Haida Modern captures beauty in work and life of great artist
Credit to Author: Dana Gee| Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 18:08:35 +0000
Haida Modern
When: Oct. 1, 6:30 p.m., Oct. 11, 3 p.m.
Where: Vancouver Playhouse
Tickets and info: viff.org
When you ask Haida artist Robert Davidson if he thinks director Charles Wilkinson captured him in the new documentary Haida Modern, Davidson pauses, takes a breath and says: “You know, I’m the wrong person to ask.”
This is Davidson — calm, thoughtful and free of the hubris that so often is the currency of the famous. And Davidson is famous. His work can be found in private collections around the world and public collections from the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa to the Vancouver Art Gallery and many in between. He has a grouping of three totem poles that stand tall in the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at the PepsiCo headquarters in Purchase, N.Y. Those poles stand among works from the giants of sculpture, including Rodin, Moore, Calder and Giacometti.
Wilkinson’s new film has its world premiere at the Vancouver Film Festival on Oct. 1 and 11. The film is one of the 80-plus documentaries at this year’s festival that runs Sept. 26-Oct. 11.
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/352596502″>Haida Modern Trailer</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/user9191137″>Charles Wilkinson</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
“Robert is a wonderful character,” said Deep Cove director Wilkinson. “He’s good looking, he’s smart, he has a tremendously good sense of humour. You just feel good when he is on the screen. I used to do drama, we used to look forever for people you connect with and I think with Robert you just naturally connect with him because he is so genuine. There is just not bull—t about him at all.”
Haida Modern is a fascinating, entertaining and eye-opening look at the world-renowned artist as he works, educates and reflects on his life, a life that has had its challenges.
“This is a story about the great impact Robert’s life and work has had certainly on the Haida and certainly north coast Indigenous People, but on a much broader level the impact it has had on Western society,” said Wilkinson, who met Davidson through his last film Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World that came out at VIFF four years ago. This latest film marks Wilkinson’s eighth time at VIFF.
Filmmaker Charles Wilkinson (l) focused his lens on world-renowned Haida artist Robert Davidson for the new documentary Haida Modern. Photo credit: Tina Schliessler
Getting to tell a true living legend’s story wasn’t lost on Wilkinson. He said he enjoyed every minute of the project and learned something new each day working with Davidson, who calls White Rock and Massett home.
“We were star-struck by Robert. He couldn’t be more down to earth. I learned so much from Robert during the course of this work,” said Wilkinson, adding he never gave Davidson direction but rather learned the artist’s rhythms and let those guide his camera. “He says what he means and he means what he says.”
And he doesn’t say much, but when he does talk he is more prone to be reflective on his continuing life’s work instead of on any of the accolades he has earned over the years.
“I get a little shy because so much of what I am doing is to fill a void. The void, and I know so many other artists go through this, you create from experience, from life experience,” said the 72-year-old artist whose Haida name is Guud Sans Glans (Eagle of the Dawn). “I have had such an empty upbringing in terms of cultural knowledge because of the laws that governed. Over the years I’ve been regaining it through the art.”
One of the world’s most well-known and celebrated Haida artists, Robert Davidson is seen here in his studio working on a painting. Davidson is internationally acclaimed and is now the subject of the new documentary Haida Modern, from director Charles Wilkinson. Photo: Kevin Eastwood
It’s that last line that is really the through line of Davidson’s 50-year career. When his father Claude gave a young 13-year-old Robert his first set of carving tools there weren’t many examples of Haida art around him for him to reference. It wasn’t until he moved to Vancouver to go to high school that he was exposed to the wide range of Haida cultural artifacts that were housed in museums. He, like many carvers before and after him, looked to Charles Edensaw’s (the OG of First Nations carvers) work as a template.
“It took years-and-years for me to grasp what I was expressing,” said Davidson, who added he developed an understanding often through a ceremony such as the raising of a totem pole. “There were some very emotional periods when I was being interviewed. I still get emotional about the pole-raising day in 1969. That day several people showed up with paper headpieces. The people at the meeting were all over 70 and up to 90. One of the dances my grandmother wanted to demonstrate, so she asked one of my cousins to get her a brown paper bag and she cut holes for the eyes and wore it over her head. I get emotional thinking about that. That’s ground zero. That kind of experience, from then on I wanted to carve masks.”
From then on Davidson, who was born in Hydaburg, Alaska, and moved to Massett when he was just a few months old, focused on reviving his ancestral history of art. Something he says he’s still working on today.
“I’m still a student. I’m still learning about the art, through the art and more-and-more about our history,” said Davidson.
That continuing journey of understanding and sharing the Haida way through art, or a revered ceremony like the potlatch, is the root of the film.
“That describes his style not just as an artist, but as a speaker, activist and thinker really well,” said Wilkinson, referring to Davidson’s active role in promoting the Haida way. “He feels his challenge is to constantly try to spread that knowledge, but also bring it forward into the 21st century. His Haida roots couldn’t be deeper or stronger and yet he feels he has a foot in both worlds, so to me that is Haida Modern. Also I think it describes his style very well.”
Davidson’s career has been multi-faceted and includes works in sculpture, painting, printmaking and jewelery. Through all these mediums his message is very much drawn from the environment. He says in the film: “Nature is an image bank for me.” So it’s no wonder he’s outspoken about protecting it and has been his whole life.
“Like many other people one of my greatest concerns is the environment. I keep hearing stories of what’s happening. It seems like it is always on the back-burner and I don’t know what it will take to convince people we’re in dire straits,” said Davidson. “The totem pole woke me up to cultural knowledge and I wonder what can we do to wake up the majority of the population to what is happening.”
These days Davidson is busy working every day. He visits a personal trainer twice a week so he stays fit.
“It really helps me to carve all day long,” said Davidson of his workouts.
While he often has various pieces on the go, when interviewed he was focused on finishing the pole that viewers see in the beginning of in Haida Modern. The 22-foot cedar carving is slated to go to a private collector. He’s widely in demand and is pretty much a rock star — something he says he never enjoys for very long.
“Whenever I get cocky or overconfident I get tripped by daguu sGanaawaa,” said Davidson of a supernatural being the Haida believe is there to test one’s strength. “It keeps me level. It is also helping me be a little bit more careful. We have another expression that says the world is as sharp as a knife. My grandmother said, ‘If you’re too overconfident you could fall off.’ So these are some of the things that guide me and help me on my path.”
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.