I Am An Indigenous Artist!!!!
Working as an indigenous artist is challenging in many ways. From the outset, we must ensure that we are not copying others’ designs, making sure that our designs are our own and original. To add to challenge, much of the artwork created by indigenous artists is made to be worn, forcing the artist to ensure a quality piece. We wear our artwork with pride because it is an expression who we are as individuals, our quality work and our tie to our indigenous nation: where we come from, what nation we belong too, and what clan we belong too. We wear our own work and that work of other indigenous artists with both the pride of a creator and deep pride in our ancient cultures contemporary renaissance. Indigenous artists support one another to both carry on our traditions and to embrace new materials, allowing us to generate new ideas within our traditions that carry forward our cultural values.
Many non-indigenous people consider our art to be craft forms in the sense that the pieces are made to be used or are purely decorative. When you ask an indigenous artist, however, they will explain that we are artists since our work is also a creative activity involving the working of the imagination for its own sake. It is also important to recognize that each step in the creation of an indigenous piece of artwork is an art form in itself. For example, preparing each of the several types of smoked buckskin is a long process with multiple sub-steps to be carefully followed.
There are also changes in indigenous art practice that reflect changes in the wider society. For example, the work of preparing a smoked buckskin was traditionally carried out by women, but in contemporary indigenous society young men have started to learn the old ways as well to broaden the population of culture carriers.
We are fortunate in still having some elders among us who resisted assimilation and have conserved our traditional values, knowledge and skills. Our elders are now teaching younger generations so that our cultural knowledge will always be here to enrich and ground our lives as indigenous people. We also appreciate the work of European anthropologists such as Fran Boas and Jan van Eijk who recognized the validity of our lifeways and worked to help preserve much of our language and material culture in the face of sustained campaigns of cultural genocide by Western governments. Our people have not vanished, as Edward Curtis feared, but we are growing in numbers and strength as we reclaim our identity and nations.
The work I have been creating has come from playing with designs, or just going with the flow. A lot of the time I just sit, bead than I allow the thread and needles to create their own design. My work creates a beauty in my life, a beauty I can share with the world. I create my daughters own regalia, to showcase where she comes from, the St’at’imc, Nlaka’pamux and Dene Nations. I want her to be proud and confidant in using these pieces are artwork that I, her mother, made. When I fell in love with photography I wanted to showcase the dancers and their own traditional regalia’s while they dance. Dance is an art form as well. They tell their own story and I want to capture that piece of story that they each are telling. Indigenous people like myself have always used our art styles to show that we are proud indigenous people. I combined traditional teaching with the contemporary items we have today in my work by creating jewelry, pop sockets, beaded hats, key chains, and even bags. A lot of the time I sell my small beaded artworks as it helps me pay for my photography so I can continue to grow my image base so I can create an indigenous calendar or indigenous photo art book.
When I take the time to sit down and be creative, I am working on my self-care, it is the time where I can just sit and be thankful, to reground myself. When I sit and pick up my beads I clear my mind, each stitch that is made is a step forward in life, being mindful of the next generations that will see these art pieces. Remembering that everything you create you have to think of the next seven generations to come.
Artist Elizabeth Spike
Mother Elizabeth and Her Daughter
Indigenous Bling!