CAREY NEWMAN - HAYALTHKIN'GEME
(Kwakwaka’waka/Sto:lo/Settler)
(Kwakwaka’waka/Sto:lo/Settler)
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Totem 2.0, 2022, Second growth cedar maquette, 10.25"w x 34.5”h x 5”d.
STATEMENT
While carving the largest totem of my career, I had a moment of personal reflection. Old growth trees like the one I was carving were rapidly disappearing. I thought back to my teen years when I protested to protect the Carmanah and Walbran Valleys, and despite my love for carving these ancestor trees, I realized that cutting them down to carve for commercial sale was a betrayal of not only my cultural teaching of responsibility to future generations, but also my 17 year old self. At that moment I decided that this would be the last time I cut down an old growth tree for commercial sale. As I continued working, I began to imagine alternate methods for carving, using technology and second growth trees.
I had three objectives: maintain the connection to cedar – the tree of life, replicate the scale of a large totem and develop an aesthetic clearly distinguishable from a totem carved of old growth. “Totem 2.0” is a maquette for a 20-foot totem that I will soon make for Pacific Opera Victoria. The spaces between slats allow the totem to be lit from within at night. It is also the first of a series that will be created with a zero waste approach, where each will be made from second growth, salvaged wood, or byproducts of carving and logging.
In collaboration with Camosun Innovates, I am designing an apparatus that will enable cutting and assembling tapered beams, with the ability to lift and rotate them during the carving process. My intention is to demonstrate to industry and policy makers that there are alternatives to old growth logging, because if cultural traditions that are thousands of years old can adapt, so can everyone else.
While carving the largest totem of my career, I had a moment of personal reflection. Old growth trees like the one I was carving were rapidly disappearing. I thought back to my teen years when I protested to protect the Carmanah and Walbran Valleys, and despite my love for carving these ancestor trees, I realized that cutting them down to carve for commercial sale was a betrayal of not only my cultural teaching of responsibility to future generations, but also my 17 year old self. At that moment I decided that this would be the last time I cut down an old growth tree for commercial sale. As I continued working, I began to imagine alternate methods for carving, using technology and second growth trees.
I had three objectives: maintain the connection to cedar – the tree of life, replicate the scale of a large totem and develop an aesthetic clearly distinguishable from a totem carved of old growth. “Totem 2.0” is a maquette for a 20-foot totem that I will soon make for Pacific Opera Victoria. The spaces between slats allow the totem to be lit from within at night. It is also the first of a series that will be created with a zero waste approach, where each will be made from second growth, salvaged wood, or byproducts of carving and logging.
In collaboration with Camosun Innovates, I am designing an apparatus that will enable cutting and assembling tapered beams, with the ability to lift and rotate them during the carving process. My intention is to demonstrate to industry and policy makers that there are alternatives to old growth logging, because if cultural traditions that are thousands of years old can adapt, so can everyone else.
VIDEO
Interview with artist Carey Newman at his studio on the Tsawout Reservation, May 2022
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BIO
Carey Newman is a multi-disciplinary Indigenous artist, master carver, filmmaker, author, mentor, and public speaker. He is best known for his powerful art installation ‘The Witness Blanket’ made with over 800 items collected from Indian residential school survivors and from the former residential school buildings. Funded by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the 12-meter-long cedar installation recognizes the atrocities of the Indian residential school era, honours the children, and symbolizes ongoing reconciliation. Between 2016 and 2018, the Witness Blanket toured on exhibition across Canada and is part of the permanent collection at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. An accompanying book entitled ‘Picking Up the Pieces, Residential School Memories and the Making of the Witness Blanket’ chronicling its creation alongside survivor’s stories was published by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson in 2019. Newman has also undertaken major monumental commissions. He was selected as the Master Carver of the 20 foot 2008 Spirit Pole that saw him travel throughout British Columbia sharing and collaborating on its carving with over 11,000 people. He also completed a major commission for the 2010 Olympic Games in Whistler, BC entitled “Dancing Wind”. Newman was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 2017 and was named to the Order of British Columbia in 2018. He is the current Audain Professor of Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Victoria. |
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