Maisie Hurley (1887-1964) was one of BC’s most well-known native activists in the 1940s through to the 1960s. Strong-willed and complicated, she left her mark on the province’s history.
I profile this unconventional woman who had stories to tell and battles to win, in the summer 2012 issue of BC History journal (45.2).
-Janet Nicol
A retrospective exhibit – March 7 to September 3, 2012 Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver
by Janet Nicol
Northwest coast carver and artist Doug Cranmer shunned the limelight in his lifetime (he died in 2006), but now a retrospective exhibition at Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology shines a bright light on a collection of his works known as indigenous modern. “It was all about the process,” says curator Dr. Jennifer Kramer. “He was always trying new things. In his work, traditional and contemporary merged without his losing a sense of self.” Kesu’, the title of the show, means “wealth being carved.” Doug Cranmer was given the name by his Kwakwaka’wakw parents when he was a child growing up in Alert Bay. “His family saw him being carved to be a noble person,” Kramer says.
Kesu’ captures the spirit of an artist who would have rather remained elusive. “He hated to be labelled,” Kramer says. He didn’t want to be called a ‘master carver’ if it meant there was nothing new to try. “He wasn’t going to be able to ‘play’ if he was a ‘master’,” she adds.
While Cranmer took on the traditional leadership duties expected of him, he also worked as a fisherman and logger, and in the late 1950s, he met artist Mungo Martin, who showed him how to carve totem poles. Soon after, he was hired by Haida artist Bill Reid and worked with other carvers on the Haida houses and totem poles for the Museum of Anthropology. His life as a full-time artist had begun. Cranmer stayed on in Vancouver, and became very much part of the art scene in the 1960s and 1970s, creating works in several media and establishing The Talking Stick, the first Native-owned gallery in Canada in 1962, which he ran for six years.
Cranmer’s art sold across Canada and internationally but he wasn’t looking for fame and fortune. “Doug Cranmer was part of the Northwest coast renaissance at the same time as Bill Reid, but he wasn’t interested in selling himself,” Kramer says. “He wasn’t into pleasing others. He followed his own internal focus.”
There are 105 pieces of Cranmer’s work in the MOA exhibition, including carvings, paintings, jewellery, prints on burlap and abstract paintings on mahogany. In fact, Cranmer pioneered abstract and non-figurative paintings using Northwest Coast ovoids and U-shapes. He taught and inspired a generation of First Nations artists, and 20 of these artists’ pieces are also part of the retrospective. In 1996 Cranmer left Vancouver to return ‘home’ to Alert Bay. He was still teaching in the island town’s carving shed in the days before he died.
The show centres on a canoe and paddles surrounded by undersea creatures, carved by Cranmer in 1970. “His work is spare, refined, elegant and simple,” Kramer says of the work. “There’s also a painting of a canoe which is abstract,” she adds. “He was using geometric shapes to show a canoe from every perspective,” she says of an abstract painting of a canoe. “I put this next to the carved canoe, so people can look at Doug’s work from many perspectives too. He can’t be summed up.”
Audio elements in the show include interviews with the artist, the sound of chainsaws — a tool he relished, jazz music, which he loved to listen to and the sound of laughter, representing Cranmer’s sharp wit. It also includes details of his life and personality in family photographs — Cranmer’s widow and sister worked closely with the curator. “I didn’t know Doug Cranmer personally,” Kramer says. “But I spoke to over 50 people who knew Doug.”
Reprinted from Galleries West magazine, Summer 2012
Young First Nations people in Manitoba tackle their number one problem – suicide among their peers. I interview First Nations activists to learn more about this trailblazing approach.
For the full article, see the May 2012 issue of New Internationalist magazine.
by Janet Nicol
Observe the curving lines of raked gravel, the simple and precise arrangement of rocks, and the sound of a waterfall in a Zen garden. Breathe deeply and let go of worries. Meditation in a Zen garden will clear the clutter from your mind and nourish the spirit.
Cancer patients are often encouraged to meditate as a way to reduce stress and strengthen the mind-body connection. Meditating in a Zen garden as a complementary therapy enhances this experience.
The uniquely calming oasis invites awareness of an environment beyond the self and helps patients regain a sense of perspective and control. Just being “present” provides an opportunity to embrace the healing impact of nature.
Tranquility
Buddhist monks in Kyoto, the garden city of Japan, have welcomed visitors over the last five centuries to their Zen garden at the Ryoanji Temple. Monks sit on benches to contemplate the carefully arranged vegetation, rocks, and water elements. Beds of gravel are raked in patterns suggesting rippling water, symbolizing the sea.
Japanese gardens are also located across Canada (see end of article). The arrangement, colours, and content of the garden evoke tranquility. The garden design is minimalist. As well, the palette of garden colours is deliberately limited so visitors’ senses are soothed, not overstimulated. Researchers note Zen gardens instill a sense of harmony and foundation among visitors.
Mindfulness
Meditation in a Zen garden can simply mean relaxing quietly. Practising mindful meditation may be even more beneficial. Of all the meditation methods available, Australian researcher Ainslie Meares found cultivating emptiness—the “absence of discriminative thought”—to be the most powerful type of meditation for healing. Meares suggests clearing the mind is, in fact, more powerful than thought-filled meditation such as positive thinking or guided imagery.
The BC Cancer Clinic offers an introduction to mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) meditation and basic yoga in an eight-week program offered throughout the year. Participants are asked to commit to a daily practice of approximately 45 minutes for optimal benefit. This practice has helped cancer patients to lower pain levels, reduce anxiety, and increase their sense of well-being.
Therapeutic healing gardens, including Zen gardens, are becoming more accessible to cancer patients as researchers continue to study their positive impact. Some gardens also provide horticultural therapy as a component of their stress-reduction therapies for clients diagnosed with cancer.
Stress reduction
Japanese gardens offer unique healing properties to vulnerable populations, according to a study conducted by Rutgers University. Researchers reported that patients who sit in these gardens experience reduced stress and enhanced well-being.
Some treatment facilities have designed Zen gardens with the needs of cancer patients in mind. Features include pathways that are symbolic of the cancer journey, with stepping stones and large boulders resembling challenges patients and their families may face along the way.
Healing
A cancer treatment centre at a community hospital in Oregon has designed an innovative garden setting. Patients receive treatment while sitting in ergonomic chairs, looking out through floor-to-ceiling windows at a Japanese garden containing waterfalls and a pond filled with koi. Japanese gardens emphasize natural patterns and human health, making them well suited for relaxation therapy and holistic cancer treatment.
Karen Wallace, a Vancouver Island art therapist, encourages her clients to create their own Zen garden. “The act of raking motion is meant to have a calming and centring effect on the person raking,” she explains. “Playing with the patterns can be a way to open or close a therapy session.”
Contemplation
Master gardener Yoshihiro Kawasaki was trained in Kyoto and has a landscaping business in Vancouver called Zen Gardens. “Zen gardens have a beautiful aesthetic,” Kawasaki says in an interview with alive, “and they are also contemplative.”
Several clients have requested Zen gardens after raising children, says Dorothy Kennedy, Kawasaki’s wife and business partner. “They want to replace the basketball court with a peaceful garden. But our clients could be from any age group.”
“Beginning my day by walking through an orderly, structured garden is the perfect antidote to the random chaos of everyday life,” says homeowner Michele Davidson, whose garden was created by Kawasaki.
“I have come to see the landscape of my Zen garden as a metaphor for the emotional landscape of my life,” she says, “with its pathways, hints of the hidden, hard surfaces and soft surfaces, greenery, blossoms, and shadows.”
Kawasaki adds, “These gardens have a calming effect, a healing power.”
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Create a Zen garden
Do-it-yourself gardening books offer people an opportunity to create a Zen garden in their own backyard or on an apartment balcony.
If space is a consideration, a tabletop Zen garden consisting of a tray containing sand and stones can replicate a Japanese garden inside your home. These are available at select garden shops.
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Visit a Zen garden
Japanese Garden and Pavilion, Montreal Botanical Garden
Its emerald-green stones, mined in Quebec,
represent islands within the dry landscape.
www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/jardin/en/japonais/japonais.htm
Zen Garden, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec
Built on the museum’s rooftop in 1995, its theme is Wakei No Niwa, which means to know and respect Canadian and Japanese cultures. civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cmc/architecture/tour17e.shtml
The Zen Garden, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto
Originally designed as a two-month exhibit, it honours the physical centre of Buddhist cosmology found at the sacred site of Mt. Kailas in western Tibet. talesoftheearth.com/pages08/gdn_zen.html
The David G. Porter Memorial Japanese Garden, Guelph University
Built in 1995 and dedicated to the late Dr. Porter, a professor at the university who became interested in dry landscape gardens
on a trip to Japan in 1993.
uoguelph.ca/arboretum/collectionsandresearch/gardens-japanese.shtml
Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, Lethbridge, Alberta
The teahouse, bell tower, azumaya shelter, gates, and bridges were built with yellow cypress wood by Japanese artisans and then shipped to Lethbridge. nikkayuko.com
Nitobe Memorial Garden, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Located at the edge of the UBC campus, it is considered one of the top five Japanese gardens outside Japan and features a rare authentic tea garden with a ceremonial tea house. botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/nitobe
Published in Alive magazine, March, 2012
Come from Afar by Gayla Reid, Cormorant Books, Toronto, 2011. 363 pp, $32 (hardcover)
Reviewed by Janet Nicol
The Spanish Civil War was a romantic lost cause and continues to attract writers’ attention since the days of Ernest Hemingway, who drove ambulances on the rebel side, while conjuring story lines for his novel. Telling the tale from a women’s perspective is still unique all these decades later. BC writer Gayla Reid’s fills this gap admirably with her novel, ‘Come from Afar.’ Reid—originally from Australia and one of the founder’s of Room magazine–has created a multi-dimensional character in Clancy Cox.
A young woman eager for adventure, Clancy travels from an Australian ghost town to work in England. She marries the brother of the man she actually loves and the couple move to a small fishing village in Catalonia, Spain. Here Clancy begins to absorb the soul of the Spanish people as the author describes: “The local women, mending the brown nets on the beach during the day, did not sing. But the women down at the inn sang. They sang in the house above the bar and in the impressive garden they tended beside and behind the inn.”
The fishing village becomes an important touchstone in Clancy’s psyche and provides a central stage for much of the hardships ahead. She is abruptly widowed and when civil war breaks out between the fascists and the rebels in 1936, she throws herself in to the ‘cause,’ volunteering as a nurse. Clancy is an ally to the male volunteers who pour in from around the world and form brigades to fight Franco’s soldiers, financed by Hitler and Mussolini. Weary from a four year European war and economic depression, the world’s democracies passively watch on.
The reader is made aware of bloody skirmishes, aerial bombings and political intrigues, but much of the war is reflected in make-shift hospitals, where Clancy labours to help the wounded and dying. She believes in her own healing powers as she faces the greater losing battle.
Clancy also meets other stoic doctors and nurses, and even the cellist Caslos, who comes to play for the patients. She describes his powerful music: ‘A melody edges on into the strangeness of things, coming at last to an open place that sounds like joy and sorrow fused, nothing less.’ At the hospital she also finds her true love, Douglas Ross, a soldier from New Westminster, BC and a member of the Canadian brigade, the Mackenzie-Papineau Brigade (the ‘Mac-Pacs’). More complications of the heart are ahead.
Actual nurses’ accounts were researched by the author, producing compelling details as Clancy describes her work: ‘The afternoon brought more stomachs, legs, arms, hands. And the worst, the head injury cases. By the end of my shift, forty-nine men had been classified.’ The author also read widely about this pivotal four year civil war, as indicated in the historical notes and bibliography.
Expect graceful storytelling, with only subtle references to historical fact. The reader is carried ‘afar’ with Clancy, embarking on valuable experiences and promise of the ‘lights of home’ at journey’s end.
Reprinted from Room magazine, 35.1 (February, 2012)
Aboriginal Circle Campaign calls for justice for First Nations citizens
by Janet Nicol
“We want our kids to grow up to become whatever they want to be; to have fulfilling lives and not to be disadvantaged from the beginning,” says Mike Ballard, who works as a fishery officer field supervisor for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in Campbell River, B.C. A Metis, Ballard is speaking of the reasons behind the union campaign called “Justice for Aboriginal Peoples – It’s Time.” Launched by the Public Service Alliance of Canada on last year’s National Aboriginal Day (June 21), it is meant to raise public awareness about the issues facing Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and to ensure the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the federal government, is acted upon.
“We are asking for quality of life, as per the UN Declaration,” Ballard says. “There are 116 boil-water advisories on reserves. This is because there’s no treatment.” Ballard says a lack of adequate infrastructure also results in substandard housing and education.
Ballard is a member of Local 20147, the Union of Environment Workers, which is a component of the PSAC. He is also an original member of the PSAC’s Aboriginal Peoples’ Circle, the 12-member equity group at the heart of the campaign. The circle is comprised of one male and one female member, each pair representing one of six regions in Canada. Members network, attend workshops and conferences and engage in supportive actions in and outside the workplace. The campaign for justice is their campaign.
MAKING THINGS RIGHT
“Canadians need to see the value of First Nations people,” says Ballard. “Some of our most vulnerable citizens are from this community.” He says the reserve system has created a lot of social and economic problems, at times reflected by the disproportionate number of Aboriginal people incarcerated in Canadian prisons. The only alternative is moving to the city, where many risk getting lost, and don’t always fit in. The years of oppression “drag the country down,” Ballard observes.
“The world is enchanted by First Nations culture and our contributions in art, traditions, storytelling, history and culture,” he says, calling the campaign an opportunity for Canadians to make things right for Aboriginal people. The UN declaration is a hollow promise, unless the federal government implements its contents. “We need to embrace this document,” says Ballard.
Joey Dunphy is new to the PSAC’s Aboriginal Peoples’ Circle. He works with border services in Edmundston, New Brunswick and has been a PSAC member for about four years, in the Customs and Immigration (CIU) component. Dunphy is a Maliseet, speaks fluent French and English, and says his newborn son motivates his desire to better the lives of Aboriginal people. “I want the government to respect the UN declaration and be held accountable so that my son has the same possibilities as other Canadians.”
HEALTHY COMMUNITIES ON ALL RESERVES
While some reserves function well because of positive economic development, Dunphy also speaks about those with boil-water advisories. “We want healthy communities on all reserves,” he says. “The government helps Third World countries with donations. We should look within Canada.”
Dunphy is involved in both PSAC and his employer group, supporting diversity and equity hiring. “Unions are there to help,” Dunphy says, but observes that not all Aboriginal people see it this way. He hopes to change this perception. “I plan to network within the Atlantic region. I will be a contact for whatever members need and will work for members and non-members of PSAC on Aboriginal issues.” As well, Dunphy says there are plans to organize local band office staff. “Some First Nations band offices change and there are mass firings,” he says. “A union offers job security, which is important in today’s world.”
He says the PSAC National Aboriginal Peoples’ Conference in Yellowknife, held in the fall of 2011, was amazing. “I got to meet co-workers from across the country. Some are older than me but want the same things: a better environment, more jobs and equal treatment.”
SPIRITUALITY INTO POLITICS
Sandra Lockhart isn’t only interested in bread-and-butter union issues. Social justice also motivates this Cree woman who moved to Yellowknife several years ago, and who is now the coordinator of the Aboriginal Wellness Program at Stanton Territorial Health Authority. A member of Union of Northern Workers Local 11 (PSAC), Lockhart is also the Circle’s northern representative. “We need to bring more equality into our lives,” she says, “and work is part of our lives.”
Lockhart is sceptical about the federal government supporting Aboriginal peoples’ rights. “We have no equity hiring in the North,” she says. “We have ‘priority hiring,’ and there’s shaming among Aboriginal people if you get hired this way. Those who do get in have entry-level jobs and may not be as assertive as they could be, so there are few promotions.”
“There is not enough Aboriginal [union] involvement in the North, in comparison to our numbers,” Lockhart also observes.
Lockhart believes keeping one’s balance as an activist is an ongoing challenge. “I rely on cultural teachings,” she says. “I bring spirituality into my politics. We need to talk about the pain of growth in the union.”
PUSHING BACK
A topic at the Yellowknife conference was “environmental racism.” Lockhart explains the unique term, step-by-step. “All our relationships are interdependent,” she says. “We are responsible to everyone. The earth nurtures us and we need to give back. If we don’t, there are consequences.”
And then there is capitalism. “When we push back against it, people say, ‘Oh those Aboriginals,’” she says. “We need to think about sustainability, but our society doesn’t think far ahead. When we say ‘don’t touch our water’ or ‘stop developing on our land,’ it [the debate] becomes based on race rather than sustainability. We have to get mad to get people to listen, even though we have presented the facts.”
“The earth has the medicines we need and if we get sick the earth will provide, but we are slaughtering the earth,” Lockhart says. “It all began with land and now it’s about resources. We are signing international agreements giving away our jobs and resources.”
“Our rights are only as strong as our responsibility,” she says. “PSAC is taking ownership. We are pushing back, not just fighting back. We are holding ourselves accountable.”
“We have to rock the boat, not just inside our own union, but inside ourselves,” Lockhart believes. “In poverty-stricken countries, Aboriginal people are getting killed for standing up for their beliefs. Here, residential schools took our language; environmental racism is about taking our source of life. We are pushing back for humanity as a whole.”
SPIRIT IN A MATERIAL WORLD
“When we have to declare that our lives are sacred, we are in trouble,” adds Lockhart. “Everyone is indigenous to the earth. If we got rid of the ‘indigenous problem,’ who would take our place?” she asks, then proceeds to answer her own question. “There is a movement to get rid of the messenger, but we would end up living without spirit in a material world.”
Lockhart says, “We need to shift from ‘I’ to ‘we.’ All living things need to be protected — one can’t live without the other.”
Alisha Bigelow, a member of Union of Taxation Employees Local 50021 (UTE/PSAC), has been a Prairie representative of the circle since the equity group began. A Cree woman, she lives and works in Winnipeg. Bigelow says, “It is our time to stand up for issues important to us.” She, too, is campaigning for clean and accessible water for all Aboriginal communities. Bigelow has been filling bottles with “unclean” water and delivering them to Members of Parliament. She includes her contact information on the bottle label, with the words: “Let’s have a drink!”
VOICES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Reaching out to people who are interested in Aboriginal people’s issues and who truly want to see a change is a primary objective of the campaign, according to Bigelow. “There is more to us then what people see in the streets. We have talents, we have great advice to give, and we have culture and ceremonies that we share, nation to nation,” she says.
Bigelow sees distinct cultural and traditional differences among the Aboriginal peoples in the six regions represented by circle members. “We combine our knowledge to get the message out, understanding we are Aboriginal people with not necessarily the same concerns across the country, but with a voice that can reach across the country, whether it is my campaign or someone else’s.”
Bigelow was one of several union members who took part in the video made for the campaign “Justice for Aboriginal Peoples — It’s Time.” “All Aboriginal people deserve a voice and I believe this video shows the reality and the faces of Aboriginal people willing to work and campaign for their rights and justice,” she says. “As one of Canada’s largest unions, I am proud we started this campaign.”
NO JUSTICE FOR MISSING WOMEN
Marion McLarty, a Metis from Saskatchewan, has lived in six different parts of Canada, including Newfoundland. She now works for Parks Canada in Vancouver, and has been an activist in PSAC for seven years as a member of Union of National Employees Local 20150 (UNE), a PSAC component. She is in her second three-year term with the circle.
“The work in the circle is fantastic,” McLarty says. “We supported the Sharon McIvor court case. I was able to thank her in person for her struggle.” McIvor challenged a discriminatory section of the Indian Act, which disenfranchised Aboriginal women who married non-Aboriginals. Her long fight, which began in the 1980s, continues says McLarty, and the circle will continue to lend their support to her.
“I have been active with women’s issues for a long time,” McLarty says, “including the issue of the Downtown Eastside missing and murdered women.” McLarty says the disproportionate violence committed against Aboriginal women and the lack of justice is a major concern. “I lived in Ontario for 10 years and witnessed [serial killer, Paul] Bernardo’s arrest and trial. Seeing the public outcry and attention given to the Bernardo trial and then coming here and seeing the lack of justice on missing women when people knew who was involved — it was disgusting.”
McLarty is critical of the ongoing missing women inquiry in B.C., which is following the trial and sentencing of serial killer Robert Pickton. She is particularly critical of the lack of funding made available to women’s advocacy groups, compared to funding given to the RCMP. Several women’s groups have boycotted the inquiry as a result.
DEFINING OUR ISSUES
“Aboriginal rights within unions are also a big battle,” McLarty says. “The number of Aboriginals in attendance in all unions is small.”
There are special hiring policy agreements for Aboriginals within select departments of the federal government. But this can create a problem in itself, with statistics showing that 75 per cent of Aboriginals hired by the federal government are only within these sections. “This creates a ghetto,” McLarty says, “with few opportunities to move to other departments.” “Most positions are entry level with low pay, and Aboriginals don’t see a future. They experience racism, and may also feel they only got hired because of the special hiring policy and have the perception they are working with the enemy. They feel they are working for our colonizers; working for people implementing programs that have been so destructive.”
McLarty says the circle tries to reach out to Aboriginal members, offering regional training courses on the topics such as trade unions, and defining Aboriginal voices. She says the union has also developed a program on Aboriginal awareness for all members. McLarty has served as a co-facilitator, leading discussions on the history of colonization; the impact of residential schools; and general Aboriginal awareness. She says this current campaign is for everybody, and is about making the government accountable to the UN Declaration. “We want restored funding for ‘Sisters in Spirit,’” McLarty also says, referring to the women’s group which has, among other actions, advocated on missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
“We want an end to the need for boil-water advisories on reserves. We have had to fight when we leave our land and it is hard to not be assimilated. We are facing looming cuts to Aboriginal programs and transfer payments to bands, which we need to maintain our infrastructure.”
“B.C. doesn’t have historic treaties,” McLarty points out. “Conditions on reserves, especially in the Interior, include the basic need for telecommunication.” As a result of urban and rural disparities, many Aboriginal people are being forced off their land, she adds.
“We need to define our issues, not have others define them,” McLarty says. “We want self-determination and self-government. This campaign is good timing.”
Reprinted from Our Times magazine, January 2012
By Janet Nicol
Vancouver realtor and art collector Bob Rennie’s Wing Sang gallery in the city’s Chinatown neighbourhood will house the first satellite gallery of the Royal British Columbia Museum. A unique concept, Rennie’s donation of gallery space during the summer months will give greater public access to the province’s valuable Victoria-based collection.
“We’re very excited about this possibility,” says museum CEO Pauline Rafferty. “We’ve had travelling exhibitions, but have always wanted a satellite gallery, to share our treasures with a larger population.” The inaugural exhibition at Wing Sang opens June 15 and features Emily Carr’s artwork, sketchbooks, photographs and diaries.
“It will be wonderful to be in Chinatown,” Rafferty says. The Wing Sang building at 51 East Pender Street is the oldest building in Chinatown, making it a good fit for the museum partnership, she adds. Summer exhibitions at the satellite gallery will focus on the museum’s human and natural history artifacts, amassed over the last 125 years. “When we curate these shows, we’ll also consider how the objects will fit into the space,” she says.
Rennie calls the collaboration a good fit, adding that the additional space will give the public more access to the museum’s enormous collection of artifacts. “There are seven million pieces,” he says. “They need space to breathe.”
He adds that part of the purpose behind the project is to help stabilize the neighbourhood, adjacent to Vancouver’s troubled downtown eastside. “We thought culture would be the best role we could take. ” He estimates 30,000 people will visit the gallery this summer, giving a boost to the nearby attractions, including local restaurants and shops, and the Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden across the street.
The front section of the three-storey Wing Sang building was built in 1889 by businessman Yip Sang, who added an extension in 1912 for his four wives and 23 children, with an elevated passageway connecting the two buildings. Eventually the property was vacated and fell into disrepair.
Rennie spent four years on the renovations. His real estate offices are now housed in the front and he’s installed some of his contemporary art collection, first opened to the public in 2009, in a soaring four-storey-high gallery.
Summer visitors to the Royal B.C. Museum satellite will find artifacts and a gift shop on the main floor, before ascending the stairs. “We want to consider how best to use the space and bring out the collection in unusual and unexpected ways,” says Tim Willis, the museum’s director of Exhibitions and Visitor Experience, about the 40-foot-high gallery space. Getting ready for summer of 2012, he’s planning a unique use of the physical space. “We really want to intrigue visitors,” he says.
Reprinted from Galleries West magazine, January, 2012
ROBERT MARCHESSAULT at the Bau Xi Gallery, Vancouver, March 3 to 24, 2012
By Janet Nicol
When Robert Marchessault and his partner moved from Toronto to a farm in the countryside in the 1990s, his long-held passion for trees found new direction. This exhibition shows 15 of his new oil paintings on wooden panels, all ethereal renderings of those trees. “These are not photograph-based,” Marchessault emphasizes. “I use memory as a filtering agent. I train myself to look hard at the trees and at what impresses me. Time goes by and I begin to paint the tree from what I can remember. Memory plays a big role but I am not slavish about memory. I study ways the tree lives and grows, how it branches, moves through space in foliage and form. Then I begin big gestural paintings, and memory informs what emerges.” Marchessault’s love of trees was partly inspired by an Ontario government no-cost tree-planting initiative. He and his partner planted 7,000 saplings on their farm in 1984. He now looks out on to 50-foot-high pines. “You take on a nurturing of the land,” Marchessault says of his private forest. “You’re introducing life and protecting it. This feeling of love drives a passion for art.” Marchessault has also become intrigued by representing water as a foil to trees. New paintings of tree-covered islands appeal to him because they seem ‘mysterious.’
-Reprinted from Galleries West magazine, January 2012
The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton, Sheryl Salloum. Mother Tongue Publishing Limited, Salt Spring Island, 2011. 158 pp $35.95
Reviewed by Janet Nicol
A unique story not to be overlooked, The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton, is the fourth biography in a series of “Unheralded Artists of British Columbia.” Author Sheryl Salloum lovingly portrays Mildred Valley Thornton (1890 to 1967) from her early years in rural Ontario to her unconventional married life in Vancouver. Accompanying the text are several of Thornton’s masterful oil and watercolour paintings as well as family photographs.
Thornton’s legacy includes more than 300 portraits, most of First Nations people. She befriended and learned from her subjects and came to advocate on their behalf. Asked why she chose to paint First Nations people over other groups, Thornton simply said she considered them more interesting.
Several male aboriginal leaders sat for Thornton, but she also painted aboriginal women and vivid scenes of life on the reserves. Thornton painted quickly, as the author explains, skilfully capturing the spirit of her subjects. She felt an urgency to document what she feared was a disappearing way of life. This notion also compelled Thornton to share her paintings and knowledge of First Nations culture and traditions through writing and speaking engagements.
Thornton also painted Canadian landscapes. A few are compared favourably to Group of Seven artist Tom Thomson. Indeed, Thornton was “as Canadian as wheat,” as a contemporary commented.
She lived in a time of of domestic conformity for women, yet histories (such as this book) continue to emerge to indicate exceptions. Thornton was supported by her husband, John who shared in the raising of their twin sons Maitland and Jack, born in 1926, freeing her to spend time to paint and travel. Thornton was also involved with the Vancouver literary community after her family moved here from Saskatchewan in 1934 and was an art critic for the Vancouver Sun from 1944 to 1959.
Another unconventional woman of the times was Maisie Hurley, with whom Thornton befriended. Hurley began publishing The Native Voice newspaper in 1946 and Thornton was an occasional contributor.
Emily Carr was also a contemporary of Thornton’s with a similar interest in aboriginal culture. A quality which separates these artists, the author points out, is Thornton’s sociability and interest of other people. Perhaps because of this, unlike Carr, Thornton portrayed people in her art to the end of her life. The author observes that a male-dominated art world meant: “…the two most talented and independent female BC painters of the day never collaborated or celebrated their achievements; instead,they were forced to compete with one another.”
A wealth of source materials, detailed in extensive endnotes, allowed the author to successfully trace much of Thornton’s life, from her art school days in the mid-west of the United States to her final days as a widow in Vancouver’s Kerrisdale neighbourhood. Interviews with family members including a son, Jack Thornton, now living in Victoria, and two grandchildren Janet and John Thornton, enrich this story as well.
The author explores the reasons acclaim eluded Thornton, garnering viewpoints from members of the art community, past and present. Among her findings, Salloum notes Canadians tend to undervalue portraiture in favour of landscapes. The author also addresses the racial politics of Thornton’s (and others) art work in a sensitive and informed manner and considers its impact on Thornton’s legacy.
While in declining health in her final days, Thornton struggled to find an appropriate public space in Canada for her paintings. She didn’t want her collection broken up or sold to private collectors. The outcome of her efforts is yet another compelling story the author reveals in the concluding pages. Ultimately, the value given to Thornton’s work reflects who we are as Canadians as much as it reflects the reputation of this accomplished artist.
Reprinted from BC History , Winter, 2011
Watch for my interview with Mona Fertig, Mother Tongue Publishing, in Galleries West magazine, January 2012.
By Janet Nicol
Project-oriented, relevant, and reaching beyond classroom walls, Social Justice 12 (SJ12) has gained momentum since first offered as an elective in 2008. My own experience at Killarney Secondary, a school on Vancouver’s eastside, and interviews with three other SJ12 teachers in British Columbia schools, reveal this course is a valuable addition to our curriculum.
“Homelessness is a really important issue,” writes Rosa Serdar, a student in my SJ12 class. “I had a chance to get to know a man who is victimized by homelessness (in a class project) and truthfully, throughout the interview, I felt really sad for him and wished there was something I could do to help.”
As Serdar’s comments illustrate, many students who gravitate to this course want to explore ways to help others. Raising awareness through group and class discussions, guest speakers, films, and readings, educate students about specific issues. For example, Gary Snyder, a resident and activist on Vancouver’s downtown eastside, gave students a better understanding of living within Canada’s “poorest postal code.” Some students became motivated to volunteer their time in the neighbourhood, and as an action project, volunteered at the Carnegie Centre and Gallery Gachet (an artists’ co-operative gallery supporting mental illness issues).
Topics generating the most interest among students have been homelessness, homophobia, and bullying. All are issues relating directly to teenagers’ experiences of power, sensitivity, and vulnerability. We grappled with a much wider range of topics over the course of the year, however, expanding students’ knowledge, tolerance, and empathy.
“A moment that stood out for me was when we had Trent come in,” wrote Jonathan Nguyen, in reference to a visit by Killarney’s First Nations’ counsellor. “He was someone I learned a lot from. There are many First Nations issues being overlooked by our government and it is quite concerning.”
School copies of fiction and non-fiction books on social justice topics were distributed and for Alyson Lohada, was an effective lesson. “While I read The Book of Negroes,” she writes,” I did a lot of thinking. The insane amounts of racism that occurred then, has lessened and is seemingly hidden. I feel that there is still a lot of racism today. I hope one day soon, all of this racial profiling will come to an end.”
Several students read Under the Bridge, by BC born author Rebecca Godfrey. The non-fiction account is based on the bullying and murder of Victoria teenager Reena Virk. Many messages come across in this story, made even more relevant by the young people involved, familiar setting and contemporary themes.
Ming Lin writes: “Under the Bridge led me to contemplate the power of the mob, peer pressure, and the capacity for evil within us all. This cemented my belief that one should stay true to herself/himself.”
“The power of the pen” was apparent when Rebecca Godfrey visited our classroom. As she came through the doorway, students spontaneously clapped. Following Godfrey’s talk, some students approached her to sign their own store-bought copy of the book.
Sami Sekhon, was among those inspired and writes, “I was blown away by Rebecca Godfrey’s analytical approach to the case and I became very interested in youth crime and the restorative justice process.”
Chris Stolz has been teaching SJ12 at Tamanawis Secondary School in Surrey for three years. He has also sponsored the Gay Straight Alliance club for 11 years. Stolz says the club, and the SJ12 course, have effectively reduced homophobic language and attitudes among students.
“The single best moment,” he says, “was in my first year teaching to a group that included some very homophobic boys. Amar Sangha of “Sher Vancouver” (the South Asian LBGTQ group) came to talk. I was worried these boys, many of whose parents had explicitly condemned LBGTQ people as “sick,” would make fun of openly gay Amar. But at the end of his presentation, they stood and applauded, and, without me asking, walked up to him to shake his hand, admiring his incredible tenacity.”
Stolz teaches SJ12 with a laptop. “There are hundreds of excellent videos on all SJ12 topics on Youtube,” he says. “We use these all the time.”
“Our class has a Facebook group,” he adds. He says students use the site for discussions, sharing links, and homework questions. But Twitter is not on the lesson radar.
“Twitter is for celebrities and marketers,” he observes.
Stolz believes the course helps guide youth through the complexities of life. “BC students are part of a complex people mosaic,” he says, “that includes all sexual orientations, many ethnicities and languages, a huge diversity of religious views, and many people who have experienced serious adversity. A thoughtful modern citizen knows who people are and what their challenges are, so that he or she can compassionately and intelligently deal with the world.”
Erin Wilkins, a teacher-counsellor at Hope Secondary School, is also in her third year teaching SJ12 in the town of Hope. She started with only 12 students in her class and this year has 29. “I believe SJ12 promotes acceptance, empathy, understanding, and a desire to make a change, both globally and locally,” she says. “This class addresses real life issues that apply to the majority of our student population and it gives students the knowledge, tools, and confidence to stand up and fight for what is right.”
There have been several classroom highlights for Wilkins and her students.
“As a teacher, the highlight for me was when one of my students told me that he had the confidence to tell his parents that he was gay because of my class.”
“Our local food bank was robbed this summer,” Wilkins also says, “and my students contacted me to ask if they could do something about it.”
Besides fundraising for the food bank, Wilkins’ students have learned about human trafficking and ways they can fight for the rights of children.
“The school and the community have noticed a huge change in the attitudes of students,” she says. “They seem motivated and determined to make the world a better place. They stand up for what is right and are not afraid to comment when something is wrong.”
Technology is part of the classroom for Wilkins too. Among the many tools used, is a teacher blog for students and a smartboard.
“A great experience!” Rachel Deschenes, writes about the course. “I learned about real issues—most of which I didn’t know existed.”
“What can I say? It was the most applicable class I have ever taken,” writes Nathan Bobroske.
Lois Sanford has been teaching SJ12 at Total Education, an alternative school in Vancouver, for two years. She says the course permits the telling of untold histories. “The course covers factual content that is often entirely unknown to students,” she observes.
“Telling these stories of others is the occasion for developing more complex cognitive tools,” Sanford believes. “First, students begin wondering about which social groups are represented more, and why; next, they begin discussing patterns of injustice. Through this process, they begin to envision more complex solutions to pluralistic social problems. Finally, students begin to appropriate the modelled analytical tools and see their classmates’ opinions as sources of teaching and learning.”
Sanford says students “walk the walk.” She says, “this is because the course covers a range of subjects that elicit a broad range of sympathies, students who feel vulnerable to one issue of social injustice might be resistant, or occasionally downright hostile, about another. Since the common theme is justice for all, not just ‘your’ group, an environment is created where students might feel deeply accepted for their own particular vulnerabilities, and then may feel challenged to face their own biases in order to accept others. Both the discomfort and resulting respect allows them a more personal and complex understanding of these issues.”
There are many highlights to teaching the course Sanford says. “It was very heartening to hear passionate social justice discussions between students continue throughout their break time.” She also says “A couple of students who became involved in their action projects were changed by their own work, and expressed their enthusiasm to pursue these fields in their post secondary studies or their careers.”
Leah Moynahan, a student from Sandford’s class, called the class wonderful. “It really opened up my mind and helped me become aware of issues that were totally related to me—and I didn’t even know it,” she writes.
Currently only a quarter of Vancouver’s 18 secondary schools offer SJ12. Interest continues to grow, as was apparent at a BC Teachers’ Federation Conference on Social Justice in the spring of 2011. Teachers from around the province gathered to network, attend workshops, and browse a wealth of resources. In the lively exchange among colleagues, the consensus seemed to be clear: youth studying important issues and taking action will create a more positive school, community, and global culture.
For more information, visit the BCTF website and click on Social Justice. Also, the BC Ministry curriculum guide for Social Justice 12 is available on line.
Reprinted from BC Teacher magazine, November/December, 2011
This article appears in Our Schools, Our Selves, an educational journal, February, 2012.
The Killarney Secondary School’s Social Justice 12 course has received a $500 scholarship, (June, 2012) to be shared between one male and one female in grade 12. Many thanks to the Vancouver-Fraserview New Democratic Party for showing their interest and support by giving this generous award.
