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Chance meeting results in First Nation exhibition

The First Nations art exhibition at the Four Seasons Resort this weekend is the result of a chance meeting and an intriguing conversation about skunk cabbage.

What: First Nations exhibition

Where: Four Seasons Resort, Ballroom

When: Sept. 4-5

The Four Seasons’ Resort Manager, Rudy Mack, said the idea for this exhibition was born when he met Vince Robinson, an attendant at a First Nations gift shop in Squamish, and asked him about the skunk cabbage plant.

Rather than just skip the details, Robinson gave Mack a "detailed history of the mythic qualities of the skunk cabbage."

Mack was impressed.

The result is that this Labour Day weekend there will be an exhibition featuring five First Nations artists from the Bella Coola region of B.C.

Mack said this exhibit will also be a test case.

In addition to the more established artists, 83-year-old Elsie Robinson, a well-known basket weaver from the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribe, will also have her work on display.

"I would really like to do a whole series of exhibitions," said Mack.

"But I need to do the first one and see where else I can go with it because I would like to get in touch with some of our First Nations in Whistler because this is our host city.

"Then we could do some of the First Nations artists from Squamish and Pemberton."

The artists participating in this weekend’s exhibition include:

Alvin Mack – wood carvings plus gold and silver jewelry.

Mack was born on Nov. 27, 1956 in Bella Coola, B.C., the last son of renowned carver William Mack, and his wife Elizabeth.

At the age of 13, inspired by his father, Alvin began to experiment with carving yellow cedar. In 1989, he established his home-based business, The Lightbringer Gallery, where he markets all his art creations. They range from yellow and red cedar carvings, masks, paddles, plaques, spoons, rattles, bowls, as well as bent wood boxes and totem poles, gold and silver jewellery, original traditional paintings and limited edition prints and clothing with traditional silk screen design.

Throughout his career Alvin has sought to further refine his traditional Nuxalk art. Alvin believes, that to be his true self, he must create works of art which please a wide audience.

James Mack – Native bronze jewelry and wood art of Bella Coola.

Hereditary chief of the Nuxalk Nation, James was born on July 28, 1952 in Bella Coola. In 1992, James graduated from the Kitanman School of North West Coast Indian Art in Hazelton, B.C.  Most recently, he has received his diploma in Jewellery Art and Design at Vancouver Community College, and completed a bronze casting sculpturing program at Capilano College. His greatest desire is to work towards a family-owned business and to transfer his knowledge and skills to the First Nation youth.

Art (Silyas) Saunders – master wood carver and historian and chief Tseshaht Band Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribe (People of the Mountains).

Nuxalk carver Silyas Saunders was born in Bella Coola in 1936, the son of Joe Saunders Sr., a master boat and canoe builder and fisherman. His ancestral home is in the villages at the mouth of the Dean River and at Kimsquit, and he is part of the last generation of Nuxalk people who can speak their language. Silyas had his first fishing boat when he was 14 and his first tree falling job when he was 17. A lifetime of working in the forests and on the seas has given him a special connection to the natural world around him.

As a recovering alcoholic, Silyas has also experienced the pain and destruction alcohol has brought to many First Nations families.

In 1999, despite carving seriously for less than three years, Silyas became the first international artist awarded the prestigious Native Artist Fellowship from The National Museum of the American Indian in New York City.

In October of that year he travelled to New York and spent three weeks conducting research at museums there, as well as in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Many of his earlier masks can be seen on the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Web site at: www.conexus.si.edu/saunders_s/index.htm .

Gordon Dick – gold and siilver jewelry

Gordon is Nuu-Chah-nuth from the Tsheshaht tribe on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, where he was born and still resides. Gordon has been developing as an artist since he was 15 and has worked in a variety of mediums, including painting, drawing, ceramics, and wood craving. Gordon engraves West Coast Native art in gold, silver and copper. His original designs are both contemporary and traditional, combining a variety of metals and precious stones.

Lynae Robson – drawings/sketches

Robson was born in Ottawa in 1950. After graduation from high school she won a scholarship and was accepted to the Alberta College of Art. She has worked as a painter for movies, commercials, theatrical productions and exhibits.

Her latest work includes The Little People, known by native people as mystical, magical creatures that exist in the forests. Some dances were given to the coastal natives and taught by the little people.

Lynae was recently commissioned to draw a portrait of Chief Skidegate of the Haida Nation.