Vancouver Island Vanguard

Temosen Charles Elliott, a printmaker and traditional carver, is a key figure in the resurgence of Coast Salish culture.

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Turn off a highway on the Saanich Peninsula north of Victoria and head down a short driveway into a yard scattered with sawed-off chunks of old logs and you’ll find a slant-roofed wooden studio built in Coast Salish style.

Inside, the floorboards are flaked with cedar chips from a partly carved house pole, one of four in the cue for Tsartlip First Nation artist Temosen, also known as Charles Elliott. Dressed casually in a burgundy sweater and camouflage pants, and full of stories from the past, he seems a man as unassuming as his surroundings.

The studio’s back wall is covered with tools, including a set of remarkably large chisels. Elsewhere, various bits of art and memorabilia compete for attention: drums, hats, talking sticks and the like. Hanging over the door, is a staged ethnographic photo of Temosen’s grandfather clasping a spear.

Small wooden canoes dangle from the roof, along with wooden sculptures based on traditional fishing lures. They look like badminton birdies equipped with oversized insect wings. The lures are weighted and dropped into deep water, with a trip line that sends them spiralling upwards, their painted designs flashing to attract fish up from the bottom.

“Then they’d get invited to dinner,” Temosen says with deadpan humour.

Temosen – the traditional name, like others in the small Tsartlip Nation, refers to a specific location in the territory – pulls some prints out of an artist folio. They are highlights of an estimated 30 series he has produced since the 1970s, and will be included in Vancouver Island Vanguard, which opens Feb. 2 at Victoria’s Alcheringa Gallery.

A survey of Indigenous printmaking from 1980 to 2000, the show focuses on several notable but often overlooked artists. Along with Temosen, there's the late Delmar Johnnie Seletze, from the Cowichan area, and the late Kwakwaka’wakw artist Mark Henderson, from Campbell River, further to the north.

Mark Loria, the gallery's new owner, describes Temosen as a grandfather of the recent Coast Salish resurgence, comparing his role on Vancouver Island to that of Musqueam artist Susan Point in Vancouver.

Temosen says the story behind each image he makes is vital.

“I won’t just do something because it’s cute,” he says. “It’s based on our cultural history and beliefs.”

For instance, In the Spirit shows a figure in a canoe making a gesture of gratitude to the sun. In the background is the land, stepped plateaus of black, red, yellow and white, representing the different peoples of the world. Look closely at the canoe and you’ll see a  swan. It’s a symbol of good intentions.

Another work, Raven Circle, is about transformation. The raven is a messenger and its long tongue indicates it is speaking. Temosen’s circular design – modelled on the spindle whorl, a disc fitted onto spindles to help maintain consistent speeds – shows the raven’s shoulder playing a dual role as the eye of a frog. It's a visual manifestation of the cycle of eternal change.

Temosen, born in 1943, has undergone a few transformations of his own. In the 1970s, he was an Indigenous rights activist who travelled the province encouraging people to “stand up and be proud.” You can hear echoes of that history when Temosen casually mentions “the learned ones” and you realize it’s a quietly subversive reference to colonial power brokers who imposed their rules on Indigenous people, driving rich cultures into dark waters.

Temosen’s poles can be seen at myriad public sites in the region, including Butchart Gardens, the Victoria International Airport and the University of Victoria. His honours include designing the Queen’s Baton for the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria and making a talking stick for Nelson Mandela. In 2005, he was inducted into the Order of British Columbia.

These days, he's spending less time in his studio. Carving is heavy, hard work and his heart has given him some trouble. “I’m not getting tired of carving,” he says, “but I’m slowing down.” He talks of making more prints and continues to pass his knowledge on to young people via teaching and community activities.

From his studio, you can see the house where his parents lived and beyond it, down the hill, the waters of Brentwood Bay. He recalls fishing there as a youth with his father and brothers. His job was to paddle the canoe in a straight line. It was illegal to use nets, but they did it anyway. “We went under cover of darkness,” he says, “trying not to get arrested.”

The story seems an apt metaphor for Temosen’s journey. Although he had little exposure to cultural objects growing up, he spent countless hours at the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria researching masks, rattles, spindle whorls and other utilitarian objects that bear Coast Salish designs.

“I learned the Coast Salish system of design,” he says. “I studied it and copied it for some time.”

Eventually, as his confidence grew, he began making his own designs. Like a fisherman hauling up nets from the depths, he lifted the graphic language of the old days back into the light, creating a visual feast for a rich and evolving culture. ■

Vancouver Island Vanguard: Printmaking from 1980-2000 is on view at the Alcheringa Gallery in Victoria from Feb. 2 to March 2, 2019.

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Mark Loria Gallery

621 Fort St, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 1G1

250-383-8224

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