|
Indian Country Today
30 September 2004
A conversation with Richard Hunt, Kwaguilth artist
by: Richard Walker / Indian Country Today
© Indian Country Today September 30, 2004. All Rights Reserved
FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash. - It's a Saturday afternoon at Arctic Raven Gallery and Kwaguilth artist Richard Hunt is visiting from Victoria, B.C., to help open the gallery at its new location.
There is much symbolism this day.
Arctic Raven Gallery, the region's premier gallery of Northwest Native art, has moved to a larger location. It's symbolic of the growing interest in the timeless beauty and cultural significance of Northwest Native art.
Gallery owner Lee Brooks explained to visitors some of the latest additions of Yup'ik and Inupiat carvings of fossilized whalebone. The pieces are symbolic of the revival of Alaska Native art.
Hunt interacted with visitors as he carefully brings a frog helmet to life from a block of cedar. It's symbolic of his devotion to teaching others about his culture - his Kwaguilth name, Gwe-la-yo-gwe-la-gya-lis, means "a man that travels and wherever he goes, he potlatchs."
Hunt quizzed a little girl on what he's making (she answered correctly), and he answered questions from visitors. He took breaks to shake hands and autograph his work. Visitors picked up cedar chips for souvenirs.
The crowded gallery is an ideal forum for Hunt; he uses Kwaguilth art to teach people about his culture and about art versus cultural property. He also takes the opportunity to talk about golf, a favorite pastime depicted in two of his prints (he shot a hole-in-one at Cedar Hill Golf & Country Club in Victoria on his 50th birthday).
Hunt, 53, comes from a family of internationally-respected artists, which include his father, Henry Hunt and his grandfather, Mungo Martin. Richard Hunt began carving with his father at age 13. At 21, he became chief carver in the Thunderbird Park Carving Program at the Royal BC Museum; he served in that capacity for 12 years.
Hunt later resigned to begin a career as a freelance artist. For 20 years, his work has included poles, serigraphs, carvings, jewelry and a line of clothing decorated with his designs. He has received the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada, both in recognition of his artistic and cultural contributions to British Columbia and Canada.
Hunt shared some views during his carving.
The importance of teaching children art: Children are inherently interested in their culture, and they can learn about their culture through art. "A lot of young kids want to learn carving, but there is no outlet," he said.
If a child has a father that is a carver, the child will learn, he said. Each child needs to have the interest and a mentor. "It's up to our kids" to want to learn, he said.
How he learned: "By trial and error." And patience. When he began carving with his father at 13, the elder Hunt gave him small projects to work on until he had it perfected. "By the time I was done, I knew all the steps," he said. When he was 21, he became an apprentice carver under his father at the Royal British Columbia Museum.
Art as a career: "What a great way to go through life, doing what belongs to you."
Art from other cultures he enjoys: Aztec, Inca, the pyramids.
Cultural significance of art: What an artist does - be it carving or ceremonial dance - is earned or passed on through family, "what we refer to as ownership," he said. Many of the designs featured in Hunt's artwork were passed on to him through his father; Hunt is his father's artistic successor.
Likewise, Hunt said the frog helmet he carved belongs to his sister, a frog dancer. He can carve the helmet because he is a carver, but he cannot wear the helmet because the ceremonial dance belongs in this way to his sister.
He explained on his Web site www.richardhunt.com: "We go to our elders to ask them what we can do, and we don't do dances, animals or mythical creatures that don't belong to us. If we did that the elders could cause us shame, or the owners of these could come and cause us shame and we'd have to rectify the situation."
Art as cultural property: Hunt believes art should be recognized as cultural property because the art comes from the artist's culture.
"When I travel I talk to people and I always talk about art versus cultural property," Hunt wrote on his Web site. "I think that if you call it art, you give everyone a chance to do what belongs to us ? I think that has to be stopped, because the last thing our people have is our culture.
"? if we have our culture, I see it as a way people can make a good living, or maybe at least a half-decent living, and all they're doing is making it out of something that they already own. It was always here before the Europeans showed up and it'll be here forever."
Hunt continued, "When I do something, I don't give the person the right to dance this mask or the right to claim it as his own. All he can do is claim the mask; he doesn't claim the culture that goes with it. I've given him the right to display what is mine."
Forty to 60 percent of what is sold as indigenous art is fake, Hunt said. Many photographs of indigenous art do not identify the artist and are taken without the artist's permission. Unfortunately for indigenous artists, "many galleries look the other way," he said.
- Richard Walker is a correspondent reporting from San Juan Island, Wash. Contact him at irishmex2000@yahoo.com.
Richard Hunt at a glance
Born: April 25, 1951, in Fort Rupert, B.C.
Family: Wife, Sandra; daughters, Sarah, 27; and Emily, 14.
Home: Victoria, British Columbia.
Education: Trained as a carver by his father, Henry Hunt apprenticed at his family's Thunderbird Park Carving Program located at the Royal BC Museum. Later promoted to chief carver.
Most Prominent Public Art: A 27-foot totem in Duncan, B.C. It has a 6-foot face and a 14-foot talking stick.
Honors: Honorary doctorate from the University of Victoria. Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts. Recipient of the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.
Philosophy: "Try to make the next one better than the last one. Try to change. I had never carved a frog helmet before. If I make another one, I'm going to make it better."
Please visit the Indian Country Today website for more articles related to this topic.
|
