Surprising Lessons I Have Learned from Arta (Things About Arta #44)

Catherine at The Spirit of Haida Gwaii
by Bill Reid

Arta sees the opportunity for learning everywhere.  

When I was a teenager, she planned an outing for her teenagers.  The outing was to go and study public art in various buildings around Calgary.  

You can imagine what a hit that kind of outing was for her teenagers who lacked vision and were still looking for high adventure and to be entertained. 

The planned event bombed, not through any fault of Arta’s, but because of the short-sightedness of a gaggle of teenagers.  

Arta salvaged the outing with a box of glazed and speciality doughnuts which did satisfied the basic appetites and cravings of her adolescents. 

The lesson-learned, that I only really got as an adult, was that there is beauty around us in many places if we care to open our eyes to see it.  Community art is valuable and can be a powerful tool for stimulating thought and conversation.  It can help us better understand ourselves and the world around us.    

 

So, repenting of my past ways, what did I do during my 3-hour layover in the Vancouver Airport, enroute to Victoria to visit Arta? Why, I spent 2 hours investigating the public art in the Vancouver airport so I could share it with Arta when I arrived for my visit. 

Raven at the Rudder of the Boat.

What did I learn?  

The Vancouver airport may have one of the largest collections of public Indigenous and Inuit art in the world.  

The collection is quite frankly just stunning. 
 
The masterpiece is The Spirit of Haida Gwaii by Bill Reid.  The green copy of this bronze statue is in Vancouver, the black version outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C and the white clay version from with the bronze versions were cast in in the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa.  

I know this sculpture well as it used to be on the back of the Canadian $20 bill.  As described by the author: 

“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 for 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 of what is to come…there is certainly no lack of activity in our little boat, but is there any purpose?  Is the tall figure who may or may not be the Spirit of Haida Gwaii leading us, for we are all in the same boat, to a sheltered beach beyond the rim of the world as he seems to be, or is he lost in a dream of his own dreamings? The boat moves on, forever anchored in the same place.”   

Bear, Bear Mother, and the twins Good Bear and Bad Bear

I’d highly recommend studying all the figures in the boat.  A motley crew of people with different characters, strengths and weaknesses.  

Kind of like this crazy country we call home, or like a gaggle of adolescents on an outing with their mother.  

All in this big boat together—making it work, paddling together, hopefully moving to that sheltered beach beyond the rim of the world.   

 

Which character in the boat  is your favourite and why?  

The Raven, Mouse Women, Grizzly Bear, Bear Mother, Good Bear, Bad Bear, Beaver, Dogfish women, Eagle, Frog, Wolf, human paddler in Haida garb (Ancient Reluctant Conscript), human shaman (Spirit of Haida Gwaii). 

 

The Spirit of Haida Gwaii

Ancient Reluctant Conscript or the human

Mouse Woman, hiding under Raven's wing

Beaver's Tail

Frog, sticking out his tongue at you.

 

All in this big boat together—paddling