David Bondt art work

After reflecting over all that we covered in our readings this semester, I found I was most fascinated with the art relating to the first nation peoples. Learning about the native struggles within the art world continues to show the in justices these individuals face. I am also grateful that I had the opportunity to experience art shows in Canada that focused on native artists. It was not until this course that I realized how the native art I viewed as a child/adult really impacted my creative process today.  I can associate my great love of color due to viewing the many works of Anishinaabe artist Norval Morisseau and the beautiful animal prints made by the Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak.

The work I created for this assignment is stylistically inspired by the aforementioned native artists whom I admire so greatly. The technique I used is called “collography” print making method, which is a new process for me. I designed a salmon representative from the Pacific North West native art style called “Haida.” This piece is in response of seeing a PBS program on the removal of a dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State. The video shows the incredible transformation of a predominantly native community that witnesses the salmon returning to an area where they once thrived. There is also an important story which tells us what the salmon represents to the Pacific Northwest Coast people and it goes like this:

“The people believed that Salmon were actually humans with eternal life who lived in a large house far under the ocean. In the Spring, they put on their Salmon disguises and offered themselves to the villagers as food. The tribes believed that when entire fish skeletons were returned to the sea, the spirits would rise again and change into Salmon people. In this way, the cycle could begin again the following year. Since the villagers feared that the Salmon people would not be treated respectfully by White people who had no knowledge of the taboos and regulations, they did not want to sell Salmon to the first White men.”

 My piece represents the selling of the Salmon to white men who cut off the ends of their tails which keeps them from swimming upstream (representative of the damn).They are also swimming in a circle which represents their completed life cycle once the damn is removed.

http://artfromthetribe.com/?symbol=Salmon

http://video.pbs.org/video/2336971141/