? Can the term ‘renaissance’ be aptly applied to the regeneration
o f the art and culture o f the Northwest Coast and, if so, what role does the art market play in
the validity o f that phenomenon? If art and identity interplay, are meanings and messages

transmitted, and if so, to what end? And, finally, what are the effects o f the potential o f those
meanings and messages insofar as the political landscape facing Northwest Coast First
Nations peoples is concerned?

I assert that there is an irrefutable link between art, culture and identity, and that this link
allows for the transmission o f meaning and messages, either intentionally or unintentionally,
from the artist to the larger society. I will showcase this link as it applies to the cultures of
Northwest Coast First Nations specifically, considering the history o f Northwest Coast First
Nations art, along with the parameters o f the construets o f eulture and identity. I will show
how First Nation’s identity is expressed through and relates to the art and material culture of
the Northwest Coast. To this end, I will consider issues pertaining to how cultural identity is
ereated and propagated, and what effects this can have on conveying meanings and messages
that have the potential to impact the landscape o f policy and politics.

Themes that I will consider along the way include issues pertaining to cultural decline and
renewal, the interplay between language and culture, and the eritieal role o f identity as a
backdrop to the artist as storyteller and activist. Authenticity will be examined as it relates to
the art market, issues o f typology, and raeial eonstructs.

Through conducting focused interviews with a limited number of Northwest Coast native
artists, namely Roy Henry Vickers, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Art Wilson ( ‘Wii
M uk’willxw), as well as Martine Reid, widow o f Haida artist Bill Reid, I assess what role
they feel their artwork plays in terms o f building upon their own identity as well as on the

cultural identities o f their nations. Furthermore, 1 assess if and how they feel this in turn acts
to propagate a First Nation’s voice in political arenas. In drawing my conclusions 1 use
information gathered through interviews conducted with Marine Reid, Roy Henry Vickers,
Art Wilson, and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.

Choice of Artists
For the purposes o f my research, the population o f interest was Northwest Coast native
artists. Although the qualitative nature o f my research limits the degree to which I will be
able to broadly apply my findings, nonetheless my sampling frame was determined with an
eye to being able to make some general determinations about Northwest Coast Native artists
working in a broad range o f artistic forms from quite traditional to overtly contemporary.
The sample that I chose for my research was based on those artists who were accessible to
me and who 1 believed presented variety in terms o f background and scope o f work.

While there exist any number o f artists whose contributions would have been both valuable
and relevant for the sake o f the nature o f my research, 1 endeavored to select for my sample a
range o f artists who represent a broad base o f styles and perspectives. I would like to begin
with an examination o f the contributions o f the late Bill Reid, using written material and an
interview with Martine Reid to ground my research. From there 1 would like to turn to a
synopsis o f my interviews with Roy Henry Vickers, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, and Art
Wilson.

I feel that the group o f artists whom I ’ve selected to examine in some detail represents the
broad and fascinating range o f contemporary Northwest Coast native artists. While 1 have
chosen only a few o f the many talented Northwest Coast artists whose work would be
applicable to the context o f this research, I feel that the sample that I have chosen draws on a
wide range o f interpretive styles. To the degree which they each represent different forms
and styles, and to the degree that they each appeal to and produce for different markets, they
represent diversity based on sameness.

Bill Reid
Bill Reid’s work represents a prime example o f art that has achieved very wide renown on
many levels. Furthermore, he has used his prestigious role within Canadian and global circles
to raise political awareness of First Nation’s issues, effecting positive change in that regard.
For example, in 1986 Reid made an astounding international political statement when, in a
show o f support for the Haida nation’s attempts to save Lyell Island from the logging
industry, he halted production on his commissioned work The Spirit o f Haida Gwaii (figures
1 and 2) which was to be installed in the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. (Gray,
1986: 150). Since then, the spectacular bronze sculpture was completed and installed, and
the South Moresby National Park Reserve was established on Haida Gwaii, finally bringing
an end to logging in that area (Bringhurst, 1995: 46). Another casting o f the sculpture,
referred to as The Jade Canoe, welcomes visitors in the international wing o f the Vancouver
International Airport. The Spirit o f Haida Gwaii itself stands as a prime example o f an
amazing artistic statement about Northwest Coast history, reality, and identity, both cultural
and political.

Figure 1 —Bill Reid, The Spirit o f Haida Gwaii (1991)

Figure 2 - Bill Reid, The Spirit ofH aida Gwaii (1991)

Roy Henry Vickers
Roy Henry Vickers’ reputation as one o f the Northwest Coast’s premier artists is both long­
standing and well-deserved. A native British Columbian who identifies with several
communities throughout the province, he has established two of Canada’s leading art
galleries, the Eagle Aerie Gallery in Tofino, and the Roy Henry Vickers Gallery in Sidney,
BC.

Vickers’ work has been described as innovative, bold, and magical. He uses vibrant colors
and sharp lines in a unique style that blends two worlds - traditional and contemporary, past
and present - in his vision o f the beauty inherent to the Northwest Coast. His work deals
primarily with the splendor o f the natural world, and is an uplifting representation o f the awe­
inspiring bounty o f nature.

Roy Henry Vickers considers art to be an outlet for his own self-discovery, and feels that an
inherent piece o f his role as an artist is to connect with people, pass along his knowledge and
experiences, and to reinforce the pride and identity o f the communities that he is connected
to, including the Tsimshian, the Haida, and the Heiltsuk.

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is a young Northwest Coast native artist whose work is much
more contemporary and overtly political than the traditionally grounded work o f Robert
Davidson or Bill Reid. Paul, a Cowichan-Salish, is considered to be a ‘modernist’ painter,
working largely in the medium o f very large-scale oil canvases.

Figure 3 - Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Usufruct Landscape (1995)

10

Having been exposed from childhood to First Nation’s social issues, Paul describes himself
as a ‘reporter’ (Gerber, p. 80). Says Paul o f his current work, “these paintings are pure art
and they’re just as political as my other work ... They’re about what mainstream aboriginal
society has become in the present” (Shier, 1998: 50).

Art Wilson (‘Wii Muk’willxw)
Art Wilson is an artist whose work falls in between the parameters laid out above. A
hereditary chief o f the Gitxsan people, he is very much grounded in tradition and in his
community. The powerful images present in his artwork skillfully blend traditional
Northwest Coast form with elements o f the ‘post-contact’ world, and communicate very
powerful statements concerning First Nations peoples, their history, and their future.

Low Level Ignorance (figure 4) shows a pregnant caribou aborting, as often happens due to
the excessive noise caused by British Harrier jump-jets which fly at supersonic speeds just
above the ground in Innu territory as part o f a federal government-sanctioned pilot training
agreement with NATO. In W ilson’s own words, “The hands in this image represent the Innu
saying no to the government’s madness” (Wilson, p. 62).

11

Figure 4 - Art Wilson, Low Level Ignorance

nfi

12

Data Collection
My data was collected using open-ended interviews. I applied for and received the Bill Reid
award in 1998, which enabled me to travel to conduct personal interviews. With an end goal
o f gathering in-depth information on particular topics from a limited number o f artists, the
time that I spent with each interviewee was largely conversational rather than observational.
All interviews were tape recorded with the consent o f the interviewees and subsequently
transcribed.

To further support my knowledge base and understanding o f Northwest Coast First Nations
art prior to conducting my interviews, I visited the ‘Ksan Historical Village and Museum in
Hazelton, BC. “Since 1960, ‘Ksan’s antecedent the Skeena Treasure House, and the present
‘Ksan Historical Village and Museum, have been amassing a sizable museum collection from
the surrounding area, consisting of over 600 items. Comprised of both ceremonial and
utilitarian materials, this collection illustrates the great diversity within the material culture o f
the Gitxsan. Items include bent boxes, ceremonial masks, button blankets, shaman’s regalia,
fishing gear, hunting utensils, and assorted lithic artifaets” (‘Ksan Village Heritage Site).

I also attended “The Legacy o f Bill Reid: a Critical Enquiry” in 1999, a two-day symposium
presented by the University o f British Columbia’s Museum o f Anthropology. This
symposium brought together scholars, artists, museum and gallery curators, and the
interested public to explore a range o f issues surrounding the work o f the late Haida artist.
Several sessions explored themes relevant to the context o f this research, including the
question o f the Northwest Coast artistic renaissance, artistie messages, and questions o f
authenticity and symbology in art.

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Interview Questions
Each person that I interviewed was asked the following set o f questions. Given that the
qualitative methods utilized for these interviews welcomed open-ended responses that may
have lead to additional questions, this set o f questions should be considered but a consistent
starting point for each interview conducted. In the case o f my interview with Martine Reid,
these questions were modified appropriately in order to speak to her views on Bill Reid’s
work as it applies to this research.

1. Do you believe that there is a cultural revival taking place in Northwest Coast First
Nations communities?
a. If so, how has this been played out in your community?
b. What effect do you feel artwork has had on the cultural state o f your
community?
c. What effect do you feel that your artwork has had on your community’s
struggle for self-reliance?

2. Some academics have expressed the view that a First Nations artistic revival does not
necessarily play into a revival o f First Nations cultures.
a. What do you say to this?
b. What impact do you feel that First Nations art has on conceptions o f First
Nations cultural identity?

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3. Do you produce artwork for different audiences or purposes (i.e.: art market vs.
eeremonial / traditional)?
a. If so, does your intended audience influence what you produce and how you
produce it?
b. How do you reconcile the demands o f the mainstream art market with the
unique ceremonial context o f First Nations art?
c. Does this affect how you market your work?

4. To what degree do you believe that art is capable o f conveying political meanings and
messages?
a. How do you feel that this process is played out within First Nations
communities?
b. Have you ever used your artwork to make an overt political statement?
c. What effects do you feel that your artwork has had on mainstream ideals /
attitudes about First Nations issues?

Relevance of Research
I consider this topic to be both timely and relevant for several reasons. There seems to be a
growing consensus that there is an emerging era o f renewed cultural strength amongst First
Nations peoples. Many suggest that First Nations art is a pervasive vehicle by which this
renewal might affect an increased voice for First Nations issues and causes in both
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations. I developed an interest in examining the
important role o f artists in this process o f cultural revival, and sought an increased

15

understanding o f how and to what degree First Nations cultural and political identity is being
fostered by the works o f native artists. I seek to enable a greater recognition o f what a
powerful tool artwork can be in furthering First Nations culture and causes.

A Note About Timeframe
The reader will note that the interviews conducted for the purposes o f this research took
place in 1999. Following the completion o f my graduate coursework at UNBC in 1999,1
returned to Alberta in order to be closer to my family. In 2 0 0 0 ,1 took a leave o f absence
from my studies at UNBC for a year in order to undertake a scholarship overseas in
Auckland, New Zealand. Upon returning to Alberta, I began working in my current position
as Director o f the Calgary Urban Aboriginal Initiative, a broad based collaborative initiative
aimed at developing effective partnerships between all levels of government, stakeholders,
and urban Aboriginal Calgarians. Unfortunately, the realities of managing my career
responsibilities have precluded me from completing this thesis in as timely a manner as I had
originally intended. While several years have lapsed since this thesis was begun, recent
research that I have undertaken for its completion assures me that the issues addressed
continue to be as relevant and timely today as they were in 1999.

A Note About Terminology
It is relevant to remind the reader that, while the term Northwest Coast First Nations art is
used broadly in the context o f this research, the term in fact denotes a very wide body of
artistic work and traditions hailing from the multitude o f distinct First Nations cultures that
have long inhabited the Northwest coastal region o f British Columbia. Haida, Gitxsan,

16

Kwakwaka’wakw, Tsimshian, Salish and Bella Coola are but a few o f a wide variety o f
nations each with their own unique history, cultural context, artistic styles and traditions. It
is also relevant to note that within the context o f this work the terms First Nations,
Aboriginal, Native, and in the case o f interview quotes, Indian are used interchangeably to
refer to the nations o f people who first inhabited North America, and their descendants.

Theoretical Framework
In assembling theoretical constructs with which to frame my research, I considered works
that hail from a variety o f disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, deconstructionist
theory, cultural studies, art history, and First Nations studies.

Hegemony is a term with particular relevance to the construction o f theory to guide this
research. Defined as “the ideological / cultural domination o f one class by another, achieved
by engineering consensus through controlling the content o f cultural forms” (Abercrombie,
Hill and Turner, 1988: 207), hegemony is associated with Italian political theorist Antonio
Gramsci. As a form o f non-totalitarian cultural leadership in which “certain cultural forms
predominate over others, just as certain ideas are more influential than others” (Said, 1978:
7), this concept describes how “the domination o f one class over others is achieved by a
combination o f political and ideological means” (Abercrombie, Hill and Turner, 1988: 111),
and is regarded as being o f considerable significance in terms of the development o f an
understanding o f cultural life in the industrial West (Said, 1978: 7). The concept of
hegemony is particularly relevant in considerations o f the effects o f colonization on a culture
or population. It is therefore relevant and applicable to considerations o f themes o f

17

appropriation, prohibition, and authenticity in its many forms as those apply to an analysis o f
Northwest Coast art.

Behavioral scientist Edward Said draws on the concept o f hegemony in contextualizing the
premise for his theory of orientalism, as laid out in his book o f the same name (Said, 1978).
While Said’s theory is based on considerations o f the ‘othering’ o f the Muslim Orient, the
principles that he draws on in developing his theory o f orientalism, a “style o f thought based
upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between ‘the Orient’ and ... ‘the
Occident’” (Said, 1978; 2), are highly applicable to other instances o f colonialist history.

Many authors frequently use postmodern terminology to define the parameters o f First
Nation’s art. Among these are Houle (1992), Youngman (1992), and Métis filmmaker
Loretta Todd (1992). In this light, certain theorists are o f particular relevance, including
French philosopher Jacques Derrida, considered to be one o f the founding fathers of
deconstruction. Deconstruction is a concept o f some significance here given its treatment o f
the operation o f exclusion. It questions what it is that permits “one group, or value, or idea to
be kept out so that another can be safeguarded internally and turned into a norm” (Ryan,
1982: 3).

Many o f Derrida’s considerations are based on his idea that metaphysics typically attempts to
understand the world through use o f sets o f binary oppositions, “ ...one o f which is assumed
to be prior and superior to the other” (Ryan, 1982: 9). The deconstruction o f metaphysics,
according to Derrida, hangs “on the frame o f the interiority / exteriority binary” (Ryan, 1982:

18

13). From the deconstructionist perspective, we see the classical relationship between the
dominant ‘one’ and the subordinate ‘other’ being played out against the backdrop o f the
Northwest Coast native art world, and tying in again to Youngman’s concept of
‘ghettoization.’

Deconstructionist principles allow us to notice who has authority to determine what is or is
not art. First Nations or otherwise, as well as to question the dominant forces that drive the
market for Northwest Coast art for better or for worse. Deconstruction allows us to consider
what effects being colonized by the dominant ‘one’ have had on the First Nations cultures of
the Northwest Coast, and in what ways dominance over and exclusion o f First Nations art
continue to serve the purpose o f maintaining the status quo for mainstream society.

The applications and limitations o f considerations o f the implications o f dominance and
subordination in the context of this research are expressed by Todd who suggests that, “by
reducing our cultural expression to simply the question o f modernism or postmodernism, art
or anthropology, or whether we are contemporary or traditional, we are placed on the edges
o f the dominant culture, while the dominant culture determines whether we are allowed to
enter into its realm o f art” (Todd, 1992: 75).

In opposition to the deconstructionist viewpoint is the strueturalist concept o f semiotics.
First evolving from the work o f Swiss structural linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, the idea o f
semiotics was further developed by French social theorist Roland Barthes in the 1960’s with
the dawn o f cultural studies (Abercrombie, Hill, and Turner, 1988: 438). Based on

19

questioning relationships between cultural codes and power relationships, it relies on the key
concepts o f “the signifier (a thing, word, or picture) and the signified (the mental picture or
meaning indicated by the signifier)” (ibid.). By “drawing attention to the layers o f meaning
that may be embodied in a set o f representations” (ibid.) latent or manifest meanings may be
communicated, signifying moral values and generating feelings or attitudes in the viewer,
allowing for complex codes o f communication. By way o f these relationships between the
signifier, the signified, and the resulting messages communicated and their effects and
affects, semiotics have significant application to the consideration o f meanings and messages
intended or communicated by way o f artwork.

Within the field o f cultural studies some additional theoretical concepts exist which are
relevant to this research. Director o f the Institute o f Cultural Research at the University of
Western Sydney, len Ang (1996: 237-254) considers issues o f cultural identity in detail and,
in particular, examines how cultural identity is often subordinated by a hegemonic and
seemingly unnatural classification by nationality. While Ang offers many examples o f how
this struggle has been played out in the global arena, equally significant would be the
example of North American First Nations, who have had imposed upon them a concept of
nationality which ignores their unique historical and cultural traditions and boundaries.

David Freedberg is an art historian who has written extensively on the power o f artistic
images through time. Having conducted historical research drawing from the fields o f
psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and sociology, he posits that one cannot do justice to
the images o f art unless one recognizes in them the entire range o f human responses, from

20

basic impulses that might result from prevailing popular imagery, to the refined images
present in the great elassieal masterpieces (1989).

Freedberg counters the widely held view that certain characteristics o f both art and responses
to art are specifieally confined to ‘primitive’, non-Western societies (1989: xxi). He posits
that we suppress many o f our reactions to images due to an inherent fear o f their power over
us (1989; 429). His work is unique insofar as it includes a consideration o f the ‘irrational’
elements and influences o f animist phenomena, aniconism, and magic.

Freedberg’s

considerations of the impacts o f images is comprehensive in scope, including broad ranges of
effects and meanings such as awe, arousal, and even shame (1989: xxiii).

Freedberg concludes that the two major modern paradigms used to discuss art, namely high
critical talk and reclamation o f context, are both incomplete and thus apt to fail (1989: 431).
He considers high critical talk too devoid o f emotion and appetite to have much significance,
while the contextual reclamation model is focused too centrally on purely historical
considerations (ibid.). He suggests that in order to fully appreciate the power o f images, we
need to begin by recognizing and admitting the fundamental role o f repression (1989: 435).
Freedberg’s weakness in terms o f theoretical application within the context o f the research is
his failure to be more inclusive o f cross-cultural considerations in his assertions, resulting in
some o f his assertions being questionably Euro-centric in orientation.

First Nations studies is a field which has enjoyed much growth in recent years, and should be
central to framing research grounded in Aboriginal contexts and issues. Literature hailing

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from First Nations studies allows us to consider a point o f view and approach to research that
runs counter to prevailing mainstream ideas about the pursuit of knowledge. It considers the
traditional First Nations philosophy and the impacts colonization has had on indigenous life,
experience and identity.

Maori educator and researcher Linda Tuhiwai Smith has received global acclaim for her
work on the decolonization of research methodologies. She considers the very word
‘research’ to be “inextricably linked to European imperialism and colonialism”, offending in
many ways Aboriginal people’s very sense o f who and what they are (Smith, 1999: 1). “It
appalls us that the West can desire, extract and claim ownership o f our ways o f knowing, our
imagery, the things we create and produce, and then simultaneously reject the people who
created and developed those ideas and seek to deny them further opportunities to be creators
of their own culture and own nations” (ibid.). She posits that methodologies appropriate to
collecting and interpreting the knowledge and experiences o f indigenous peoples must
“approach cultural protocols, values and behaviors” as inclusions that “be built into research
explicitly, to be thought about reflexively, to be declared openly as part o f the research
design, to be discussed as part of the final results o f a study and to be disseminated back to
the people in culturally appropriate ways and in a language that can be understood” (Smith,
1999: 15).

M i’kmaq educator Marie Battiste, in a consideration o f the link between Aboriginal identity,
language and culture, comments on the challenges that contemporary Aboriginal people have
to face. She asserts, “the lack o f a clear, comprehensive, and consistent policy about

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Aboriginal consciousness has resulted in modern educational acts that suppress these integral
cultures and identities” (Battiste, 2000: 192). She outlines the effects o f cognitive
imperialism, a term which she defines as, “the imposition o f one worldview on a people who
have an alternative worldview, with the implication that the imposed worldview is superior to
the alternative worldview” (2000:193). She suggests that on account o f the pervasiveness o f
cognitive imperialism in the public school system, “damaging myths about Aboriginal
cultures, languages, beliefs, and ways o f life” are perpetuated (2000: 194). Furthermore,
Western science has been established as “a dominant mode o f thought that distrusts diversity
and jeopardizes us all as we move into the next century” (ibid.). She contends that the effects
o f these realities are two-fold, at once undermining “the right of Aboriginal peoples to
exercise their own culture,” while blinding the Western world to the benefits inherent to the
integration o f tenets o f Aboriginal eultures (ibid.). In this eontext it is significant that First
Nations art provides a positive place for Aboriginal identity to manifest itself, both as a place
o f pride for Aboriginal peoples within their culture and as a means to reach out to the non­
native world as well.

In establishing a theoretical framework from which to consider First Nation’s art and artists,
it is relevant to include contributions from a wide range o f disciplines, as it is crucial to
remain mindful o f maintaining an approach grounded in the complex and multi-faceted
reality of a First Nations cultural context. “Anthropology and ethnology fill in the details of
the cultural context within which early (First Nations) art resonates and from which it cannot
be wrenched without losing its original full relevance” (Shadbolt, 1998: 76).

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CHAPTER TWO - FIELD OF STUDY

Concepts of particular relevance in this study include art, culture, and identity, particularly as
they relate to Northwest Coast First Nations populations. Within the context o f this study,
the political significance o f these concepts is also o f interest. In the following section I will
give consideration to each o f these elements o f the field o f study relevant to this research,
and will also provide a brief case study o f Haida master carver Robert Davidson intended to
serve as an example o f how art, culture and identity can interplay in the life and work o f a
Northwest Coast native artist.

I consider the concepts mentioned above to be linked together in a type o f causal chain. First
Nations artwork builds upon conceptions o f First Nations identity, which in turn serve to
strengthen links to cultural identity and may lead to a particular meaning or message that
may, ultimately, impact policy or politics. While there is not a great deal o f literature that
directly links all o f these concepts, some relevant material does exist. In the following
section, I consider elements o f the body o f work that addresses issues related to my topic, in
a format that is reflective o f the conceptual link outlined above.

In reviewing the existing body of literature on the topics at hand, several themes emerged
that assisted me in guiding this research as well as in shaping the conclusions drawn from
this work. The first theme is what some authors and artists refer to as a ‘renaissance’, and
what others refer to in terms o f cycles of artistic expansion and decline. Taken to refer
generally to the causes and effects o f eras o f positive or negative growth in the area o f First

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Nations art and, in particular, Northwest Coast art, currents o f exploration o f this theme run
throughout this research.

Another theme o f notable significance that emerges from this body of work is based on
issues o f authenticity. You will notice that this theme plays out in many contexts
surrounding questions pertaining to art markets, typology, differential classifications o f art
forms, and issues of race, all o f which will be further explored.

Northwest Coast Native Art
In a study aimed at contemplating the cultural and political effects o f Northwest Coast First
Nations art, it seems logical to begin by examining its recent history and assessing elements
o f its current as well as future potential reach. While Northwest Coast First Nations art finds
its genesis in prehistory (Holm, 1965: 3), for my purposes here I will consider more recent
elements o f the history of this unique and compelling form.

Although Northwest Coast native art has been widely celebrated in recent history for its
aesthetic, intellectual, and ceremonial qualities, historical evidence would suggest that at the
time o f first contact and trade the artistic traditions o f Northwest Coast peoples were admired
and appreciated (Maenair, 1996: 47). While there exist records that would suggest that early
explorers and traders enjoyed an appreciation that went beyond the mere aesthetic quality o f
the artworks to an acknowledgement o f the cultural and ceremonial context inherent to them,
once removed from their place of origin pieces were often treated more as curios than as art
(ibid.).

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Northwest Coast art curator and scholar Peter Maenair goes on to suggest that, as recognition
of the popularity o f Northwest Coast art that was taken abroad grew in the First Nations
communities from which the artworks originated, tourist art became a commodity that
attracted the interest o f both producers and consumers (1996: 56). That said, the
decontextualization of ceremonial art prompted most o f its artists to opt out o f the production
and trade o f tourist art. “Such tourist art appears to have been produced mainly by
individuals who had little or no connection with the production o f traditional ceremonial art.
Because the continuing use of ritual objects ... remained so private and so sacred, anyone
with a significant knowledge of the art form would have been reluctant to produce
commercialized images from this tradition” (ibid.). Thus, the differentiation between curiostatus tourist art, and traditional ceremonial art was bom.

However, scholar and former Director o f the UBC Museum o f Anthropology Ruth Phillips
(1998) considers the realm o f First Nations tourist art produced between 1700 - 1900 as
being so significant in scope that it warrants artistic consideration apart from the usual
paradigms and classifications used in First Nations art history. She considers in extensive
detail issues surrounding the creation o f a market for tourist art and the impacts that this had
on First Nations artistic cultures.

Despite the growth o f the tourist art market post-contact, the production o f traditional
ceremonial art continued. Maenair suggests that the dawn o f anthropological art collecting
around 1880 saw the advent o f scholarly interest in the meanings and aesthetic value of

26

traditional Northwest Coast artistic pieces (1996: 47). As Northwest Coast ceremonial art
suffered a decline in the face o f both contact-related epidemics and the imposition of
government policies forbidding cultural practices, ‘curios’ for a growing tourist trade “came
to dominate the output o f Native craftsmen” (Reid, 1996: 72).

Decline and Renewal, or Renaissance?
While the issue o f the debate surrounding the concept o f a ‘renaissance’ o f Northwest Coast
First Nations culture and art will be explored throughout this research, Maenair offers
evidence that cycles o f decline and expansion o f the artistic forms and traditions associated
with the Northwest Coast began long before the current renaissance debate raged.
“Significant new directions in the art form began late in the nineteenth century, some
representing decline, others celebrating a new vigor. These trends, such as changes in style,
are reflected in both traditional ceremonial art and art produced for sale” (Maenair, 1996:
47).

The wide popularity enjoyed by Northwest Coast First Nations art over the past 35 years is
well documented, and shows no evidence of decline. Conditions have not always been as
favorable for this artwork as they are now, however. Certainly, the early effects o f contactrelated epidemics combined with the effects o f Canadian government policy on the arts and
ceremonial practices o f the Northwest Coast peoples are well known and well documented,
as will be examined shortly. Northwest Coast First Nations art suffered a significant decline
in the early half o f the 20* century, a state o f affairs that did not begin to reverse until the
Potlatch Law, an 1884 amendment to the Indian Act, was repealed in 1951 (Duffek, 1996:

27

213). “This law had significantly aided the disintegration o f the social, economic, and
political structures that had supported the art and given it meaning” (ibid.).

While he does not dispute the notion o f decline in Northwest Coast native art early in the 20*'^
eentury, art and design seholar Ronald Hawker considers the period between 1922 and 1961
to be a rich one in some respects for Northwest Coast art. In an examination o f “the
negotiation o f meaning around objects used in public projects in order to highlight their
symbolic uses” (Hawker, 2003: 15), he contends that “during this era. Northwest Coast
objects functioned in a complex and multifaceted manner, at once asserting the integrity and
meaningfulness o f First Nation identities and resisting the intent and effects o f assimilation”
(2003: 5). He asserts that during this period, “important steps were taken towards
formulating two major eharacteristics o f the post-1960 period: (1) a burgeoning market in
‘traditional’ Northwest Coast objects and (2) First Nations activism with regard to land
claims and self-determination - an activism premised upon notions o f ‘tradition’ and ‘art’”
(ibid.).

The detrimental effeets o f residential schools and the ensuing loss o f language on the arts and
eultural deeline o f Northwest Coast peoples have been explored by many scholars. “Policy
and logistics dictated that children be removed from their families to residential schools,
where discipline was strictly enforced. For their own ‘good’, and to hasten the process of
assimilation, the schools forbade the children to speak any language other than English:
contact with other family members and, through them, with traditional practices and beliefs,
was minimized or eliminated for long periods o f time” (Phillips: 1996, 246).

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Curator, scholar, and contemporary artist Gerald MeMaster explores the effects o f residential
schools insofar as they contributed not only to loss o f language, culture, and traditions, but
furthermore as they contributed to the decline o f traditional ceremonial art and the growth of
curio art for the tourist trade. The act o f ‘civilizing’ First Nations students through
residential school policies “deprived them o f a chance to have a traditional education” (1996:
95).

In the 1920’s, the Department of Indian Affairs began organizing First Nations exhibits at
agricultural and industrial exhibitions, which “involved encouraging Indian students from
industrial and residential schools to participate in the production o f arts and crafts [that would
demonstrate] their ‘eivilized’ qualities rather than their traditions, assuming that this would
instill a Euro-Canadian spirit of competitiveness and motivation” (ibid.). Students were
given quotas for the production o f various “handicrafts according to a set list o f items, with
catalogues containing price lists. These mass-produced objects were then marketed in both
East and West in such places as the Hudson’s Bay Company, provincial exhibitions, and
small tourist shops in national parks” (ibid.). While the rationale for these undertakings was
masked as being based on a spirit o f showcasing First Nations culture, “beneath the veneer
... lay the chilling fact that the Indian was a showcase for the department’s policy of
assimilation” (ibid.).

While the effects o f the residential school system on the decline o f First Nations art is well
documented, Phillips contends that, paradoxically, the residential school system played an

29

additional role o f creating the impetus for the cultural renewal or renaissance o f First Nations
art that is widely accepted in the art community. She asserts that, for First Nations children
subjected to residential school, being deprived o f a way o f speaking meant also being
deprived o f a way o f thinking. “The attack on Native languages was inevitably an attack on
the oral traditions - the irreducible essence o f Native culture” (Phillips, 1996: 247). Phillips
posits that the effects o f this attempted eradication o f language and culture has been a
strengthened effort to reassert these later in life on behalf o f many First Nations artists. “In
this context, it becomes possible to understand the urgency felt by Indian artists born in the
middle decades o f the twentieth century about their efforts to preserve traditional knowledge”
(ibid.).

Despite those adverse elements that may have lead to a temporary decline, the resurgence o f
Northwest Coast First Nations art is well-documented. Indeed, by the late 1970’s, UBC
Museum of Anthropology art curator Karen Duffek (1986: 23) states that “the market for
Northwest Coast art had become a several-million-dollar industry ... [involving] at least two
hundred professional native artists and many more casual producers, supported by a
primarily non-native buying public.” While the market for such artwork is still highly intact
today, evidence supporting the notion o f cultural renewal or renaissance suggests that since
the mid-SO’s a growing amount o f artwork is being produced specifically for use in the First
Nations cultural context (Duffek, 1986: 23; Reid, M., 1996: 81).

Director o f the University o f Alaska Museum and scholar Aldona Jonaitus (1988: 237)
suggests that one o f the initial steps in terms o f “finally establishing Northwest Coast as a

30

great art style” was an exhibit staged at the Museum o f Modern Art in 1941. The
contributions o f Boas and Lévi-Strauss are also widely considered as being significant to this
end” (Jonaitus, 1988: 240; see also Gray, 1996: 138). The publication in 1965 o f AGrt/nvei't
Coast Indian Art: an Analysis o f Form by Bill Holm, who worked with Bill Reid, was
important in that it provided Northwest Coast native artists with a stylistic manual for
relearning their artistic culture, the effects o f which were far-reaching (Jonaitus, 1988: 246;
Duffek, 1986: 9; Duffek, 1996: 218).

Former Canada Council for the Arts Aboriginal Arts Coordinator Viviane Gray states: “Any
student o f twentieth eentury Indian art recognizes that Indian art existed prior to European
contact. The First Nations always had the elements o f artistic expression and visual
aesthetics in their cultures. What was new in the development o f native Indian art in the
Twentieth eentury was the interest in and recognition o f Native art by a non-Native public”
(1996: 138).

Kwakiutl master carver Mungo Martin is widely acknowledged as having instigated the
cultural renaissance o f Northwest Coast native art, becoming “one o f the most widely known
of Northwest Coast artists through his work at the University of British Columbia and the
British Columbia Provincial Museum” (Holm, 1983: 92). His talents were not recognized
by mainstream non-natives until the 1940’s when, “in response to a general awakening to the
aesthetic value o f Indian art, several museum curators and academics realized how eminently
qualified he was to restore traditional Northwest Coast art” (Jonaitus, 1988: 242).

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If Mungo Martin in considered to be the grandfather o f the Northwest Coast artistic
renaissance, then surely Bill Reid may be considered to be the father o f that same
phenomenon. Bill Reid, according to scholars and art historians Alan Hoover and Kevin
Neary (1984: 186), “was the first Northern artist born in the twentieth century to
comprehend the formal rules of this complex intellectualized art tradition, the principles of
which had been lost.”

In considering the validity o f the Northwest Coast artistic renaissance and the claim that Bill
Reid fathered it, art historian David Summers (2004: 154) concludes that Bill Reid “did his
part. He made art that has earned a place in the contemporary world o f art, based on
principles that may serve both as the basis for the renewal o f Haida tradition and as the basis
o f the more than aesthetic explanation o f Haida art and culture to the world.”

While his role as father o f the Northwest Coast artistic renaissance is widely acknowledged,
it is relevant to point out that Bill Reid him self doubted the substance o f the renaissance,
claiming that it is “largely urban-based and anthropologist-created, not involving a
meaningful renewal of native society” (Duffek, 1986: 23 - 26).

Bill Reid’s widow and anthropologist Martine Reid echoes some o f these sentiments in her
examination o f what she calls a ‘renaissance myth’ (1996: 74). She states that while
parallels are often drawn between the European renaissance and the Northwest Coast cultural
renaissance, the difference, as she sees it, is that while “Europe used the relics o f classical
Greece and Rome as the staring point for its Renaissance, and built on them a completely

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new structure embracing all aspects o f art - painting, sculpture, music, drama, and literature
... the Northwest Coast ‘renaissance’ ... was encouraged not by an indigenous impulse or an
inner innovation but by a few members o f the white community, whose interest began to
bloom thirty years ago. It involved only a few artisans, not a whole culture. And the rebirth
it contemplated was not meant to serve some social or religious need, but to satisfy a
commercial market ranging from ‘fine art’, to ‘airport art’” (Reid, 1996: 71).

Reid goes on to suggest a variety o f possible motivations for this sudden interest in
Northwest Coast art on behalf o f non-native populations, ranging from general appreciation,
to boredom with conventional ‘western’ art, to displaced guilt about Canada’s bleak history
with regard to native treatment, and the conditions o f the survivors o f that history (1996: 74).
Her contentions are quite clear when she adds that “despite a flood o f more or less skillfully
made objects for sale ... and the attempt at a revival o f nineteenth century native ceremony,
there has been nothing that can justly be called a cultural renaissance among the Northwest
Coast people” (1996: 74).

On this subject, Reid’s contentions tend to run counter to a number o f other contributors
(including Duffek, 1996; Jonaitus, 1988) who feel that the renaissance or revival of
Northwest Coast native culture and art is undeniable. Some scholars have examined the
possibility that terminology compounds the polarization o f the Northwest Coast renaissance
debate. Summers (2004: 133) suggest that “the term renaissance is an inappropriate
imposition o f a category o f Western culture upon another. Intellectual times and issues
change, and, whatever Bill Reid might have meant by his demurral, reference to a

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‘renaissance’ may in fact raise all the ethical and political questions o f the relation of
European culture to other cultures at a time when faith in the ideologies o f colonialism has
faded.”

Determining if, and to what extent, the renewal o f the cultural and artistic traditions o f the
Northwest Coast shares parallels with aspects o f the European Renaissance necessits some
consideration o f circumstances and outcomes o f the latter phenomenon. Being as each
instance of cultural renewal developed and was played out within it’s own distinct context
and timeframe it seems only logical to assume that there will be differences in both formative
ideologies and histories o f the European and Northwest Coast ‘renaissances’, but it is also
significant to establish if there exist similarities between the two.

The term ‘Renaissance’, when properly used, refers to “a diverse series o f cultural
developments which occurred over several hundred years in many different parts o f Europe”
(Brotton, 2005: 1). While it is true that the Renaissance as an era in European history spread
through the continent and, as such, has different referential dates depending on which
particular geographical area is being considered, as a rule the Renaissance is widely accepted
as having had its genesis in Italy in the 15* century and having lasted for over two hundred
years.

Tenets o f thought that characterized the Renaissance era included the State as a work o f art,
the development o f the individual, the revival o f antiquity, and the discovery o f the world
and man, played out in the revolution in cultural and artistic life that was the defining

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hallmark of the era (Learner.org, 2005). The Renaissance developed through “three
fundamental phases: from the Florentine Humanism o f the early Quattrocento to the
Renaissance proper in the second half o f the century, with its center in the refined Laurentian
culture, to the Mannerist phase of the early 16* century with its fulcrum set in papal Rome”
(Leonardonline, 2005; 2).

It is interesting to note that the term ‘renaissance’ was first applied to this era as late as the
19* century by French historian Jules Michelet in his History o f France published in 1855
(Brotton, 2005: 1). In 1860, Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt further refined M ichelet’s
term in his book The Civilization o f the Renaissance in Italy. “Like Michelet, Burckhardt
believed that the cultural achievements o f the period heralded a ‘rebirth’ (the French
‘renaissance’) o f the classical Greek and Roman values o f literary purity and aesthetic
beauty” (ibid.).

Given that the European Renaissance lasted for several generations, and was not named until
several hundred years after its passing, it is relevant to consider the possibility that parallels
between the Northwest Coast artistic renaissance and characteristics o f the European
Renaissance are perhaps somewhat premature. That said, the fact that several phases have
been identified throughout the Renaissance in Europe presents a possibility that in fact the
revival of Northwest Coast art and culture in recent years is but a first phase o f a greater
phenomenon that is playing out still and will grow increasingly less shallow with the arrival
o f subsequent phases.

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Despite the disparities in the apparent seope and depth o f the European Renaissance as it
compares to the Northwest Coast artistic and cultural renewal, there are several elements that
the two instances o f revival share in common. A critically defining element o f the European
Renaissance was that it closely followed an unprecedented era o f discovery o f new worlds
and cultures, “from Columbus to Copernicus, from Copernicus to Galileo, from the discovery
of the earth to that of the heavens” (ibid.). Hence, exchange with and exploration o f other
cultures and o f worlds beyond their usual boundaries o f knowledge inspired Renaissance
artists in Europe to expand their horizons o f thought and creativity, rediscovering the great
artistic forms o f previous ages and taking them in new and innovative directions with
tremendous and unprecedented results. It might easily be argued that a similar impetus drove
and continues to drive the artistic and cultural renewal o f the Northwest Coast, beginning
with the rediscovery and reestablishment o f classic traditional design. As global influences
continue to pervade the awareness o f Canadians, Northwest Coast First Nations included,
traditional forms blend with new ideas and fewer boundaries in order to bring Northwest
Coast art to new audiences in new and unprecedented ways.

Just as the European Renaissance is said to have been based on an era o f artistic
experimentation based on the questioning o f religious authority, it could be argued that the
Northwest Coast artistic revival, particularly in more recent years, has also been
characterized by the same type o f experimentation, evidenced especially in the growing
numbers o f contemporary artists blending tradition and innovation in Northwest Coast
artistic forms. To suggest that this phenomenon is in part due to a new era o f questioning
authority in the shape o f policy or legislation does not seem like too great a stretch.

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Finally, it has been established that “much o f the impetus for this lavish display o f art
[characteristic o f the European Renaissance] ... was the product o f growing political tensions
o f the time. Even in the 15* century, the Roman Catholic Church was in disarray, recovering
from bitter in-fighting and factional schisms” (Brotton, 2005: 4). While we will consider in
further detail some defining elements o f the political landscape affecting Northwest Coast
First Nations, it seems reasonable to suggest that growing political tensions may be a factor
fueling the regions cultural and artistic revival.

Insofar as this examination o f the European Renaissance could serve to clarify the
renaissance debate surrounding Northwest Coast art, it seems that while there are significant
differences between the two phenomenons as might be expeeted, there are also elements that
are common to both. Those who would argue against the existence o f a Northwest Coast
artistic renaissance would still generally agree that, at the very least, cycles o f decline and
renewal have been in effect. The European Renaissance, despite being a great and significant
period in history, did eventually come to an end, suggesting that it, too, was characterized by
renewal and also decline or progression to other expression.

While Jonaitus supports the notion o f a Northwest Coast First Nation artistic renaissance, a
recent review o f the renaissance debate saw her suggest a rethinking o f elements o f the terms
o f that debate that might be constraining. “With the insights provided by the passage o f time
and perspectives acquired from critical reassessments o f histories, we should reconsider the
constraints imposed upon us by the renaissance metanarrative, which omits references to the

37

continued life o f twentieth-century Northwest Coast art, ignores the major roles played by
non-Native experts in the invention o f the renaissance and overlooks the influence o f the art
market” (2004: 172).

What Jonaitus’ recent stance on the renaissance debate speaks to is the notion that, beyond
the constraints o f terminology, there exist furthermore constraints in terms o f differences in
experience. While the term ‘renaissance’ may be charged with meanings and implications
that complicate the debate surrounding phenomena that have taken root in Northwest Coast
First Nations insofar as art, identity, and culture are concerned, focusing that debate too
narrowly on issues o f terminology and parallels to the European Renaissance detract from the
dynamic nature o f the Northwest Coast cultures being examined. While we have seen that
there appear to exist significant parallels between elements o f the European Renaissance and
the Northwest Coast ‘renaissance’, it should be noted that certainly there is a marked
difference between the experience o f “the integration o f classic art in the European
Renaissance, and the revitalization o f [Northwest Coast] First Nations art after a drastic
period of spiriting it away and prohibiting it” (Mills, personal correspondence, 2006).

Authenticity and the Art Market, Typology, and Race
Authenticity is a theme that runs throughout much o f the literature on native art in general
and Northwest Coast art in particular. A broad theme, authenticity will be explored here as it
relates to questions o f the effects o f the market in driving or propagating artistic renewals, the
classification o f Northwest Coast artistic forms, and the role that cultural identity plays in
determining the validity o f an artist’s expression through his or her work.

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The theme o f authenticity begins to emerge in considerations of the issue o f the art market
and its effect on both the authenticity o f classification o f what constitutes art, as well as on
the authenticity o f the renaissance o f Northwest Coast First Nations art as previously
discussed. While the resurgence o f the artistic forms o f the Northwest Coast seem
undeniable, some would lessen its cultural significance by virtue o f claims that it has been
market rather than culture-driven.

There have been some debates surrounding the classification o f First Nations art insofar as
there exist problems associated with native languages not having any accurate words for art
as it is defined by ‘western’ cultures, an issue area examined in some detail by Gray (1996:
143). Indeed, author Hilary Stewart highlights the fact that “in Northwest Coast Indian
languages there was no word for art. Painting, carving, basket weaving and all forms of
creativity were part o f the complex pattern o f living” (1979: 7). Considering the strong link
between ceremonialism, symbolism, and Northwest Coast native art. Anthropologist Franz
Boas concludes that “it would almost seem that among many primitive tribes decorative art
for its own sake does not exist” (1983: 217). The differential classification o f fine art,
handicrafts, and folk art as it pertains to native artistic traditions is determined to he a matter
of typology by First Nations artist Youngman (1992), who states that imposed classifications
have been taking plaee for centuries.

Anthropologist and historian James Clifford analyzes cultural practices, including the act o f
‘collecting’ and museum displays o f tribal art and ‘M ankind’, suggesting that these have,

39

since 1900, “become institutionalized in academic disciplines like anthropology and in
museums o f art or ethnology” (Clifford, 1988: 12). He asserts that “a restrictive ‘art-culture
system’ has come to control the authenticity, value, and circulation o f artifacts and data”
(1988: 13). In determining that culture has become subject to translation, he proposes that
“any collection implies a temporal vision generating rarity and worth, a metahistory. This
history defines which groups or things will be redeemed from a disintegrating human past
and which will be defined as the dynamic, or tragic, agents o f a common destiny” (ibid.)

Duffek (1986: 27) offers an analysis relevant in this context by examining the link between
cultural identity and art. She asks whether native art should be placed in its own category, or
judged by the standards o f the non-native art world. She adds that some artists consider
‘indianness’ to be a barrier confining their work to curio status.

Youngman (1992: 83) adds to Duffek’s analysis by providing a discussion o f the
‘ghettoization’ phenomenon as it relates to First Nations art. He describes this phenomenon
as the situation which arises as a result o f native artists abandoning the world o f First Nations
art at the urging o f members o f the mainstream art world - those being gallery directors,
museum curators and the like. He refers to this as the “Native American art is dead”
syndrome, and adds that artists who fall prey to this belief system put themselves at risk
insofar as art history’s inability to record Native art history in such a way as to properly
contextualize Native works of art (ibid.).

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In response to the debate raging around the question o f what constitutes First Nations art,
Youngman offers the art policy statement o f Exit Art, a New York gallery, which asserts “the
right o f history to have opinions other than those o f the status quo, parallel histories, ... and
the right o f any culture to change itself’ (Youngman, 1992: 81). He concludes that “Native
art is, in fact, part of a continuum o f Native American eultural and metaphysical existence
that has persisted for thousands o f years with no loss o f authenticity” (ibid.).

Anthropologist Nelson Grabum (1996: 10) adds to this dilemma surrounding the definition of
native art by questioning the validity of labeling native arts as ‘traditional’ when they have
been influenced to such a considerable degree by contact. He contends that post-contact
‘fourth world’ art becomes a cash crop - produced to satisfy the market demand o f a foreign
culture.

Certainly, there are many that would disagree with Grabum’s questioning o f the validity of
post-contact art, deeming his analysis to be very external. There is a good deal o f evidence
that suggests that native peoples have always been innovators and experimenters, taking full
advantage o f new methods, materials, or tools whenever the opportunity arose (Sturtevant,
1986: 31; Reid, 1996: 76; Davidson, 1993). Indeed this appropriation o f innovative
methods and materials seems to have been widespread even before contact, with the creative
methods o f First Nations groups being influenced through contact with other First Nations
groups and as new materials became available through human migration or the establishment
of new trade networks. Youngman references French social anthropologist Claude LéviStrauss’s notion o f “bricolage, in which the bricoleur fashions new things out o f the shreds

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and patches o f the things salvaged” as an example o f First Nations abilities for cultural
resiliency and evolution, even in the face o f adversity (Youngman, 1992: 81).

Echoing the contentions o f Grabum, surrealist artist and Northwest Coast native art scholar
Wolfgang Paalen considered items produced primarily for the tourist trade, “at times
beautiful and of great craftsmanly perfeetion [but an example of] the decadent stage at which
a great art loses its raison d ’etre and degenerates into trifles” (from Reid, 1996: 73). For
Paalen, Grabum, and others who share a like mind on this issue, “any Northwest Coast art
that was not fully ‘traditional’ was not ‘authentic’ and not worthy o f esteem. Art objects
produced by tribal society in transformation were denatured, products o f a decadent culture.
Often, their very existence was seen as material evidence o f this deterioration” (Reid, 1996:
73).

Phillips (1998: x) posits that ascribing commoditized wares as inauthentic has created
significant problems in the way that First Nations art has been addressed by the discipline of
art history. “The authenticity paradigm marginalizes not only the objects but the makers,
making of them a ghostly presence in the modem world rather than acknowledging their
vigorous interventions in it” (ibid.). She goes on to suggest that by excluding works o f art as
inauthentic by virtue o f being produced as a commodity, we lose out on an understanding of
“the processes by which transcultural aesthetic expressions emerge, proeesses that have
operated throughout the centuries o f contact and colonial mle not only in North America but
in innumerable times and places from the pax romana to the pax Americana’' (ibid.).

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Insofar as the classification debate is concerned, Shadbolt writes o f Bill Reid that “the art
versus craft distinction, which seems to be an issue for those concerned with categories or
status, [did] not impinge on Reid, working as he [did] out o f an art tradition that existed long
before such a differentiation would have been possible or meaningful” (1998: 92). While
from this perspective Reid may have escaped elements o f the authenticity debate as it relates
to artistic classification, he is nonetheless central to a consideration o f questions pertaining to
the relationship between authenticity and cultural identity or race.

That Reid was only half Haida is a well-known fact which has, on the one hand, won him
praise for embracing to such an extent a cultural identity that he only began to explore at
middle age, and on the other hand criticism for winning such high acclaim insofar as he
rediscovered, regenerated, and perfected the artistic traditions o f the Haida to whom he had
limited connections early in life. Central to this debate on race and authenticity are questions
pertaining to who gets to establish what does and doesn’t constitute First Nations art, and, if
messages and identity are being transmitted through that art o f questionable origin, is the
cultural imperative o f those messages still valid?

While Bill Reid is central to the debate over authenticity, cultural identity and race in
Northwest Coast art, there are certainly other artists for whom these questions factor in
considerations (by some) o f the validity o f their artwork. Master carver Freda Diesing, like
Reid, is only part Aboriginal, but has nonetheless enjoyed wide and celebrated renown for
her talents and for her role in “ [sparking] a revival o f her culture’s artwork ... [establishing]
herself as not only an exceptional carver, but also an enthusiastic teacher and mentor. Some

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o f today’s emerging masters like Dempsey Bob and Stan Bevan thank Freda for their
success. In recognition o f her achievement, she received a National Aboriginal Achievement
Award in 2002” (Moving Images, 2006: 1).

At the polar extreme o f this debate are non-Aboriginal artists who endeavor to break into the
world o f Northwest Coast art, but despite possessing high levels o f talent and a strong desire
to help further the cultural traditions o f the region are often contentiously criticized for their
efforts. An example o f one such artist would be Joe Mandur Jr., a non-Aboriginal artist
living in Terrace, BC who, after having met Bill Reid in 1979, was so inspired that he
undertook a career in art in Haida Gwaii (Mandur, 2006: I).

Although Joe Mandur spent four years enrolled in the Kitanmax School o f Northwest Coast
Indian Art and was adopted into a Haida clan in 2000 (ibid.), his endeavors to produce art for
the Northwest Coast market have been strongly criticized by some. In a letter to the editor o f
the Terrace Standard which was printed on Dec. 7, 2005, Dawn Wale-Derrick o f Terrace
writes, “ .. .1 know for a fact that Joe Mandur isn’t aboriginal therefore I have to ask why is he
stealing our heritage? ... In past months Terraee people have been talking about authentieity
and I would like to know how it is acceptable for a white man to be doing native art. Keep
the native in art and stop paying him money and start supporting local native art... As a
Kitselas First Nation I would like to know why Terraee eity council accepts artwork from
white men and (doesn’t) acknowledge the local native men who do just as good if not better
native authentic a rt... And Joe Mandur you should get a life and stop stealing from us. Look
up authentic in the dictionary.”

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While this is a particularly strongly worded viewpoint that is likely grounded in issues that
go beyond art into the realm of land claims, political authority, and cultural appropriation, it
sheds some interesting perspective on the questions surrounding the debate on authenticity
and race. While some clearly feel that non-Aboriginal artists have no right integrating the
cultural components inherent in Northwest Coast art due to issues o f race and cultural
identity, it might otherwise be argued that engaging non-Aboriginal artists in a further
understanding and appreciation of the arts and culture o f the Northwest Coast might serve an
important function insofar as bridging cultural gaps is concerned. In an era when much o f
the political landscape surrounding Aboriginal issues rests on notions o f heightening
awareness in the non-Aboriginal community o f Aboriginal history, culture, and rights, is it
ironically counter-productive to both the artistic revival o f the Northwest Coast and to the
political ends o f its First Nations to operate in an environment characterized by exclusion
based on race?

Indeed, some have argued that part o f Bill Reid’s success in terms o f broad acclaim and wide
reach into mainstream and international society was in part facilitated by his mixed heritage.
Part o f his broad aeeeptanee as an artist may well have hailed from his ability to walk in two
worlds, hence bridging the gaps between cultures and making First Nations culture more
‘palatable’ to a mainstream public. “ .. .Reid was becoming known in scholarly and
journalistic circles as an unusual person, someone who had a root by blood in the Haida
culture, but also a critical distance from it; someone knowledgeable, thoughtful, responsible,

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who could write and speak precise, poetic and eloquent English, qualities his experience in
broadcasting had revealed and developed” (Shadbolt, 1998: 40).

Catherine Siermacheski takes the debate surrounding authenticity in Northwest Coast art one
step further in her MA thesis which provides a consideration o f northern Northwest Coast
women carvers and the added dimensions that their gender plays in considering the
authenticity o f their works in artistic forms that have been traditionally relegated to the male
domain. Given that Northwest Coast carving has historically been a male pursuit,
Siermacheski begins her consideration o f issues o f authenticity by determining that the realm
of female Northwest Coast carvers is almost strictly contemporary in the sense o f not having
a historical base. She asserts that “the continuation o f tradition is carried on even through
contemporary works” (Siermacheski, 2005: 33), while concluding that authenticity is not
linked to considerations of classifications o f art as either traditional or contemporary (2005.:
113). While the five female Northwest Coast carvers that Siermacheski interviewed “did not
recognize colonial induced gender divisions as factors and thought that it was perhaps due to
the generational differences and views o f gender equality” (2005.: I l l ) , they have each
experienced different and varying levels o f acceptance in their communities (2005: 117).
While issues pertaining to authenticity and gender will not be further explored in this thesis
given that the artists that I have interviewed and am showcasing are all male, this analysis
does explore a further layer o f considerations that influence issues o f authenticity in
Northwest Coast art.

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Issues pertaining to authenticity as it applies to multiple aspects o f a consideration o f
Northwest Coast art are obviously complex and not easily answered. Central to the
authenticity debate, be it around issues pertaining to art markets, the renaissance concept, or
elements o f race, cultural identity, and even gender, are questions relating to whose story is
being told, how, by whom, and to what end? While we have established that art is a
powerful tool for recording and disseminating stories and histories, problematic layers
inherent to that process begin to emerge if we are left without a clear answer to these
questions.

Identity and Culture
The relationship between identity and culture is relevant to whether the act o f creating art or
the notion o f an artistic renaissance leads to a strengthened sense o f cultural identity both on
personal and collective levels.

Saultaux artist Robert Houle (1992:47) contends that native artists cannot be separated from
the context o f their unique heritage and histories. While this seems for all intents and
purposes to be a valid statement, it is also a problematic one insofar as it has the potential to
contribute to the ‘ghettoization’ phenomenon previously touched upon. Author William
Sturtevant (1986: 43) expands upon this problematic notion o f paradoxical identities, stating
that “the Indian artist faces an ambivalence between, on the one hand, being allowed and able
to compete on an equal basis in contemporary cultural movements o f the larger society,
gaining recognition as an artist tout court rather than as a special, separate ‘Indian artist’
[discriminated against or in favor of], and on the other, being able and allowed to maintain

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and express in art his special Indian or even tribal identity, and to have that special status
recognized and valued by the rest o f the society, not just by tourists and anthropologists.”

Author Jamake Highwater (1986: 223) comments upon Sturtevant’s analysis and points to
the controversy surrounding native art in relation to questions of personal and cultural
identity. He identifies conflicting feelings o f adherence to native vs. non-native values as
central to that debate. Duffek (in Youngman, 1992: 98) notes that with regard to modernist
native artists, the question o f maintaining ‘cultural distinctiveness’ may be irrelevant since
their work is likely to be grounded in multiple identities relating to the self, to one’s tribe, to
one’s ancestry, as well as to the larger community.

While Highwater (1986: 223) posits that rooted in the definition o f ‘indianness’ in art is the
native artist’s wish to gain control over native art imagery, Youngman (1992: 88) counters
this claim by asserting that “ [First Nations artists] have literally reinvented their cultures
many times over with no loss of continuity with earlier native cultures and consequently,
they have had, and do have, an untold influence on the way the ‘outside’ world perceives
them.”

At any rate, it seems that Northwest Coast native art is considered to have a particular
strength in its ability to purposefully transcend the problematic relationship between
tradition, identity, and contemporary realities. Duffek (1996: 213) asserts that “On the
Northwest Coast and across Canada, issues o f political and cultural self-determination for
First Nations people are receiving increasing recognition. These issues are not lost on

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prominent artists working in Northwest Coast styles, who are engaged in a struggle to define
their art as contemporary self-expression while working within centuries-old conventions o f
form and composition. If there is one overriding feature o f the development o f Northwest
Coast art in the past four decades that sets this region apart from Native art communities in
the rest of Canada, it is the art’s connection to tradition and a cultural imperative that charges
the artist with expressing not only a personal but also a collective identity” (1996: 213).
Reid (1996: 75) supports Duffek’s claim, and cites traditional references in Northwest Coast
art as “a cognitive way o f assuming or reinforcing identity.”

Anthropologist Gloria Cranmer Webster (1992: 25) considers the important identityformation role played by traditional art and ceremony in pre-contact times: “Carving masks
and rattles, composing songs, performing dances, feasting, and telling myths and legends
occupied the dark winter period. Together all o f these activities ensured that each individual
group enjoyed a healthy sense o f identity.” Webster also offers a consideration o f how
government policies in the early part o f this century served to destroy native identity (1992:
35), a phenomenon that was undeniably circularly linked to the historical effects of
government policies on the decline o f artistic traditions as previously discussed. For those
nations o f the Northwest Coast whose cultural identities were so tied up in ceremony and
tradition, government attempts to ban potlatching had particularly harmful and long-lasting
effects on their cultural fabric.

Gloria Cranmer Webster is particularly well qualified to speak on this subject. “After the
potlatch ceremonies were banned by the Canadian government in 1884, her father Dan

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Cranmer became famous for hosting one o f the greatest potlatches in coastal history, on
Village Island in December of 1921. After 17 years o f preparation, the enormous gathering
attracted white authorities under the direction o f Indian Agent William Halliday. After 44
arrests, 22 participants were sentenced to Oakalla Prison Farm. The rest were given
suspended sentences on the condition that they surrender their potlatch regalia” (BC
Bookworld Author Bank, 2006: 1). Gloria Cranmer Webster narrates the widely acclaimed
documentary film Potlatch: A Strict Law Bids Us Dance (Wheeler, 1975) which recounts the
telling o f her father’s potlatch and its devastating outcome.

While the detrimental impact o f early government policy on native cultural identity has been
well-documented, there is also cause to believe that, at least along the Northwest Coast, a
process of cultural rediscovery is serving to slowly counteract the effects o f those dark years.
Gloria Cranmer W ebster’s brother Doug Cranmer is one o f many artists whose work speaks
to this critical process. “Their father Dan Cranmer and great-grandfather George Hunt both
worked with Franz Boas who first came to Kwakwaka’wakw territory in 1886” (BC
Bookworld Author Bank, 2006: 1). Doug Cranmer received his first formal artistic
instruction from master carver Mungo Martin, and later worked with Bill Reid at the UBC
Museum o f Anthropology, “carving five totem poles and supervising the construction o f the
two Haida houses that are now located on the Museum’s grounds” (Virtual Museum of
Canada, 2006: 1). Cranmer has gone on to instruct a new generation o f carvers at ‘Ksan, at
the Vancouver Museum, and in Alert Bay, in addition to “contributing extensively to the
construction o f the U ’mista Cultural Centre and the newly-built Bighouse at Alert Bay”
(ibid.).

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Reid (1996: 90) credits the ability o f Northwest Coast artists to synthesize the traditional
forms and conventions o f their artistic styles with their own personal creativity and
innovations as having resulted in an evolution o f Northwest Coast native art forms. She adds
that “out o f this process of evolution artists grew more numerous, more confident in their
own identity and in their own style” (ibid.).

The artistic performance o f creating also seems to have an impact on the identity o f the artists
themselves, given the strong interrelationship between First Nation’s art, myth, history, and
culture. O f Bill Reid, the late Doris Shadbolt, art critic and curator, wrote, “o f course. Bill
knew that the old ways were over and gone, but he was also wise enough in his youthful
maturity to see that western Euro-cultures were mostly adrift, lacking central living myths to
sustain them. He wanted to end his own cultural drifting and access that inner knowledge
and sense o f identity for him self’ (1998: 208).

It is undeniable that First Nation’s identity is particularly complex. On top o f the many
pressures felt by mainstream Canadians to identify with various roles. First Nations peoples
have the difficult task o f trying to reconcile identities which were largely suppressed by
immigrant populations who increasingly placed upon their ancestors a foreign and
destructive value system. Many Aboriginal people must grapple with this pressure while
dealing at the same time with pressures to conform to mainstream society.

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Today, Northwest Coast native artisans and eraftsmen are playing a eritieally important role
as they rediseover and rebuild their society’s cultural traditions. We will now turn to a
consideration o f the potential of that role insofar as transmission o f meaning and message is
concerned.

Art, Culture and Identity - a case study of Robert Davidson
Intertwined as it is with ceremony in Northwest Coast native cultures, art becomes by
definition one more layer in a complex cultural fabric which shapes the cultural
consciousness and, hence, the cultural identity o f a First Nation and its citizens. Haida master
carver Robert Davidson is well respected not only for his superior craftsmanship and artistry,
but also for his attempts to strengthen the Haida culture through a synthesis o f art, culture,
and identity through ceremony. O f the role played by art in traditional Haida societies,
Davidson says, “We Haida were surrounded by art. Art was one with the culture. Art was
our only written language. It documented our progress as a people, it documented the
histories o f the families. Throughout our history, it has been the art that has kept our spirit
alive” (Thom, 1993: 8).

It is critical to note that Davidson grew up in a Haida village that was devoid o f any vestiges
o f traditional Northwest Coast art or totems. He only rediscovered the artistic traditions o f
his people through visiting museums and, later, through apprenticing and working with Bill
Reid (Mills, personal correspondence, April 20, 2006).

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Davidson is known to produce a certain percentage o f his art for potlatching purposes. The
potlatch, or ceremonial feast, is perhaps the most poignant example o f the synthesis o f art,
ceremony and cultural identity in Northwest Coast native societies. A ceremony at which
various aspects o f social status are conferred and witnessed, potlatches include ceremonial
regalia, dancing masks, and various articles, often artwork, to be given away as gifts to
guests. “ .. .The [potlatch] feast is a focal political forum in the government o f social relations
and the central integrative institution o f that society” (McDonald, 1995: 131).

Davidson’s ability to synthesize art, tradition, and function is evidenced in many o f the
stunning ceremonial masks which he creates, o f which Eagle Transforming into Itself
(figures 5 and 6) is a prime example. Eagle Transforming into /A e//is just one o f the masks
which are regularly incorporated into Haida ceremonial life through use by the Rainbow
Creek dancers, a group o f Haida performers which Robert Davidson founded in 1980 due to
his increasing interest in Haida ceremony (Thom, 1993: 89). The Rainbow Creek Dancers
wear Davidson’s masks regularly at Haida totem pole raisings, potlatches, and various other
clan ceremonials (ibid.). The dance troupe has been an outlet to fuel Davidson’s interest in
and research on Haida dances, songs, and drums. He began creating masks and drums as
potlatch gifts in 1980; this marked the debut o f his career as a painter (ibid.). Davidson’s
commitment to synthesizing ceremony with art is evidenced by the fact that every mask
which he carves - even those commissioned strictly for aesthetic purposes - is made to be a
wearable and fully functional dance mask (Thom, 1993: 21).

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Figure 5 - Robert Davidson, Eagle Transforming Into Itself (1990)

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Figure 6 - Robert Davidson, Eagle Transforming Into Itself (1990)

0

Y

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By virtue o f his recognition o f the role o f artist performance in the act o f creating Haida art,
Davidson stands as a good example o f the circular relationship between art, culture, and
identity amongst his people. “Always pushing him self to the limits o f his creativity,
Davidson credits participating in ceremonialism, learning to sing, and studying his language
as profound enhancements to his continued understanding o f Haida a r t ... Art introduced
Davidson to ceremonialism and singing, these practices consequently motivated him to study
his language. This in turn inspired him to new artistry, new innovations” (Thom, 1993: 20).

The relationship between art and identity amongst Northwest Coast First Nations can be seen
on several levels. The art itself has always been linked with identity on a fundamental level,
as is evidenced by the importance of family crests and totems as displayed on totem poles,
house posts, ceremonial coppers, dancing blankets, jewelry, grave markers and such
(Jonaitus, 1988: 37).

Furthermore, in pursuing artistic endeavors, the artists help to reclaim the identity o f their
people, acting as teachers and lending inspiration to the process o f cultural revival. O f
Robert Davidson’s role in this regard, it has been said that “most assuredly Robert’s been an
inspiration in ... all o f the villages o f the Haida ... our teachers are more precious than
anything we have in terms of our identity as a nation” (John Yeltatzie, Haida artist, interview
July 1992 in Thom, 1993: 10).

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Meaning / Political Message
The assertion that all artwork carries some meaning or message is particularly true for
Northwest Coast native art. In Gray’s words ( 1996: 140), “all forms o f material culture are
made for a purpose, and their aesthetics convey a message to the user and to the viewer.” For
the purpose o f this study, consideration must be given to what meanings are present in
Northwest Coast native artwork, and the potential for those meanings to play out and impact
on the political landscapes that they may influence.”

In one respect, Northwest Coast native art has always been political, insofar as it has always
been used to record significant events and family histories, often serving as the only written
language of a people, documenting progress and lineage (Thom, 1993: 8). Sturtevant further
supports this notion o f art in general, and First Nations art in particular, as being commonly
accepted and viewed as a system of communication, even insofar as the signs and symbols
present on ancient artifacts are concerned (1986: 34). While the signs and symbols may
have changed somewhat and evolved over generations, their power to convey meanings and
messages has remained. This in itself politicizes the art and the artist alike, particularly in the
contemporary context, where, as we will see, artwork can be used as a powerful medium to
record and disseminate information pertaining to First Nation’s issues, both historically and
currently.

This is prominently evident in the artwork o f such contemporary artists as Lawrence Paul
Yuxweluptun, Art Wilson, and Jim Logan. In Art W ilson’s words “ [my artwork] has been a
way o f delivering a message and recording today’s history. Through [it] I hope I can clarify

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issues at hand ... I feel very strongly that these stories o f injustice and resistance need to be
recorded in art form because, in general, people have short term or selective memories. A
painting stands out as a constant reminder o f the atrocities that have taken place. And the
language of a painting is universal, understood by all cultures” (1996: 14).

Issues pertaining to the political economy o f art and markets o f production are relevant to a
consideration o f meaning and message. While we have seen that considerations o f the
existing market for First Nations art features in the debate surrounding the validity o f the
renaissance concept as it applies to Northwest Coast artistic traditions, it also undeniably has
relevance to considerations o f the potential scope o f transmissions o f meaning and message
through art. " ... the interest in and recognition o f Native art by a non-Native public ...
enabled the native Indian artists to show and sell their works to a new public, one beyond
their own people. Indian artists quickly recognized the benefits of this phenomenon and took
advantage of this opportunity to communicate not only their tribal aesthetics but all aspects
o f Indian realities” (Gray, 1996: 138).

While Bill Reid produced largely for the art market and to please a wide and growing global
audience, he was also very connected to his community, carving on Haida Gwaii, while still
managing to capitalize on his accepted position within the mainstream art world when it
suited his political ends, as will be examined later. Robert Davidson produces for both the
art market and for traditional and ceremonial purposes. Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
capitalizes on his success in the art world to make bold political statements, both through his
artwork, which speaks volumes, and through his own commentary now that he is in a

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position to have his voice ‘heard.’ Whether artists are producing for the mainstream art
market or for traditional ceremonies, some degree o f politicization surrounds each intended
purpose.

Sturtevant makes an interesting distinction o f some relevance to this research in his historical
accounts of the meanings behind artwork in pre-contact ‘traditional’ native societies. He
classifies meanings in art as being either external or internal. External meanings are those
qualities inherent to a piece o f artwork that are recognizable by the society that has classified
it as art. Internal meanings are those meanings or messages which are conveyed by the artist
whether intentionally or unintentionally (1986: 33-34). He adds that internal and external
meanings may be the same, especially when both artist and observer share cultural
understandings, but that in the case where a particular ceremonial or traditional significance
contextualizes the internal meaning o f the work problems in transmitting meaning and
message can and do occur.

Gray (1996) expands upon Sturtevant’s analysis o f meaning by taking that concept one step
further. She considers how those artistic meanings are used to convey messages within the
unique context o f Canadian First Nation’s art. She contends that “throughout the twentieth
century, native Indian artists in Canada communicated strong messages throughout their art.
Expressing their tribal aesthetics or social or political views, the message was always
different from that o f other Canadians artists. It was based on their common ancestry as
people of the First Nations o f the Americas” (1996: 137). As interest in First N ation’s art
expanded, native artists were able to reach a new public.

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Gray credits First Nations artists with quickly recognizing the potential benefits o f this new
situation, and taking advantage o f “this opportunity to communicate not only their tribal
aesthetics but all aspects o f Indian realities” (1996; 138). Gray goes on to add that today,
more venues than ever before are open to native artists who wish to voice their views.
Beyond the opportunities provided by gallery and museum exhibits, she contends that the
growing interest in First Nations artwork has lead to increased opportunities for artists to
voice their views through newspaper and magazine reviews and in feature interviews.

While this is no doubt the case, Gray seems to oversimplify related issues to some degree in
failing to address the question o f native artist’s access to these mediums. Furthermore, she
fails to consider the full contextual significance o f Northwest Coast native art, including its
symbolic and ceremonial applications. In this light, Gray’s analysis comes across as being
somewhat Euro-centric and elitist.

Phillips (1996: 247) contends that there is a need on the part o f First Nations artists to inform
a public which is largely ignorant o f the realities o f First Nations history and culture, to “set
the record straight,” so to speak. Highwater (1981: 13) adds that art is the best way to
“transcend the isolation o f different cultures,” bridging the gap created by centuries of
misunderstanding.

There seems to be consensus on the fact that, for Canada’s First Nations, issues with political
implications have been on the rise. Duffek contends that this reality is not lost on Northwest

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Coast native artists, who she adds are “engaged in a struggle to define their art as
contemporary self-expression while working within centuries-old conventions o f form and
composition” (1996: 213). This emphasis on tradition among Northwest Coast native artists
seems to be leading them on a path toward political ends. Given the current political climate
on the Northwest Coast related to treaty and land claim issues, it is not surprising that a
recurring theme insofar as those political ends are concerned is that o f authority over land.

In contextualizing the exhibit Land Spirit Power at the National Gallery o f Canada in 1992 to
mark the 500* anniversary o f Christopher Columbus’ discovery o f the Americas, Nemiroff,
Houle and Townsend-Gault provide an analysis o f the connection between the appropriation
of culture, history, symbols, and authority over land. They contend that contemporary
attitudes about place or land are often contradictory, being spoken about lightly on the one
hand, and yet increasingly critical to global survival due to environmental destruction on the
other (1992: 13). While concepts o f place are the backdrop o f our daily activities, our
notions o f place and land are only really heightened when we travel or are made to question
previously ascribed meanings (ibid.).

Given that Aboriginal peoples have traditionally had a more acute relationship to land and
place, their artwork is perhaps particularly well positioned to convey meanings related to
notions of space and place. “As the ongoing struggle o f the aboriginal people o f North
America for their ancestral lands reveals, the land has social meanings that are profoundly
spiritual and intensely political in their implications ... In the sometimes cosmopolitan world
o f art, the phrase ‘local practice’ is an attempt to recognize that what we do is grounded in a

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knowledge o f a place that shapes and is shaped by us ... Native artists carry in them the
memory o f the land - place at its most primordial - as a spiritual and political legacy”
(Nemiroff, Houle and Townsend-Gault, 1992: 13).

While it seems to be widely recognized that meanings are inherent in art, and that these
meanings, in turn, can convey powerful messages, what seems to be less well documented is
how this process plays out in the contemporary Northwest Coast artistic context. 1 believe
that this is a particularly relevant consideration in an era when, as previously discussed. First
N ation’s issues are becoming increasingly prevalent. Determining to what degree meanings
and messages can be conveyed through the dynamic medium o f art affords a better
understanding o f how art can be used to its greatest advantage by Northwest Coast native
peoples, or any indigenous group for that matter.

While it seems that descriptive terminology o f the phenomenon is problematic, most would
agree that Northwest Coast art has experienced, if not a renaissance o f some description, then
cycles o f decline and renewal. Questions o f authenticity are both contentious and especially
problematic when transposed with issues such as pre- vs. post-contact art, ceremonial vs.
market art (be it tourist or art market), and art vs. craft. Authenticity is further called into
question when issues pertaining to the race and cultural identity o f the artist are considered.
The link between art and the regeneration and transmission o f cultural identity seems to be a
strong one, both on personal and collective levels. Furthermore, the notion that issues
pertaining to First Nations identity are especially complex and often laced with paradoxes
seems to be generally agreed upon.

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The special ability o f art to transcend cultural barriers in disseminating meanings and
messages appears to be well documented. The potential o f this phenomenon in terms o f
political ends in general, and issues pertaining to authority over land in particular, seems to
be playing out in the context o f the current Northwest Coast political landscape.

A clearer understanding of the link between art, identity, and what meanings and political
messages can be brought forth by the connection o f art and cultural identity may better
inform both First Nations and mainstream communities about what potential exists in the
interplay between art and action, how that potential is being played out in the contemporary
forum, and how it may best be capitalized on to meet First Nation’s needs and increase their
political voice.

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CHAPTER THREE - NORTHWEST COAST ARTISTS ON ART. IDENTITY AND
RENAISSANCE

Bill Reid
Bill Reid’s work has long been acknowledged and revered within Canada as well as
throughout the world. His eloquent artistic style, astute knowledge o f Haida mythology and
tradition, and, especially, his unparalleled genius in blending modem art with highly
traditional Northwest Coast forms has made him something o f a Canadian legend.

Unfortunately, Bill Reid passed away in 1998, prior to my undertaking the research for this
thesis. His memorial service was held in the Great Hall o f the University o f British
Columbia’s Museum o f Anthropology, with which he had had a long and sincere
relationship. “[Bill Reid’s memorial service] was an extraordinarily moving event that will
long be remembered by the more than one thousand people in attendance. Over a period of
six and a half hours, each o f the friends, relatives, colleagues and admirers who spoke added
a new layer o f anecdote, tribute and remembrance.” (Phillips, 2004: 3).

This speaks to one o f the defining characteristics o f Reid’s life - he was many things to many
people. A former CBC news reporter who went on to become a master goldsmith prior to
engaging in the process o f discovering his Haida roots late in life, Reid brought a sense of
genius to all his many endeavors. “The ceremonials of his passing indicates, as had his life,
that there were many Bill Reid’s: CBC broadcaster; provincial society jeweler; successor of
Haida carvers and engravers Charles Edenshaw and Charles Gladstone; heir to the

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eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose legacy
included the romance o f the ‘noble savage’, humanity’s original state o f freedom; colleague
of French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss; co-decipherer o f the codes o f Northwest Coast
art with analyst and emulator o f the northern Northwest Coast style Bill Holm; co-eval o f
Ojibwa modernist Norval Morrisseau; teacher o f Jim Hart and Robert Davidson, and mentor
to a younger generation o f carvers; maverick catalyst for the Haida, [he] had come to stand
for many things to many people” (Townsend-Gault and Duffek, 2004: 7).

Beyond simply reaching many different people in many different ways, however. Bill Reid
had an impact on those whose lives he influenced in one way or another. In the words o f his
granddaughter, N ika Collison, “Bill truly had an impact on the lives o f people who knew him
personally and the people who know him through the legacy he’s left behind. He affected
people from many cultures and parts o f the world, people with different histories,
experiences and educations. Bill reached people in multiple ways and continues to do so”
(2004: 1).

The following section is based on an interview that I conducted with Bill Reid’s widow,
Martine, at her apartment in Vancouver on July 25*, 1999. An accomplished academic in
her own right, Martine met Bill Reid while she was pursuing her Ph.D. in anthropology at the
University o f British Columbia, consulting him about mounting a show o f Northwest Coast
art in her native France; they married in 1981. A structuralist with a great deal o f insight into
not only Bill Reid’s life and work, but Northwest Coast art in general, 1 looked to Martine to
supplement the great body o f literature that exists on Bill Reid in order to bring her personal

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perspective to an analysis o f how his endeavors dealt with issues o f identity, cultural revival
and politics.

While some have criticized the authenticity o f Bill Reid’s work based on the fact that he was
not raised Haida, there are those who would argue with equal voice that this is not relevant
and, in fact, has proven to be a strength in terms o f his drive to acquire knowledge about the
Haida and in terms o f the pervasive reach o f his influence, a viewpoint upheld by Martine
Reid: “It wasn’t a choice o f his - he didn’t decide to grow up in Victoria and to be raised
away from his culture ... both as a broadcaster and as a goldsmith he was obviously talented,
and he was good with his hands and wanted to do things [with that talent] ... He had the
drive and the curiosity and probably because he was away from it he was curious to know
more” (Reid, personal interview, 1999).

Bill gradually went through the process o f becoming Haida, eventually fully participating as
a true clan member and partaking in Haida tradition. “At the very beginning he didn’t
understand about participating in that culture and it was a very slow process, and obviously
the more he worked on Haida designs the more that he was involved with the culture and the
more he behaved as a Haida citizen” (ibid.).

Bill Reid’s reverence for and desire to participate in his Haida culture was not superficial.
“I’ve always thought that he was probably more Haida than some Haida, for he was quite a
spiritual man. His wish of going back and resting in Tanu, which had not been done for more
than a century - there is no Haida yet who has gone back to that site. People want to be

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where they can be visited by relatives. I think that he always has been there, and consciously
it was part o f his journey to get back there” (ibid.).

In the process o f discovering his Haida roots, Bill Reid also developed a very deep
knowledge o f Haida mythology, which can be seen in the themes inherent in many o f his
masterpieces. “His approach to art was not an external one - he makes it happen, which
means that he had deeply rooted in his subconscious this knowledge o f Haida form, Haida
myth, and this is why his route was a long one and a deeply meaningful one and not a
superficial one” (ibid.).

While Reid has had his critics, few would dispute that he always held a deep and sincere
respect for the ancestral link that influenced his work, something which Martine Reid says he
always was careful to acknowledge. Reverent o f his predecessors and their inspiration,
especially Charles Edenshaw and Charles Gladstone, Bill Reid has in turn gone on to inspire
a new generation o f Northwest Coast artists, although Martine suggests that often he is not
granted the same acknowledgement in turn. “Today I see many guys who copy Bill - they
could acknowledge him and it would not diminish their work” (ibid.).

While Bill Reid had a great respect for the traditions inherent to his Haida roots, he also did
not let tradition hinder his own identity formation or the creativity that he brought to his
work. “Bill died as a Haida. He saw his long journey and consciously he discovered his
roots through learning an artistic process and all kinds o f mythology. Bill loved people and

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he loved knowledge, but instead o f being a slave to tradition ... he freed him self from it and
was able to integrate his own personality and his own ideas” (ibid.).

While many set Bill Reid apart from other contemporary Northwest Coast artists by virtue of
his rare ability to transcend issues of scale and o f medium, able to produce masterpieces both
in miniature and on massive scales, and equally well in metal, stone, wood, or ink, Martine
Reid sees this skill as a further testament to the innate ability that he possessed to grasp and
apply Haida artistic traditions. “It’s just a part o f being a Northwest Coast artist, who were
capable o f carving both totem poles and spoons, and Bill was aware o f both exquisitely huge
and very small. It is a unique characteristic o f [Northwest Coast artistic] style - that they’re
capable o f doing this, but of course today there are not too many artists who are capable o f
being good in both scales. This is in the art, in the tradition” (ibid.). An excellent example
o f Bill Reid’s mastery of scale is his interpretation o f the Haida creation myth, a design
which he first completed as a 7 cm boxwood miniature entitled Raven Discovering Mankind
in the Clam Shell in 1970 (figure 7), and in 1980 as a massive cedar sculpture entitled The
Raven and First Man which finds its home at the University o f British Columbia’s Museum
o f Anthropology (figure 8).

Perhaps the most overt example o f the synthesis between Reid’s great grasp o f Haida
mythology, his gift for artistic style, his conceptions o f his own identity and his ability to
convey powerful statements through his work is The Spirit o f Haida Gwaii (figures 3 and 4),
credited by the Washington Post as being one o f the greatest sculptures o f all time. Reid, an
accomplished and prolific writer prior to his artistic journey, wrote a poetic rendering o f the

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Figure 7 - Bill Reid, Raven Discovering Man in the Clam Shell (1970)

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Figure 8 - Bill Reid, The Raven and First Man (1980)

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images that he included in his famous masterpiece in the foreword to Ulli Steltzer's book
celebrating the massive and widely acclaimed sculpture:

“Here we are at last, a long way from Haida Gwaii, not too sure where we
are or where we ’re going, still squabbling and vying fo r position in the boat,
but somehow managing to appear to be heading in some direction; at least
the paddles are together, and the man in the middle seems to have some vision
o f what is to come. ” (Reid, 1997: 8).

Indeed, this famous piece has been analyzed as a microcosm o f Canadian culture itself, "...
with a Chief, slaves, some mythical creatures, bear cubs, immigrants ... all fighting and
vying for a position on the boat, but still they all paddle in the same direction” (Martine Reid,
personal interview, 1999). The application o f its symbology to a broader Canadian context is
further supported by the fact that a rendering o f this sculpture appears on the new issue o f the
Canadian twenty dollar bill. That Reid’s other widely acclaimed and previously noted
masterpiece Raven and First Man also appears on the bill is further testimony to Bill Reid’s
significant place in Canadian art history and reach into broader Canadian society and culture.

The Spirit o f Haida Gwaii conveys strong messages that have global application and that
transcend the boundaries of Haida mythology to make a statement about the functioning of
society and how people get along. It is interesting to note that there have been few criticisms
o f this sculpture - indeed it has been well-received by a very broad and diverse audience o f
critics, academics, and mainstream society alike.

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That Bill Reid included him self in his famous canoe is no secret, and this piece is a synthesis
“o f all o f the characters that factored in his own mythology - from both his European and
Haida backgrounds” (ibid.). The words that he uses to describe “his favorite character,
which he had been playing all his life” (ibid.) provide a valuable introspection into the role
that Reid considered him self to play in the forums o f his wide sphere o f influence:

“A culture will be remembered fo r its warriors, philosophers, artists, heroes and
heroines o f all callings, but in order to survive it needs survivors. A nd here is our
professional survivor, the Ancient Reluctant Conscript, present i f seldom noticed in
all the turbulent histories o f men on earth. When our latter-day kings and captains
have joined their forebears, he will still be carrying on, stoically obeying orders and
performing tasks allotted him. But only up to a point; it is also he who finally says
“Enough, ” and after the rulers have disappeared into the morass o f their own
excesses, it is he who builds on the rubble and once more gets the whole thing
going. ” (Reid, 1997: 9).

In those words crafted by Reid there emerge some o f the germinations o f those elements that
contributed significantly to his impact. He exhibits a modesty and reverence to the traditions
that govern his people, but not without a sense o f personal responsibility. He blends themes
relating to the origin o f mankind, the riddle that human beings have and will always face,
embedded in the mythological tradition o f his people, with a statement that can be applied on
a national or even global scale. “It’s an interesting piece because everybody relates to it

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whether they are elderly, young kids, and it’s quite austere when you look at it but everybody
finds something in it and I think this is a sign o f true art - universal art. It is up to the public
to decide what is art” (Martine Reid, personal interview, 1999).

That his own words give greater meaning to the symbology o f his artwork is a further
strength that is unique to Reid and that speaks to his multi-faceted talent. While his visual
images are powerful, his words heighten the experience o f his artwork and make the
meanings and messages conveyed by that work more readily accessible.

“Bill always said that he was not a political man, in that he did not belong to any party,” yet
Martine Reid agrees that B ill’s influence has been far-reaching and has been used as a
“political instrument to help the goals o f the (Haida) people in their quest for land claims and
such” (ibid.), although not in a predicated manner. While Reid’s stand on Lyell Island
received widespread publicity, Martine Reid shared that some o f Bill Reid’s most significant
political statements were much less public ones. “He refused the Order o f Canada twice, but
that was never made public because when you are asked to accept it you are supposed to
remain quiet until you receive it. As he declined it, it was never made public. He was asked
[to reconsider a second time], and he declined it a second time. He felt that Canada was not
treating their Haida people well enough to accept it - he didn’t want to be a part o f that.
Obviously he had very strong feelings, in the same way that he had always refused to meet
the Queen. So, he refused, but these events were never made public. You cannot say that he
was using the fact that he was Haida to make statements. Bill made statements for him self’
(ibid.).

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And yet few would deny that the statements that Bill Reid did make, be they public or
private, conscious or subconscious, had a meaningful impact on the Haida nation. “Bill has
had a very important role by virtue o f what he has done, but also because o f what he wrote
and because o f what he said. He was a very eloquent spokesman for the Haida, for their land
claims. He was a kind o f ambassador o f Haida culture to the world. He also wanted to show
Haida people the world and wanted them to see beyond the Haida world. He was also a very
important spokesman on the issue o f logging, and people listened to him. He played a very
important role in raising the profile of native people in the world” (ibid.).

While, as has previously been stated. Bill Reid is widely acclaimed as the father o f the
Northwest Coast artistic renaissance, the faet that both he and Martine Reid have questioned
the validity o f this notion has been an interesting caveat in a long-standing debate. Martine
Reid suggests that it is relevant to stipulate a timeframe surrounding the question o f a
Northwest Coast revival. “If you would have asked Bill in the ‘50’s or ‘60’s if there was a
revival he would have said ‘no’, and even in the late ‘70’s he would have said ‘no.’
Something has happened, o f course, and whether it’s a revival or something else has yet to be
assessed. The outcome of this is that we can presume that many things took place” (ibid.).
She further suggests that “a good question would be whether this so-called revival would
have happened had it not been for Bill” (ibid.).

That is a good question indeed, and one that can be examined to some extent in light o f the
timeframes suggested by Martine Reid as they apply to Bill Reid’s early wood-carving

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experience and his evolving take on the issue o f Northwest Coast artistic revival. It was in
the 1950's that Bill Reid became involved with projects initiated by the Royal British
Columbia Museum aimed at salvaging and restoring totem poles, which lead to his first
professional wood-carving experiences working with master carver Mungo Martin (Canadian
Museum o f Civilization - Biography, 2006: 3). In the early 1960’s, Reid completed a UBC
Department o f Anthropology project, with the help o f Doug Cranmer among others,
reconstructing a Haida village, including two houses and five poles, which are now outdoor
exhibits at the UBC Museum o f Anthropology (Canadian Museum o f Civilization Biography, 2006: 4). In the late 1960’s be began working with Wilson D uff and Bill Holm
in preparing the Arts o f the Raven exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, which exhibited
pieces o f Reid’s own work including a decorated bentwood box which Reid considered to be
a pivotal piece in terms o f his “understanding o f the visual language o f Haida design”
(Canadian Museum o f Civilization - Early Work, 2006: 1).

Between 1970 and 1980 Bill Reid created some o f his best known pieces, including Raven
Discovering Mankind in the Clam Shell (1970), a gold dish in the form o f a bear mother
suckling her cubs (1972), and The Raven and First Man (1980). By this time, Reid had also
apprenticed, amongst many others, master carvers Robert Davidson and Jim Hart, both
descendants of Charles Edenshaw (Canadian Museum o f Civilization - His Legacy, 2006:
2). In the m id-1980’s work began on Reid’s best-known creation. The Spirit o f Haida Gwaii,
a grand scale project which resulted in two bronze castings, the second which was completed
in 1994 (Steltzer, 1997: 16). While this is but a very brief synopsis o f some o f the highlights
o f Bill Reid’s early career, it provides some sense o f the extent o f his own artistic evolution.

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which in turn had a monumental impact on the revival o f Northwest Coast artistic traditions
during this significant timeframe.

As referenced in earlier sections, Bill Reid’s contributions to the Northwest Coast artistic
renaissance have been a topic o f continuing debate in academic and artistic spheres. Still, his
unique ability to synthesize identity, culture, meaning and message within a highly skilled
blending o f contemporary and traditional forms and mythologies has undoubtedly been
significant, as has his role as ambassador for the Haida in particular and First Nations people
generally. He is certainly missed by the many whose lives he touched by virtue o f his broad
reaeh and powerful influence.

Roy Henry Vickers
Roy Henry Vickers was bom in Nisga’a territory, in Greenville on British Columbia’s Nass
River. His mother was an English school teacher and his father was a fisherman whose
heritage was a mixture o f Tsimshian, Haida, and Heiltsuk from Bella Bella. I interviewed
Roy Henry Vickers outside o f his gallery in Tofino, BC, on July

1999.

Viekers feels fortunate to identify with several communities in addition to the strong ties that
he maintains with Greenville and the village o f Kitkatla where he lived as a boy. “If f
thought that I was going to move anywhere away from Vancouver Island I always thought it
would be to Hazelton, which I love, because that’s where I spent from age eight to eighteen.
Then we moved to Victoria, and I graduated from high school and started first-year
University there, so I felt like Victoria was home. My father was from Bella Bella and we

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went to live there many times in the summertime. Now when I go to Bella Bella people tell
me that’s my home, and so I have a very strong affinity with Bella Bella. I was adopted in
both Skidegate by a family there and by a family in Oweekino and they were formal
adoptions in the traditional way, so I carry names from both Oweekino and Skidegate. And
so I feel that I’m part o f those two communities. And I’ve lived in Tofino longer than I’ve
lived anywhere else, so this is where I grew up as an artist and opened my own gallery, so
what I say now is that British Columbia is my home” (Roy Henry Vickers, personal
interview, 1999). In 2004, Vickers moved with his wife and seven children back to the
village of Hazelton. That same year, he opened his second gallery in Sidney, just outside of
Victoria.

In terms of community cormection playing into one’s sense o f identity, Vickers sees this as a
two-way process. “I think it has got to the point now where the communities that I identify
with are also the communities that identify me with them. So if you go to Bella Bella they’ll
say I ’m from there, if you go to Kitkatla they’ll say I ’m from there, if you go to Victoria
they’ll say I ’m from there, if you go to Oweekino they will tell you I ’m one o f their Chiefs, if
you go to Skidegate they’ll tell you I ’m from there, if you come to Tofino they’ll say ‘well
this is where his gallery is, this is where it all started for him. He helped to change the way
this whole town thinks, so he’s from here’” (ibid.).

Vickers believes that “everyone is an artist, that people are bom with the ability to be
creative.” He experienced the genesis o f his desire to be artistic from early childhood,
sketching totems for classmates and using paint-by-numbers kits to hone his skills early on.

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Figure 9 - Roy Henry Vickers, Going to the Potlatch (1984)

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He began working in traditional Northwest Coast art at the age of seventeen, motivated by
his first taste o f discrimination. “It was a shock. I was struck by the fact that someone did
not like me because I was an Indian. I couldn’t understand why someone would think that
way. What it did for me was make me want to find out what they saw. So I began to study,
and study, and study” (ibid.).

He was influenced at an early age by both Hilary Stewart and Wilson Duff, who urged
Vickers to embrace traditionalism to the point o f ethnocentricity. Although Vickers credits
D uff with having inspired his evolution as an artist, it was the debates that they held around
conceptions o f traditionalism that helped Vickers to craft parameters around the role that his
conceptions o f identity forged in terms o f the art that he was producing. “ [Duff] wanted me
to be very ethnocentric. I would have great arguments and debates with him about how I
could endeavor to be ethnocentric as a Tsimshian Haida Kwakiutl Englishman. W here’s the
ethnocentricity there? [Duff] would say, ‘Well be Tsimshian - that’s what the Department of
Indian Affairs acknowledges you as’, but that’s not what the Kwakiutl acknowledge me as.
That’s not what the Bella Bella think that I am. That’s not what the Haida think that I am.
That’s not what my English grandmother thinks that I am” (ibid.).

While Vickers began to work in the traditional artistic forms o f his father’s ancestors, this
phase lasted only a short time, as Vickers was “left with the question o f how to be a
traditional Indian artist when I ’m not a traditional Indian? Where is the connection? I don’t
live in a longhouse. My mode o f transportation is not a canoe” (ibid.).

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Vickers credits this recognition o f the multi-faeeted dimensions o f his own identity with
expanding and evolving the scope and reach o f his own artistic style, and his conceptions o f
what it means to be an artist. “What that did was it took me down this road where as an artist
we have this burning desire to communicate with people what we see, what we have to say,
what we believe. So what happened was I became a teacher, and what I wanted to show
people was the beauty o f the Northwest Coast and its people” (ibid.).

Vickers strongly supports the notion o f a Northwest Coast artistic and cultural revival, and
largely credits Bill Reid’s influence with having inspired it. “When Bill Reid first began his
voyage o f discovery when he left CBC and began to grow as an artist and a jeweler, what he
was really doing was giving people like myself direction ... It’s a very beautiful giant that he
woke up and I’m part o f that giant, Robert Davidson is part o f that giant, and Ron Hamilton
and Art Thompson are part of that giant - there are so many o f us who were influenced by
him” (ibid.).

Vickers considers the revival of which he speaks to be a complex phenomenon that cannot be
separated from the identities of those involved in it, however. “It’s more than a revival o f the
art and culture o f the Northwest Coast. What has happened on the coast was almost a
cultural genocide, and the Kwagiutl say that they were the ones who held it together, and
everybody’s had that elaim as being the one’s who’ve held it together, and when it comes
right down to it they’re all right. People have maintained some sort o f a tie to their
ancestors... When we come to understand who we are, when we can step out o f being the
victim and become the person who’s living their lives in all o f the beauty and truth o f who

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Figure 10 - Roy Henry Vickers, Visions o f the Future (1984)

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they are, there’s going to be a revival, and it’s aetually the revival o f the will o f the human
being to he beautiful, not just a revived culture. What 1 see happening is that a whole lot o f
Canadians are coming to a place where we are looking at how we live and what it is that we
have to say” (ibid.).

Vickers certainly sees a particular role for the artist to play in the process o f revival as he
describes it. “On the Northwest Coast we as artists are privileged to be a part o f that growth
... We are influential not just with art, but with the way we live, and think, and act” (ibid.).
While he is appreciative o f the influence that his success has afforded him, Vickers maintains
a grounded view o f the pervasiveness o f that influence. “For me being influential has
nothing to do with having a lot o f money, it has to do with living your life in the right way,
and it’s the strength and beauty o f the way that you live your life that has the strongest
influence” (ibid.).

Similarly, Vickers does not see a marked distinction between producing art for traditional use
or for commercial sale, but rather sees both applications o f an artist’s skill as reflecting a
traditionally inherent notion o f resource sharing. “So I ’ve created an image, a limited edition
print, which is sold to raise funds for a village that’s building a longhouse. That’s very
traditional. I can’t see the line drawn between [producing for traditional purposes or for
commercial purposes]. 1 create images that are sold here in the Eagle Aerie Gallery, and the
money goes to help me live - to help my family to live. It goes to schools, or to help with
scholarships. It goes to a lot o f different places. I believe that our human resources are to be

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shared, and that the way that we work together is for the purposes o f sharing our resources.
It’s about making a difference. It’s about being influential” (ibid.).

Vickers is also careful to point out that in discussing a Northwest Coast revival people often
err in having a fixed sense o f what it is that is referred to as being revived culturally. “There
will never be a revival o f the culture o f the Northwest Coast as the cultures existed at the
time o f contact with the white man, because it’s not the same. Cultures change. Traditions
change. The revival is not a culture - it’s the revival o f the human spirit that w e’re talking
about. All that art is, is a communication o f what people believe in” (ibid.).

The role that Vickers sees the communicative power o f art playing in terms o f conveying
messages with political significance is a considerable one. “So, are we political? Damn right
we are. 1 used to say that I ’m not political, but now 1 believe that everybody is - politics is
about people, so you have to be political if you’re a human being - that’s just part o f it. So,
can you convey a message through art? Yes - that’s what art is. Art is always
communicating messages, and that’s very powerful” (ibid.).

The messages that Vickers sees as being conveyed through his artwork are strongly linked to
identity and a global sense o f one-ness with humanity. “What is the message? ‘This is who 1
am. This is my family.’ What do you see when you walk into my gallery? ‘Oh, this is who
he is. This is his family - Kitkatla, Bella Bella, Oweekino, Victoria, Vancouver. This is his
world. This is the way that he sees it.’ And what is the message? The message will always

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be centered in the community, and the community is the country, and the country is the
world” (ibid.).

The possibility of change in order to overcome the discrimination that was an early motivator
in Vickers’ process o f artistic discovery is another strong theme in the messages that he
attempts to convey by way o f his artwork, and one that again hearkens back to his multi­
faceted sense of identity. “All o f my artwork is a political statement, and the message that
I’m sending, first and foremost, is that as a human being it’s possible to change. As human
beings, it’s possible to look at one another and see one race, not four races, because there are
not four races, just four different types o f skin color ... There’s one race - the human race and w e’re all brothers and sisters, and that’s my strongest political statement” (ibid.).

While Vickers believes in the power o f change, he also recognizes that it is a process which
takes time, and which must be “effected gently, not forced, the way that is was forced on my
father’s ancestors” (ibid.). Vickers sees one o f the potential strengths o f conveying messages
through art as being able to effect this gentle evolutionary change in communities which can
have a broader pervasive effect. “Although the totem poles that I played on and climbed on
as a kid are all gone, they’re in my drawings and in my paintings. When my village sees
those drawings they’re proud o f who they are - not just proud of me, but proud o f who they
are - their culture, what it has to say, and what they have to offer. So, they’re slowly
changing ... I can see now where I do make a difference” (ibid.).

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Roy Henry Vickers considers feeling that he makes a difference to be critical to his ultimate
measure of success - personal happiness. “Happiness comes from knowing that you make a
difference. As a First Nations person what I say is, ‘We make a difference.’ If you want to
keep thinking o f yourself as a victim o f the impact o f white people, go ahead, but history
should be there only to show us where we come from and why we are the way we are. So
that’s another political statement that I try to convey in my artwork - nothing can take away
my own happiness. To make a difference in you makes a difference in your family, it makes
a difference in the community, and it makes a difference in the country” (ibid.).

In terms of his own personal growth, Vickers credits art as having helped him through the
long process o f recovering from adversity just as it helps communities recover from
adversity. “My art, my artistic expression is my lifeline. If it wasn’t for my art, I would be
dead; I would have commit suicide a long time ago. Art has made a big difference in my life
- I ’m still here! When you are seeking to express yourself as a human being, you’re doing it
from the very deepest part o f yourself. Art helps us to recover a sense o f who we are, and
this takes us on a journey o f discovery. That’s what artistic expression is about to me”
(ibid.).

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Born in Kamloops, Lawrence Paul, whose traditional name is Yuxweluptun, is o f Coast
Salish / Okanogan ancestry, although he largely considers himself to be an urban Aboriginal,
living in the Greater Vancouver area (MeMaster and Martin, 1992: 157). I interviewed
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun at his apartment in Vancouver on June 7*, 1999.

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Having spent four years enrolled in the Emily Carr College o f Art and Design, he went on to
receive wide recognition for his modernist, controversial artwork that derives its content
largely from the documentation of social issues affecting native peoples (ibid.). Known for
producing large scale canvases in acrylic and oil, his paintings “integrate familiar forms from
traditional Northwest Coast art with vivid colours in a surrealistic landscape. The effect
disrupts the logical order inherent in the art o f the region and suggests a dream-like world
inhabited by remnants o f Native culture. Disoriented by the lack o f perspective both
spatially and psychologically the viewer is forced to participate in the artists’ fantasy in order
to translate the juxtapositions o f naturalism and distortion” (ibid.).

Paul is a modernist painter who considers this particular style to have “a different place
within art.” When questioned about the link between art and identity in the Northwest Coast,
he supports the notion of the importance o f that link, but true to form examines that link
within the context o f the effects o f contact on native peoples. “Northwest Coast art has
become such a hybrid, containing influences from different regions - Hazelton, Bella Bella,
Bella Coola, Kwakiutl, Salish. Now all o f them are evolving simultaneously in the world. In
a sense, mine are a modern approach to a modem Indian. They’re an investigation o f one’s
self or identity - a gauge o f how much w e’ve been culturally assimilated” (Shier, 1998: 50).

He is quick to distinguish between ‘traditional’ and what he calls ‘nailed’ art. “In the past,
there was never a nail behind it, and it was never brought to market and sold - traditional art
is just for the community, a continuation o f culture” (Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, personal

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interview, 1999). Insofar as the question o f a Northwest Coast cultural revival is concerned,
Paul’s point of view is that, for the Salish, while artistic and cultural traditions may have
gone underground, they were never extinguished or even in decline. “The Salish world was
very strong culturally and artistically, so in terms o f the cultural revival, to the Salish people
it’s only a continuation ... sure [some aspects o f Salish culture and traditions] went
underground, but 1 think that to speak of revival is a strictly colonial perspective. A real
potlatch is when there are no anthropologists around - that’s a real continuation o f culture”
(ibid.).

He sees a paradox in mainstream Canada partaking in debate surrounding cultural revival
when, in his eyes, broad based oppression o f First Nations people is still the order o f the day.
For Paul, the question o f cultural revival “is really a question of state o f mind. How can you
revive languages, culture, when colonialism has control over education? How do you define
a cultural revival when Aboriginal people are being oppressed in this province?” (ibid.).
According to Paul, this creates a paradoxical situation where there exist “two different
political spectrums to deal with - one that is trying to have a sustainable culture and one that
is trying to destroy it” (ibid.).

Paul sees this paradox further echoed in current systems o f Aboriginal governance,
differentiating between ‘traditional’ and ‘government’ chiefs, a system that he sees as devoid
o f accountability which has grown more pronounced with the progression o f land claims in
British Columbia. “But that’s government chiefs, puppet chiefs, for you. The Assembly of
First Nations is a classic example o f government chiefs. It’s funded by the government and

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accountable to Ottawa. The chiefs vote each other in and the national chief is elected by the
other chiefs. H e’s not accountable to the people because the people never vote for him”
(Shier, 1998: 51).

Paul’s work is overtly political and created for the purpose o f disseminating a clear meaning
and message. “It’s about an exercise o f communicating with the outside world. It is very
important to me and I feel that this is where there exists a meeting point. How do you
translate from one culture to another?” (Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, personal interview,
1999). The modernist style that characterizes his work is one chosen purposely insofar as he
feels that it allows him more artistic freedom in terms o f conveying messages through his
artwork. “Modernism can deal with things that traditionalism can’t, but you have to give up
something in return. You have to give up traditional. Can you carve a molestation mask?
Can you dance a molestation mask? ... I like modernism. Information is endless for your
ideas and concepts ... Some artists say that [because I ’m doing modernism and not
traditionalism] I’m not doing anything native, but then when they see the images it’s just a
modem version o f native identity ... I’ve probably changed the Northwest Coast forever”
(ibid.).

Paul seems to have long recognized the powerful messages that may be transmitted through
art, and the potential effects that this can have in terms o f creating a political statement are
inherent to his motivations to continue producing and showing his work. “I approach my
work and have always approached it taking my social and ideological responsibility as an
artist first, as they relate to this time in history. I cannot celebrate or feel any national

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Figure 11 - Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Scorched Earth Clearcut Logging on Native
Sovereign Lands, Shaman Coming to Fix (1991)

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allegiance to the Canadian flag while such racist legislation as the Indian Act remains in
force: the system native people are governed under is the despotism o f white self-interest.
Because of this, a lot o f my pieces are historical. You carmot hide the real history or even the
censorship of native history, a colonial syndrome. You can hide Department o f Indian
Affairs documents from the time o f Confederation, but you cannot hide my paintings. They
are for all people to see” ( Paul in Nemiroff et al, 1992: 220).

Paul does not mask the fact that he considers Canada to be a racist country which is still in
the process o f actively colonizing Aboriginal peoples. In fact, he has repeatedly used his
growing recognition to decry the legacies o f racism and oppression. “We are not
decolonizing, we are being colonized. W e’ve been colonized. It’s only a matter o f sharing
our experiences o f being the oppressor and the oppressed. It’s a matter o f dealing with us
and them” (Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, personal interview, 1999). With typical bluntness,
Paul states, “They hate Indians in this country. It’s very ra c is t... Politically this is not a
democracy. I don’t see native people as free. I don’t think any native in this country
understands the meaning o f that word yet. Or self-government, self-determination ... I think
that what is really scary about this country is that there is so much hate, and there is no will
in this country to change at this point. That’s what I’ve seen and experienced. So I think that
it’s important to relate to the outside world and try to change it. I’ve done a lot o f exhibitions
and explained a lot o f things, but it takes time” (ibid.).

For Paul, art is a medium with which to assert his own self-determination, while sharing his
view o f history with a mainstream public. “Painting is a form of political activism, a way to

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exercise my inherent right, my right to authority, my freedom. This is real freedom for me. I
am proud these days, I have self-dignity in my art when I paint this world ... I can speak out
in my paintings even without the recognition o f self-government.” (Paul in Nem iroff et al,
1992: 2 2 1 -2 2 2 X

It is not possible for Paul to separate the concept of politics from both his daily life and his
art work. “Some call it political, but this is my everyday life. This is what I deal with. I’m
not painting a bed o f roses. It’s not so sweet. I’m just recording history. Culturally I guess
that I couldn’t sit around and wait for things to change. I think it had to be brought to
attention. If you don’t have power what do you do? You send a message to the top, and you
keep sending messages to the top. Politically I don’t think that I could have waited for my
Chief to say something” (Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, personal interview, 1999).

Beyond the role that his artwork plays for Paul insofar as asserting his own voice and
influence, he recognizes that there are many methods by which to convey meaning and
messages, and hopes that the statements inherent to his work inspire others who wish to
assert a political voice. “It’s by example that I exercise that right to say that if you’re an
individual, if you feel that you are being violated, you can say something. You have e-mail,
you have all the information in this world. Exercise all the capacity that you can. I think that
I ’ve been able to share that responsibility with others to exercise that right” (ibid.)

And Paul’s messages have been shared broadly around the globe. While his work hangs in
the National Gallery o f Canada, he enjoyed international success before he became more

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Figure 12 - Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, MacMillan Bloedel Ecosystem Destroyers and
Their Preferred Weapons (1994)

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widely acclaimed at home, with significant works in Europe and the United States. He is
pragmatic about the art market and, while he enjoys his success and the broader scope that
his popularity allows insofar as disseminating his political views, he is also critical o f aspects
o f it that reinforce those very elements that his artwork speaks out against. “In 1992 Land
Spirit Power showed at the National Gallery for the Year o f the Indigenous Peoples. They’ve
bought my art and now they have an Indian room. A segregation room. I was born in a
segregated room, and now my art is bom in this segregated room. I wish somebody would
go there and slash my work” (ibid.). He has also been openly critical o f art critics who
believe that his departure from traditional Northwest Coast style is disrespectful o f cultural
traditions.

Paul sees his artistic statements as being particularly relevant to the current political climate
in British Columbia as the provincial government endeavors to negotiate land claims,
negotiations which, in his opinion, are being poorly conducted. “I think that they’ve gone
around the wrong way with land claims. I think that [the government] should just pay rent,
back rent as far as I ’m concerned, and then go with self-government from there and stop land
claims because technically British Columbia can’t afford the land ... I want the real McCoy
and I want them to pay. And I think that the position I see is that there is no deal. There
should never be any deal” (ibid.). Furthermore, Paul is incensed by a spirit o f hypocrisy
which he sees governing the negotiation process. “It’s a belief system that [Canadians] have
that I want them to live up to which says ‘thou shall not steal.’ And if they expect me to
abide by their laws, then I expect them to live up to theirs as well” (ibid.).

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While Paul may have lofty goals when it comes to reforming the direction o f policy and
politics in Canada through his artistic statements, he is also realistic about the process and the
time that it takes in order to effect positive change. “I often think that policy’s wrong, but it
takes time to teach people. They’re like little children ... You need to teach them that you
shouldn’t be doing that. So, you have to have polities. To me it’s just a part o f my everyday
life” (ibid.).

Paul sees the up and coming generations as playing a pivotal role in political reforms
affecting Aboriginal peoples. “When [my artwork] goes into public institutions thousands
and thousands o f people will see it. What I think is most important is that the children have
been able to see what I’ve done, and have an experience o f learning how to deal with
expressionism or the freedom o f expression, and to cherish that freedom quite strongly
because it may be that the only thing that you have as a person in this country is to exercise
that right at some point somehow” (ibid.).

Lawrenee Paul Yuxweluptun is something o f a unique ease study in that unlike many other
artists, his desire to exereise his voice politieally seems to motivate his artistie endeavors
rather than the other way around. He says, “I ’ve been involved in soeial discourse for fifteen
years and I haven’t run out o f politieal issues in this country” (Shier, 1998: 50). It seems
unlikely that he will anytime soon.

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Art Wilson (‘Wii M uk’willxw)
Art Wilson, whose traditional name is ‘Wii M uk’willxw, is much more than just an artist. A
hereditary Chief o f the Gitxsan, a political activist, a fisherman, a father, a teacher - Art
W ilson’s amazing artwork captures and reflects the multi-faceted identity o f an artist wanting
to represent the cause o f the Gitxsan and o f other Aboriginal peoples in an enduring way
(Wilson, 1996; 10). “Art took to painting the grief and suffering that his people felt at their
oppression as well as those inspired moments o f resistance, often infused with humour and
delight” (ibid.). Heartbeat o f the Earth is a collection o f 40 o f his politically-inspired
paintings, each accompanied by a brief commentary by the artist himself. The native self­
representation present in A rt’s work is created not only to speak to A rt’s people. First
Nations people, but to larger society - mainstream Canadian society, and beyond.

Art’s work represents in a concrete way images o f the people and o f their land. Nature
figures strongly in his work, as do the animals that form the totems o f the major clans eagle, raven, bear and w olf (Wilson, 1996: 11). Major artifacts o f his culture such as bentwood boxes, button blankets, and longhouses also appear in his paintings (ibid.). Perhaps
what makes his work most remarkable, however, is the fact that these traditional elements
combine with tangible signs o f the post-contact era in telling and powerful ways.
Helicopters, tanks, jetfighters, clearcuts, and city scapes interplay with the traditional
elements and style in Art’s work. The effect is striking, powerful, and very memorable. He
typically depicts white people as skeletons, which is consistent with Gitxsan prophecies
about “the ghosts who would come to live among us” (Wilson, 1996: 16).

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All o f the prints included in Heartbeat o f the Earth are rendered, true to the typical style o f
Northwest Coast native art, in black, red and white. When depicting the totemic animals so
prevalent in his works, he uses the traditional ovoids and u-forms which are strongly
associated with the traditions o f this style. The result is that when one first lays eyes on one
of Art’s pieces, its native association in unavoidable. The real strength in his works,
however, comes when one looks at his artwork a little closer, letting their powerful messages
register.

At first glance, “Beat the Drum Slowly” (figure 13), a print featured in Heartbeat o f the
Earth, is a striking example o f Northwest Coast native painting. Upon closer consideration,
however, one notices that the hillside is crying “from a devastated area known as a clearcut”
(Wilson, 1996: 34). In A rt’s own words, “this painting depicts the sorrow we feel about the
present state o f the Earth,” hence, the drum is beating slowly (ibid.).

“Seizure on Luulak’s Land” (figure 14), another print featured in the aforementioned
collection, is a depiction o f an event which saw several Gitxsan Chiefs removing the
equipment from an unwanted logging operation off the land o f Gitxsan hereditary Chief
Luulak. Art explains the images depicted in the painting as follows: “When we got on site,
we decided to first seize the front-end loader. An eagle Chief hot-wired it - you can see him
driving it away. The body o f the vehicle is depicted as a frog because Luulak is a Frog
Chief, and the seizure was made on her behalf. The skulls in the wheels represent Luulak the Gitxsan word for ghost” (Wilson, 1996: 42).

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Figure 13 - Art Wilson, Beat the Drum Slowly

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Figure 14 - Art Wilson, Seizure on Luulak's Land

x3*Z

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Images o f native self-representation are rampant in Art Wilson’s work, and speak to the
complexities which surround native identity in contemporary Canada. First Nations people
appearing in A rt’s work are depicted as mothers, warriors, prisoners, addicts, fishermen,
political activists, and residential school students, to name just a few. Sometimes, the
Aboriginal people are drawn in the image o f a clan or totem animal, and sometimes they are
drawn conventionally. Some o f A rt’s works cause us to reconsider many o f the more
prevalent stereotypes surrounding native people, by making poignant statements about the
very real causes and effects surrounding native issues. For example, “Davis Inlet” (figure
15) makes a powerful statement about the social problems plaguing this northern First
Nations community relocated by the Newfoundland government. This paining depicts the
alcoholism and drug addiction rampant in the community, as well as the house fire which
killed six small children (Wilson, 1996: 68).

The interconnectedness o f creation is another theme which is visible across many o f Art’s
pieces, with spirit animals depicted in waterways or on hillsides, shedding a tear on behalf of
Mother Earth. This reinforces the degree to which traditional native culture sees identity as
an interconnected phenomenon, incorporating one’s ancestors and all elements of creation.

A rt’s work in general speaks directly to the long-held stereotyped notion o f the ‘vanishing
Indian.’ His artwork leaves no doubt in one’s mind that, indeed. First Nations people have
survived, and demand a voice. One o f his paintings in particular, “The Train to
Assimilation” (figure 16), explores this theme directly. It deals with Canadian attempts to
assimilate First Nations people through such means as residential schools. O f this. Art says.

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Figure 15 - Art Wilson, Davis Inlet

m

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Figure 16 - Art Wilson, The Train to Assimilation

i

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“Slowly we are re-establishing the parts o f our culture that the government tried to destroy.
One high level government official once said, “there will be no ‘Indian problem’ because
there will be no Indians.” Lo and behold, however, we are still here” (Wilson, 1996: 26).

In creatively juxtaposing elements o f traditional native culture with those elements of
contemporary culture which run counter to traditional beliefs and lifestyles. Art Wilson’s
artwork makes a strong statement about the state o f First Nations issues in contemporary
Canada. Furthermore, in dealing with and in representing in unique ways a variety o f images
o f First Nations peoples. Art Wilson, through his work, causes us to rethink some o f the
problematic issues surrounding First Nations identity, and stereotyped imagery in Canadian
society.

I interviewed Art Wilson at the Gitxsan Treaty Office in New Hazelton, BC, on June 9*,
1999. His perspective was unique as compared to the other artists that I am eonsidering in
that his first line o f interest is politics, with art as a secondary pursuit. This piqued my
interest in terms o f better understanding the relationship that he sees play out in his own
experiences between art, culture, identity, meaning, and the potential political implications of
these.

Interestingly, although Art Wilson claims to have always had an interest in art and long
recognized it as a gift, his first experience venturing into the art market was during the outset
o f the Gitxsan court hearings. He began by developing a series o f four paintings at the onset
o f the trial, and happened to show them to some Chiefs in attendance who liked the pieces.

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Art Wilson produced a series o f one hundred prints o f the series and sold them in order to
offset court costs for the Gitxsan. “I had started doing a series of four when we first went to
court, and I had showed [that series] to some Chiefs and they liked it, so I thought that I
would do a hundred [of each print and sell them] for fifty dollars each to fundraise for the
court case. From the reaction that I got at the time I thought that maybe I should [have done]
more because people liked what I was doing, whereas [prior to that] I really didn’t care to
show people what kind o f artwork I was capable o f doing” (Art Wilson, personal interview,

199?h

But those beginnings should not be mistaken as leading one to infer that Art W ilson’s
motivation as an artist is economic. Far from it. While he sees many benefits inherent to
producing art, he is quick to clarify that he sees a marked difference between producing art
for mere economic gain as opposed to producing meaningful artwork grounded in tradition
and the stories o f the Gitxsan. “Some people say that because I have a particular kind of
ta le n t... that I should capitalize on it, but it doesn’t work that way with me” (ibid.).

First and foremost. Art Wilson considers his artwork to be a living record, “because people
forget too easily and if they have something hanging on the wall then it’s sort o f like a totem
pole. It reminds (them) of what happened in the p a s t... art still has a way o f recording that
life experience. And I think that it does help other people ... it keeps them from forgetting
who they are” (ibid.). These words echo a strong link to the concept o f the role o f the artist
in identity formation, o f the artist and o f the community.

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With a feeling o f responsibility to preserving records o f the past through the universal
language o f art, Wilson feels that although the scenes and stories portrayed in his artwork are
not always his stories to tell, “ [they are] somebody’s history. And it’s not necessarily my
history, but I think that my contribution is more in putting it on paper so that it hangs on the
wall so that people will remember” (ibid.).

O f the role that creating art plays in terms o f his own identity. Art says, “I don’t want to lose
sight o f who I am” (ibid.). He also considers the process o f story telling through his artwork
to help him deal with elements of Gitxsan history that he’d rather not dwell on. “That’s the
kind o f stuff that I want to let go of, and I don’t want to hang onto it forever” (ibid.). While
Art Wilson agrees that a renewal o f artistic traditions can assist a community with
overcoming the effects o f colonization, it would seem that there is also a cathartic aspect to
the creation process that is helpful insofar as healing is concerned.

While he agrees that there has been a cultural revival taking shape amongst Northwest Coast
First Nations, he is quick to point out that while art can play an important role in renewing
and rediseovering culture, this is not always necessarily so. “I see a lot o f art and it doesn’t
necessarily contribute to culture... Crests in our society are very precious, and particular
kinds o f crests are only worn by Chiefs. Not everybody wears them. And so I see people
designing dresses and clothing and all kinds o f things with crests on them, and they sell them
to anybody and those somebodies are not Chiefs. And so I think that in those cases they are
actually watering down the culture. I think that if they flood the whole soeiety with
something that it loses meaning” (ibid.).

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Art Wilson considers the role that art can play in molding the knowledge and talents o f the
younger generations to be key. Spending a lot o f time working in the local school with
young Gitxsan, Art thinks that artists can play a special role in providing a positive influence
to students, inspiring them to “work hard at what they’re good at... I want to see a better life
for our kids and I think that’s what it should be all about, not about us but about the people
that come behind us. I really think that our generation is going to spend all [of its] time
speaking and negotiating ... but w e’re hoping that the next generation is going to have
smooth sailing” (ibid.).

Art Wilson credits his childhood experiences with creating the germinations o f an early sense
o f political awareness in him. He grew up in a traditional setting but in an era o f early
European settlement and government policy reforms including the implementation o f the
residential school system, events whieh shaped his consciousness from an early age. “So that
kind o f sucked me into the political situation right off the bat, beeause as a result o f seeing
those things I asked a lot o f questions, and my grandmother finally insisted that I went to
school. So those kinds o f things shaped my life as far as politics goes. And my role has been
more in politics, art has been secondary. But I ’ve used art to tell about those things” (ibid.).

One of the most critical roles that Art Wilson considers his sometimes controversial artistic
statements to play is that of fuelling intelligent debate. “I like to encourage people to have an
intelligent discussion about something and I don’t want to get into a sereaming m atch... but
if it gets people angry then that’s okay. People get angry for a reason. It’s a case o f denial or

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something else - it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Even if they initially don’t like my artwork
then we can’t fight about it forever. We have to talk about it, because I don’t want to spend
all o f my life waiting” (ibid.).

To this end, Art Wilson considers his artwork to be primarily an educational tool, both for his
own people to better remember and understand their own histories, and for the rest o f the
world to learn from them. Wilson’s artwork has attracted attention from various groups
across North America and even globally. He considers him self to be a global thinker, a
theme that is reflected in many o f his pieces that deal with international indigenous issues.
He cites this recognition o f the educational potential o f artwork as an impetus for publishing
Heartbeat o f the Earth. “I thought that if I was to publish my artwork then I eould eontribute
to educating people about what 1 know o f certain situations” (ibid.).

For Art Wilson the question of the relationship between art and meaningful messages is
clear. Relating it back to conceptions o f his own identity he adds, “ [the proeess o f being an
artist] makes me feel like I ’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, and it’s meaningful to
our society and it fills that gap... If you create something ... there has to be some meaning
behind it. If we ereate a whole slough o f meaningless things then w e’re basieally lost”
(ibid.).

Given his politieal involvements, it makes sense that Art Wilson sees his artwork moving in
the direction o f commentary on the negotiation process. He believes that the knowledge and

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history that he is able to pass on through his artwork will help his community manage current
negotiations while better preparing future generations to manage land claims.

Art Wilson provides an insightful example o f a politician and traditional Chief who has
discovered the potential that artwork has to preserve history, reinforce both collective and
personal identities, engender useful debate on timely issues, transcend nationalities and
borders, and provide a tool by which future generations can be better prepared to address
issues that affect their ties to the land. O f his talent and its positive impacts Wilson says,
“The healers always tell us that we have a particular gift and that there’s a reason for that gift
[so we must] use it in the right way. I could very easily say ‘to heck with politics’ but my
heart wouldn’t be in my artwork. My heart would still be in politics and it would make me
feel that I’m letting the people down” (ibid.).

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CHAPTER FOUR - DISCUSSION

A pivotal theme o f this examination has been the link between art, culture, identity, and the
broader applications o f art in terms o f meanings and messages that might bear political
relevance. In order to fully understand that link it is helpful to consider issues related to the
integration o f art into broader society. In examining the function o f art and the role that it
plays in the human venture, it is useful to consider these concepts from a socio-historical
perspective.

Artistic endeavors have, through time, proven to be a fertile ground for innovation. Art
allows individuals to develop creativities, engage challenges, and develop self-mastery
without threatening convention or the status quo too overtly. The significance o f the
potential role that art can play in communities increases when considered under the lens of
oppression.

Artistic endeavors have consistently proven to be one o f the first ways for individuals,
societies, and nations to re-tell their own stories, emerging as communities become more
adaptive. In addition to considerations o f how this functional element o f art plays out in
emerging cultures or societies, it is also interesting and relevant here to consider the potential
of this same phenomenon in societies that have suffered oppression as they struggle to re-tell
stories that have long been suppressed by the dominant ‘one.’ In this light, art can be seen to
have great potential value not just as a tool for societies that are becoming increasingly
adaptive, but also for societies that are learning to re-adapt. I would suggest that this premise

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can be usefully applied to an examination o f Northwest Coast First Nations, and lends
credenee to the notion of a revival o f culture following years of oppressive assimilationist
policy.

The role that art plays in re-telling stories might arguably be o f even greater significance in
the case of soeieties which had no form o f written language, a tenet that again applies to
Northwest Coast First Nations, whose art and crest poles tell their creation stories. If we
accept that the ability to re-tell our own stories is key in the process o f social innovation, then
art becomes a critical tool. One theme echoed by many of the artists whom I spoke with is
being motivated to record history through their work. While some may argue that an artists
rendering of history is, by definition, subjective, upon further reflection it becomes evident
that that might be no less so than the written word, penned by the victors as historical ‘fact.’

Identity in the context o f the current discussion might be understood to be a set o f stories
about one’s function and purpose - stories that might exist on individual, community,
national, and global levels simultaneously. While some theorists posit that identity is fixed,
evidence colleeted for the purposes o f this research would suggest a conception o f identity
that is adaptive and open to creation and change. This is supported by Roy Henry Viekers
assertion that a revival or renaissance o f Northwest Coast culture will never and can never
result in a rebirth o f the cultures as they existed pre-contact, because they are and have
always been ever-changing.

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History tells us that a hallmark o f many First Nations societies is an adaptive capacity that
has allowed them to survive through the millennia. It would be difficult to conceive o f such
adaptive skill in a society that did not value and display a broad range o f evolutionary
capacities. Vickers suggests that the revival that has been transpiring in the nations o f the
Northwest Coast is one o f human will and spirit. If this is true, then perhaps it helps to
explain why there is such lack o f consensus on how to describe the artistic and cultural
phenomenon that has been taking shape in that region for the past half century.

On the question of a Northwest Coast artistic ‘renaissance’, one thing seems (almost)
universally agreed upon - namely that something is happening, despite an inability to reach
consensus on what exactly that is. As might be expected, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is the
one contrary voice in my sample o f artists, insisting that amongst the Salish there was never a
cultural decline, and further suggesting that to speak o f revival is to pander to a colonialist
perspective that would paradoxically impose a sense o f cultural revival even as racist and
assimilationist policies continue.

While Art Wilson agrees that a cultural revival is underway, he also points out that not all art
contributes to that process. In suggesting that some art, ungrounded and removed from
elements o f true meaning, acts to water down Northwest Coast cultures rather than to fortify
them, he introduces elements o f the authenticity debate.

As we have seen, questions o f authenticity can be applied to many aspects o f an examination
o f Northwest Coast art. Each artist that has been examined here has had to face questions of

no

authenticity in one form or another. Roy Henry Vickers, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun and
Art Wilson all incorporate classical forms into the modem landscapes and issue areas
represented in their work, and could therefore have the authenticity o f their work questioned
insofar as it departs from the traditional.

Early in his career, Roy Henry Vickers’ mentor Wilson D uff encouraged the young artist to
embrace traditionalism to the exclusion o f modern interpretations. Vickers, recognizing that
he was not a ‘traditional’ First Nations person, recognized the ethnocentric and paradoxical
nature of trying to produce artwork that was not representative of his own experiences and
which would not lend itself as well to sharing his voice and his stories.

Ironically, Bill Reid, the most classically ‘traditional’ o f the artists examined, dealt with
questions o f the authenticity of his artwork based on his raee and cultural identity. Central to
the issues related to authenticity as explored here is the question, “who decides”? Martine
Reid suggests that it is up to the viewing public to decide what is or is not art, and what is or
is not valid, but inherently problematic to that approach is the question o f the cultural identity
of the viewing public. If an artist and their work can be labeled authentic by one person and
contested as inauthentic by another, where does that leave us?

This research suggests that the impact o f an artists work should he the real hallmark of
authenticity. Each o f the artists examined here has expressed similar statements concerning
their need to connect to their culture, record and retell stories and histories that validate their
own identities and those o f their cultures through their artwork. Each produces images which

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show the interconnectedness between man, his ancestors and creation. In so doing, powerful
and meaningful messages are transmitted that speak to Northwest Coast cultures, history, and
authority over land. Each artist’s work has reached audiences far beyond those o f the
Northwest Coast, and has therefore made strides towards putting First Nations issues on a
global stage.

Art and identity can interplay once a context o f higher-level engagement evolves with a
connection to the human spirit and the stories o f a person or a broader community, a
connection which no doubt exists in the case o f all o f the artists examined in the context o f
this research. A message that has been echoed throughout is that in order for identity to be
well-formed and functional, be it on personal or broader societal scales, it must be linked to a
sense o f personal efficacy. We have heard that the artists examined here use different terms
for this - pride, influence, making a difference. If we use the lens o f the link between
personal efficacy and identity in considering the revival o f Northwest Coast art and culture, it
lends an interesting perspective to the authenticity debate as it relates to art production for
traditional versus commercial purposes. It would seem logical to propose that the creation of
a market affirms confidence and a sense o f efficacy on the part of the producer.

While some artists such as Bill Reid and Robert Davidson differentiate between the creation
o f art for traditional purposes versus the production o f art for market driven purposes, Roy
Henry Viekers does not see a necessary difference between the two. Others, like Lawrence
Paul Yuxweluptun, feel constrained by the tenets o f traditionalism. While there seems to be
a spectrum o f points o f view on this issue, if we consider that a cultural revival has effected

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an increase in the ‘traditional use’ market, just as the commercial art world and outside
demand for Northwest Coast pieces has effected an increase in the commercial use market,
artists producing for either market may likely get similar payoffs when it comes to affirming
their identities.

Just as a review o f the existing theoretical literature on identity came up with different
conceptions of the construct, the concept o f culture is no less complex. Based on information
gathered over the course o f my research, I would posit that a cognitive view o f culture is
more applicable to my current considerations than Darwinian views which would suggest an
unconscious connection between culture and the individual. If we consider culture in the
light o f something that is consciously drawn on, the potential for a conscious revival or
renewal of culture seems very viable.

“Culture is that sort o f freely available and all-purpose knowledge that you acquire in general
at an age when you don’t yet have any questions to ask. You can spend your life increasing
it, cultivating it for its own sake ... you can use it as a sort o f more or less inexhaustible
toolbox” says Bourdieu (1990: 29). That a society would look to this cultural toolbox for the
purposes o f overcoming a period o f significant oppression seems both viable and adaptive.

Behavioral scientist James Scott offers an interesting consideration o f how culture is used to
resist domination. While his focus in on peasant cultures, there is undeniable application to
the situation o f post-contact First Nations. “While folk culture is not [coordinated] in the
formal sense, it often achieves a ‘climate o f opinion’ which, in other more institutionalized

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societies, would require a public relations campaign. The striking thing about peasant
society is the extent to which a whole range o f complex activities - from labor exchange to
house movings to wedding preparations to feasts - are coordinated by networks of
understanding and practice ... No formal organizations are created because none are
required; and yet a form o f coordination is achieved that alerts us that what is happening is
not just individual action” (Scott, 1985: 300-301).

The ‘public relations campaigns’ o f each o f the artists that I’ve examined differs some, but
they share a collective theme o f overcoming oppression and domination as the ‘other’ in the
face o f the dominant ‘one.’ Themes o f overcoming racism and discrimination, safeguarding
cultural integrity and self-determination, protecting the environment, and educating a largely
ignorant mainstream public about the environmental and socio-economic plight o f Aboriginal
peoples are all themes that we have seen echoed in the life work o f the artists considered
here.

Art allows the artist to give voice to their own stories, together with their unique
interpretations and meanings. It would seem reasonable to expect that when art begins to
push and challenge the status quo, ecologies o f influence begin to develop around it, referring
to spheres o f influence that can exist at multiple levels, from subconscious, personal
influence to broad global influence, depending on context. Sometimes these ecologies of
influence are based on controversy, as in the case o f Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun and Art
Wilson, and sometimes these are based on wide acclaim, as in the case o f Bill Reid.

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Arguably, it is when these ecologies o f influence begin to develop that the potential o f art to
exert influence on landscapes o f policy and politics is exercised. After a reflection on the
outcomes o f the research that has informed this discussion, it seems that that is what has in
fact been demonstrated - the potential that artwork has to convey meanings and messages
based on the intent o f the artist in question.

Both Bill Reid and Roy Henry Vickers did not consider themselves to be ‘politically
minded’, and yet both used their artwork and influence to transmit meanings and messages
that are undeniably political in nature. That Vickers’ perspective on politics evolved to
consider everyone as being political given that “politics are people” (Roy Henry Vickers,
personal interview, 1999) is instructive in a consideration o f the interplay between art,
meaning, and message. Art Wilson and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun bring a different
perspective to considerations o f politics, since they each consider their artwork to be a
medium to serve their political ends.

A reexamination o f Sturtevant’s discussion o f the internal versus external classifications o f
meanings behind artwork leads to a consideration o f the interplay between intent and
outcome on the part o f the artists that have been studied.

While it has clearly been determined that all o f the artists considered impart internal
meanings to their work, either intentionally or unintentionally, the question o f whether the
external meanings being conveyed are the same becomes relevant in the context o f analysis

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o f impact. Sturtevant suggested that these may indeed be the same in the case when both
artist and observer share cultural understandings.

This brings to bear a further question about whether the external meanings o f the artwork
shift depending on whether they are being viewed by an Aboriginal audience or a mainstream
audience. Further research on this topic would be warranted in order to better understand and
contextualize the link between art, identity, and culture as examined here.

Conclusion
We have explored the complexities associated with constructs o f identity and culture,
specifically as those concepts lend themselves to reinforcement through art. The subject o f
the validity of a Northwest Coast ‘renaissance’ in art and culture has been debated for some
time. After having examined this issue in some depth throughout the course o f this research,
I have concluded that this is an instance where issues pertaining to terminology and
experiential differences constrain the understanding of a phenomenon. It is imperative that
we not diminish the dynamic nature o f the First Nations cultures in question in the course o f
exploring the renaissance debate, nor the realities o f those community’s experiences with
colonization and decolonization.

Does it matter whether we term the process that has taken root in rebuilding the cultures and
artistic traditions of the Northwest Coast First Nations a renewal, revival, or renaissance?
What seems more critical in considering the outcomes o f this research is the fact that a tide of
artistic and cultural resurgence has taken root in the region, and on account o f that, culture,

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identity, conceptions o f relationship to land, and the potential for positive political
implications are being left in its wake.

Often, the strength o f a culture or society is measured by how well it resists domination.
This research suggests, however, that a further measure o f strength might be the ability o f a
culture to rediscover, regenerate, and recreate itself following generations o f domination.
The cultures o f the Northwest Coast First Nations serve as an excellent example o f artists
playing a critical role in renewing and regenerating culture, while eontextualizing it in such a
way as to make it relevant in contemporary contexts. In so doing, Northwest Coast artists
assume the roles o f scribes, storytellers, historians, teachers, leaders, conservationists and
politicians.

1 have shown that not only does a link exist between art, culture, identity, and the
transmission o f meanings and messages that have political potential, but 1 have furthermore
established that this is a link that is both well established and functional in the work o f
Northwest Coast artists. Examinations o f the lives and works of Bill Reid, Roy Henry
Vickers, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, and Art Wilson have shown us that this link exists
despite being played out in different ways from the classical traditionalist to the radical
modernist.

Northwest Coast First Nations art is able to transcend the isolation o f cultural differences, act
as a mechanism to rejuvenate culture and strengthen identity, and has undeniable potential in

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terms o f bringing awareness and positive political change to issues affecting First Nations
people.

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