We lived in harmony with nature and developed a sophisticated culture over a long time. We were able to do that because of the abundance the Creator provided here on the Coast. The Creator gave us the food-gathering times in the spring, summer, and autumn so that throughout the winter, we could engage in ceremony, feasting, and potlaching.
Beau Dick
We have known Bernadette Phan for a few years now. Amazing visual artist, she also works supporting people and creating community around the East Side Vancouver Downtown. A great role model for our community.
We had a studio visit with Bernadette, enjoyed her art as we dreamed of her time with our community. We loved her idea of doing a nature walk first, in which the community could learn about the ecology of the natural environment where our gathering will take place. A week after we will gather at the same spot, this time Bernadette will lead us into an artistic, creative, and meditative journey.
We decided to gather at the Hastings Sanctuary. *
The Hastings Sanctuary has become one of our favourite places around Hastings/Sunrise. We have visited the Sanctuary at different times of the year. The Sanctuary is home to more than 100 bird species, we have met some of them, blue herons, ducks, cormorants, hawks, and flickers. We have also encountered some of the plants living there, native hawthorn, sycamore trees, thimble and salmon berries, wapato, hemlock and douglas fir, lupine, plantain, and pacific ninebark. Across the street, some grandmother cottonwood trees are home to an eagle nest. We appreciate the beauty of the rocks we walked on.
We imagine the existence of these kinds of spaces around the city. Sanctuaries for animals and plants, but also for us, humans, to re-learn our role in nature. Water reservoirs, living habitat for the salmon to come back, for the ducks and other aquatic birds. Refuges for the kids to roam free, to be one with everything.
Bernadette invited us onto a meditative journey, an asking to leave behind our fears and miss-beliefs around our artistic skills. Our creativity flourished from inside, from the connection with the natural surroundings, and the communal space. The journey allowed our relations in nature to flow.
The morning at the Hastings Sanctuary with Bernadette felt hopeful, relaxed, and in synchronicity with our creativity.
When we thought the session had ended, Bernadette pulled a beautiful and powerful object. A portrait of her dog, Odin, a mask made by the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw (kʷakʷəkʲəʔwakʷ) chief and artist, Beau Dick (1955-2017). The magic inundated the air through the presence of beauty and kindness of the mask. We felt blessed.
Photos by MP & Laura C
Beau´s masks were created for both ceremonial uses in the communities, to be danced, as well as for art exhibits. According to Beau, if the masks are not danced they are not fully activated. On February 10, 2013, Beau performed a copper-cutting ceremony on the steps of the BC Legislature in Victoria, in conjunction with a variety of activists, including local members of Idle No More. Having embarked on a 10-day, 500km walk from Alert Bay to Victoria, the gesture was intended to bring attention to the abuse of Native treaties by the federal government, as well as highlight the negative repercussions of commercial fish farms on Vancouver Island.**
Beau Dick has been one of our sources of inspiration, he has guided us in spirit and through his art and actions. He showed us the power of symbolic actions, those small gestures that transformed our lives and community through acts of kindness, trust, ceremonies, rituals, and connections with Mother Earth and the spirits.
We left the Sanctuary with amazing pieces of art created from that place of trust and power, from our hearts. Our gratitude to Bernadette for sharing her art and love with us.
Drawings by Laura C & MP
* More about Hastings Sanctuary
** Some information has been sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beau_Dick
To learn more about Beau Dick's life and art, see Maker of Monsters: The Extraordinary Life of Beau Dick, 2017, a documentary film by LaTiesha Fazakas and Natalie Boll.
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