Trump versus Harper: What their artistic interests say about them.

This article is not an endorsement of Donald Trump! No, if I was an American citizen I would not have voted for him! Sadly my attempt at humour below doesn't seem so funny now. At the time this article was written I had no idea that Trump wasn't paying the contractors and many others working for him. From other accounts it is likely that many of the artists he hired didn't get paid. 

     Donald Trump hired hundreds of artists to decorate his Trump towers, casinos, hotels, and massive golf course clubhouses. Some of the elaborately decorated interiors are tasteful and some of it as gaudy as the man himself. But he’s GREAT for his support of the arts. And BEST at the military, and building a wall to keep out Mexicans, apparently.

     One way that Trump has established himself is through the use of art. Unlike other Republican politicians, Trump has not only learned the “Art of the Deal” but how to use art and artists as a means of gaining favour within a community and obtain international attention. 

     Although the awe inspiring and often simultaneously gut-wrenching tackiness of a gold gilded bathroom makes a statement as ridiculous as he does himself during a Republican debate, people are involuntarily attracted to the garishly bold and beautiful. It can’t be helped. It’s the modern equivalent of Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles. Its authority trumps its tackiness with its size and historic significance. And so does the typically American bombastic statement of wealth that exudes from Trump. He and all he does represents his belief and confidence in American exeptionalism.  

     It pours out of his big mouth. He combs it through his ridiculous hair. He wears it with his suits, flies with it in helicopters and private jets and sports it with his trophy wives. He epitomizes the fantasy of the vain and power hungry. He would make a great dictator, but probably not the best president, unless of course he is the Manchurian Candidate, a secret Democrat planted into the Republican party to destroy it from within. It might be true. After all Trump did vote for Barak Obama and supported Hillary Clinton’s campaign the last time she ran.

     At first Steven Harper doesn’t appear to be a big supporter of the arts. He did gut the CBC. However, he can play the piano, and he sings and had a band for a while, so maybe he’s not all bad. But he made a blunder with a statement back in 2008 when he suggested that “ordinary people” saw support for the arts as only support for an elite who you might catch a glimpse of in televised galas. His statement may have lost him electoral majority in Quebec where ordinary Quebecers support the arts in a big way. The arts, after all, are what culturally identify Quebecers as distinct from the rest of us.

     Losing seats in Quebec may have made him hesitate in gutting the Canada Council of the Arts in the same way he gutted the CBC. There are those in the arts field who believe the CCA will get chopped if Harper wins in the next election.

     Surprisingly Harper does support the arts, but in a similar way that Trump does. However, instead of being overly bombastic and ridiculous like Trump, Harper is ideologically obsequious.

     Throughout history art has been used to persuade and convince masses of people of the power and authority of those who claim to be an emperor, or king or pope, or dictator. Trump uses persuasion and conviction very well by reproducing images of himself everywhere, by getting himself television shows, by stamping his name on everything he builds, and by running for president just for the excessive press. He’s a character and deliberately hams it up, which is why no one takes him seriously, except as a deliberate self-promoter and businessperson. As president he would probably be America’s biggest joke, after George Bush, depending on whether Trump takes the United States into another illegitimate war.

     Harper is like Trump in that Harper understands the symbolic significance and power of art, not as flagrant self-promotion, but in supporting a right wing agenda that is ideologically deliberate in its attempt to convince a larger population of its veracity.

     Harper is a big fan of distorting Canadian history for the purposes of false nationalism, first by ignoring certain facts and results of the War of 1812 in television commercials and related promotional material and then changing the mandate and name of the Museum of Civilization to the Canadian Museum of History. He then managed to deliberately become the spokesperson for the discovery of one of the ships used in the 1840s Franklin expedition. How did so many scientists and researchers vanish in the process?

     And to trump these examples, two of the most ridiculous, ugly, grotesque and controversial sculpture proposals ever made in Canada have come from the Harper government; the anti-Communist war memorial, Tribute to Liberty, to be placed near the parliament buildings in Ottawa, and the “Mother Canada” statue to stand in Cape Breton with her arms outstretched to the Atlantic ocean to welcome the ghosts of Canadian soldiers who died in World War One and Two.

     Not only are these sculptures a waste of money, they don’t make any sense. The themes make sense only if you think Canada was responsible for killing off communism and that we’re still waiting, seventy years later, for soldiers to return from Europe.

     If I had to vote based on a politician’s taste and intent I would gleefully vote for Trump over Harper any day, if I could. Trump’s taste is nonsense, less ideology and more Disney fantasy in order to make him even more rich and famous. It is a silly goal to be sure, but less harmful than Harper’s. Harper’s taste is frighteningly ideologically restrictive, the ideological equivalent of communism, not democracy, but religious blindness to one’s own beliefs.

R. J. Ogemah

She wasn’t kidding! The guy can draw! And man, can he paint! Damn!

     Jealousy! I had to fight it off as I flipped through one of R.J. Ogemah’s many sketchbooks. R.J. is 24. Some of his sketchbooks and a few paintings are from his teenage years! Fortunately I was able to laugh at my own insecurity and left his place with an invigorated resolve to do better work. I have R.J. to thank for my next illustration, which turned out phenomenally better than my last few mediocre scratches. I have Louise Thomas to thank for the introduction.

     Although R. J. Ogemah’s subject matter is not for everyone, it’s pretty obvious from the few painted works and the many portrait and nude drawings that he can draw as any classical or popular artist would. With such versatility he is able to mimic one of his favourite comic book artists, the famous French fantasy artist Moebius, featured prominently in Heavy Metal magazine.

     Computer games, comics, and graphic novels played a big role in finding sources of inspiration so although R.J. enjoys realism he is drawn to more imaginative artists. When asked about his influences he begins, “There weren’t any creative people around me when I was growing up.”

     R.J. grew up in Long Lake # 58 First Nation, so it was the Internet that gave him access to classical art imagery and modern hard edge realism. “I was thirteen when I saw photo realism and I was interested in learning how to do that. I always had an interest in the old masters. It’s something I always wanted to learn since I was a little kid. I trained on my own, studying imagery on the Internet, taking it seriously when I was 18.”

     When asked if his Ojibway roots will play a role in his art he states, “I grew up pretty detached from my own culture. I never felt like I really belonged.” However, he says that at some point in the future he will. “I think it’s pretty important to explore that, learn about my heritage and history.”

     Right now he’s developing a body of work, exploring his options. He’s done work for a portfolio and developing a style, a style which has its roots in Italy, for a show he hopes to have in October next year at the Anishnaabe Gallery.

     Last week he flew to Montreal to begin a new adventure working for the fabulous company, Mosaika. Worth a look: www.mosaika.com. It’s likely R.J. will be sent to other cities to work on large scale mosaics, so he’ll get a great paid education in major creative endeavors.

     Kori Smyth, who grew up in Fort William, is the owner of Mosaika. She met with R. J. in Florence, Italy while R.J. studied the techniques of the old masters. Louise Thomas, a friend of Smyth’s, arranged the meeting. The Ontario Arts Council’s Career Access and Development Grant funded the trip. R. J. was in Florence from May to August this year, returning to Thunder Bay with a couple paintings from his classes and a new resolve to create work for a show.

     R.J. had studied realism at the Toronto Academy of Realist Art for 8 months. He wasn’t a fan. “I learnt stuff I pretty much already knew.” The school taught observational drawing where students copied exactly what they saw. R.J. was disappointed that they didn’t teach anatomy or perspective. “I was looking for a foundation, basic knowledge, but they offered a formula.”

    “There was a lot of drama in the school. And there were a lot of hobbyists. There was a group who was really talented and serious, but they went off and did their own thing.” He laughs, and describes how he left the program. “It was stupid. I just gave up after a while and did my own thing for a few years. I was afraid of going to Florence because I thought it was going to be like Toronto again.” 

     “It wasn’t until much later that I met Louise and she really supported me when I was growing up.” He showed his work at Louise’s gallery and sold a few pieces. And although he might get diverted in his career, he has plans to show new work at the Anishnaabe gallery next year.

     R.J. laughs when he describes himself as wanting to be something like a wizard. “I’m after more of a visceral action. I want people to see my work and say, ‘What the hell is that!? It’s a good aim, similar to creating awe. I want to capture the feeling I got when reading ghost stories. The first time I saw Hellraiser I felt this sense of wonder…. It’s definitely going to be horror related, but I want it to be more introspective, like traveling to different dimension…. I want to be like a merchant, to record my experiences as objects and sell them…. I have a belief that all meaning is imaginary and the more active your imagination is the more meaning there is in the world.”

     So, for next year he’s planning an exhibition of an imaginative series, beginning with a trilogy to explore his wonder and his morbid curiosity in human nature with extremely realistic and detailed work, in a style that he began working on in Italy. Stay tuned.

Martin King: Fun with Drawing

     Martin King's Comic Book is HERE. Sometimes a little epiphany will direct you to see something afresh and wonder why you didn’t see it before. During the last Busker’s festival at Bay and Algoma members of the Die-Active Art Collective put on a “Yart” Sale behind the Hoito. This combination of yard and art sale presented a talented young gang who were selling knitted wear, second hand books, paintings, sculptures, photography and second hand clothing, all in an unkempt grassy patch. Martin King sat amongst the gang at a tiny table hocking his original drawings.     

     The random placement on the table and low price made the quality of the drawings deceiving. At first they look like simple sketches similar to the works of many high school art students. However with a second look, one can see a deft hand playing not only with an accurately drawn representation, but also with a lightness and clever roughness that enhances the subject’s personality. The sketches are more similar to the best kind of works you might find in the New Yorker Magazine or literary magazines where serious and famous people are celebrated in caricature.

     Martin is aware that he has talent, but he shrugs off compliments with a smile and soft-spoken reply. He’ll downplay his passion to draw and paint as a fun hobby, a way to get pocket money, but he knows his ability to draw is driving his desire to make a graphic novel and a short film. He’s very practical about its value and application.

     Martin smiles, “I did it from an early age. I drew cartoons, games – Nintendo – I was a kid, so I drew kid-stuff. I realized I could make money from it when I was twelve. I did cartoon characters and portraits and sold them to the students. The teachers got mad at me for making money from other kids.” Martin laughs. “I got a hundred dollars one time. My parents were wondering where I got the money.”

     This took place at St. Elizabeth, a catholic school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although Martin was born and grew up in Thunder Bay, he got some early art education near a few central hotspots for art, namely New York City and Philadelphia when his parents move to the United States.

     His mother was a clerk at Shoprite and his father an engineer at the airport in Newark, New Jersey. He spent five years living in the U.S. from the age of eleven attending a junior school in Pittsburgh and later Central High School located at 100 and Central in New Jersey.

    Martin reminisces about how he graduated from a Catholic school to a high school whose mascot was the devil for all the sports teams. He later learned that there was a myth about an actual New Jersey Devil, similar to B.C.s Bigfoot.

     “Art classes were mandatory in high school,” he points out, adding that he could take animation instead of shop. The class took up half the school day, and was offered as a career choice.

     In New Jersey, his family lived in a bedroom community where the breadwinners made long drives or took train rides into New York City or Washington or Philadelphia to work. Primarily a wealthy neighborhood of Caucasians and Arabs, Martin could take trips into New York City to see the major galleries and museums. He also has a fondness for the beautiful Philadelphia Museum of Art, not only for the beauty and vastness of the collection or the sculpture of Rocky Balboa adorning the steps, but also because it was a great place to skateboard.

    He laments that he probably missed all sorts of sales opportunities with his sketches. He was living in an affluent community after all, but skateboarding took over during high school.

     When his family returned to Thunder Bay he studied broadcasting and did well in the film program at the college. He is currently looking forward to making his own films with ideas he’s sketching out presently. Stories are inspired by actual world events with an interest in ordinary people dealing with extraordinary situations, more dark and artistic than the usual comic book fair. Stories deal with gambling pool sharks, doctors involved in romantic triangles, oil barons and illusionists fighting it out over a fortune.

     Popular culture has had the biggest influence on his work, but he began a series based on photojournalism, transforming dark scenes of murder and war into light sketches, as if a means to better control the subject matter, to make the images less daunting and more humane. He was quickly turned away from the dark imagery when admirers began commissioning him to do portraits and asking for drawings of their favourite celebrities.

     In his choice of subject subtleties of humour are not immediately obvious. In the drawing of Megan Fox, she is clearly disturbed when a hopelessly romantic fan attempts to give her a bouquet of flowers. Martin took special interest in the fan’s funny shoes. But the emotions expressed in the faces are hilarious. That’s exactly what you can see in the best of the New Yorker cartoons.

     Martin also draws from images of cosplay, wrestlers, sports stars, awkward family photos, and random pictures. Regarding his Star Wars drawings, he laughs, “People gobbled that up right away.” And he’s been busy doing portrait commissions, as seen here with a friend wearing moose antlers.

     What he gets out of copying imagery is the ability to better approach reality, expressing more character with human interactions, and becoming more intensely creative when he does his own work. He enjoyed making a political statement in an image called “Consumer Horror.”

     He’s also focused on being practical. He’s not giving up his day job any time soon. He’s going to use the Internet to publish his stories first before he decides to go to print. For his short films he’s going to storyboard the ideas first to ensure that he can follow through on a project.

     You can see some of his work at Gallery 33, part of the Painted Turtle, and on Facebook if you ‘friend’ him.

Elaina Roberts

     Elaina Roberts has always done artwork on the side, usually painting and drawing as a hobby, but she never pursued her creative outlet in any serious manner until three years ago when she dived into metal work.

     Elaina holds two jobs, one as a professional engineer at the consulting firm, KGS Group and the other teaching machine shop at Confederation College. What began as a hobby turned into a passion where Elaina produces enough work for two shows a year, Artisans Northwest at the Valhalla in November, and December Dreams on the CLE grounds. Elaina also fulfills about eight commission requests a month. When asked where she finds the time she holds up her hands, laughs and says, “I don’t know.”

     Her commission works include garden decorations, rings around fire pits, boat racks, driveway signage, house numbers, personal signs, tables, and unique and commanding signage pieces, one for a new restaurant in town called Excuria, and for Superior Vapes.

     On short notice, not long ago, she was asked to participate in one of the Baggage Building’s art shows. It was well attended and she got her biggest commission to date, an eight foot by six foot scene of the Nor’wester Mountains for a couple who had just purchased a condo on Court Street in the building where Kilroys used to be. She met with the couple after the show and sketched out ideas based on their interests. It took her a week to create the piece, which is made entirely of stainless steel.

     Most of Elaina’s work is nature based, inspired by our Northern wilderness, which includes flora and fauna for original pieces where images are taken from her own photographs or sometimes from client’s photographs when she does commission work. She has done the odd abstract to be experimental, but always returns to her root themes.

     Living near the border in the Neebing Township and with a fabrication shop in Kakabeka, Elaina has grown up surrounded by natural splendor.

     “My father was a welder and I started in the trade as a machinist. We came across a little metal lathe when I was sixteen. My father is a jack-of-all-trades so in the shop we built and fixed things together. We put the lathe together and that’s when I developed an interest.”

    Elaina studied mechanical engineering at Confederation College and apprenticed as a machinist during and after her schooling. She then studied at the University of Victoria, which has a highly accredited and unique program in mechatronics, which studies the integration of mechanical and electrical applications for robotics.

    After four years in school Elaina was hired by KGS Group where she has spent the last five years working as a mechanical engineer. She works on a regular basis with architects and designs the heating and cooling systems known as HVAC. 

     “I don’t have a lot of spare time to do my metal art,” she says, and describes how three years ago she bought a plasma cutter, a torch that can cut any type of metal in any kind of shape. “I’ve always liked art and took it in school, but I never thought I could pursue it as a profession. It’s a hobby,” she smiles, knowing that it’s become a bit of a passion.

    “I do work with the Thunder Giant Metal Smith Guild,” she states. The Guild started about a year ago by metal working enthusiasts, namely Carol Kajorine, a successful local metal artist.  

     “I’m just happy to keep developing my skills. I got a set of plate rollers so I’m going to do some freestanding sculptural work…. I don’t like hard edges. I do everything free hand, so there’s no straight lines. And my grinder is my paintbrush. I have four different grinders. All the three-dimensional affects I get are from the grinders.”

     The shop in which Elaina works is powered by 100% green energy bio diesel. Her father gets recycled cooking oil from restaurants and burns it to make electricity. “Everything in the shop is powered by it, the plasma cutter, three welders; the stick welder, MIG welder, TIG welder, along with the lathe, milling machine, and various fabrication tools, like grinders, presses, and rollers. It’s a pretty good shop,” she laughs.

     You can see Elaina Robert’s work on her website www.hamatacreations.com

Randy Thomas: Expanding with Tradition

Young First Nations artists have opportunities unlike most others in that they have both a historic and popular base, easily identifiable and culturally significant. This is a foundation with which First Nation artists can repeat, spring forward with, or completely ignore if they so wish. Much of our Western modern art world is concerned with personal self-expression and simultaneously dedicated to modernist/contemporary ideology that many Western artists become confused trying to differentiate the two. The result is often weak art that pretends to be new and does little to express anything.

     First Nations artists however feel less of that confusion, it seems. They can incorporate North American popular culture, international fine art, or be inspired by any art form from any part of the world. This is because they have that identifiable base on which to operate.

     Randy Thomas, a self-taught artist is doing his best to avoid limiting influences, yet hanging on to a tradition that he inherited from his father, the renowned artist Roy Thomas. His mother, Louise Thomas, is also a great influence and major supporter of his work. Part of this wonderful legacy can be seen in Louise Thomas’s gallery, the Anishinabe Art Gallery, now located at 18 Court St. in the North Core in what could be called Gallery Square.

     Gallery Square is the Anishinabe Gallery, Chenier Fine Arts Gallery, Sweet North Bakery, The Picture Store, Espresso JOYA, the Definitely Superior Art Gallery, and other sundry shops and restaurants that showcase art and craft work.

    Randy has his studio in the Anishinabe Gallery’s basement where he’s got his art supplies, half completed paintings, his music, art books, history books, and his many sketchbooks. The sketchbooks contain a plethora of stylistic influences and spinoff experiments, which appear in his completed paintings and mixed media works. Within these you can see the influence of music, philosophy, science, war history, art history and even politics.

     When asked about influences Randy starts, “Oh man…” and shakes his head. “I like Miles Davis, classical music, classic rock. A lot of my insight comes through reading. I love war history,” he says indicating that his choice of colour for his palette is becoming earthier reflecting the visual influences of trenches and battlefields. 

     “I like Picasso, Carl Beam, Jean Michel Basquiat, and Lucien Freud. His paintings (Lucien’s) are what people want to see, someone they’re loyal to. He paints people as raw animals as if nobody’s around, propped up, chin to the side, lounging around with their gut hanging out.” Randy laughs. He’s also a fan of Chuck Connelly. “I really identify with him.”

      Speaking of his art in relation to the influence of Stephen Hawking’s book, “A Brief History of Time,’ Randy says, “I want to make it more academic, if that’s the right word. I want it to have a point to it, to have an edge to it. I’m definitely into the geometric stuff, like how the universe is created as seen through mathematics. I want to see that in my art; lines and circles and numbers. I just want to see what it would look like, like it’s my own grand design, like I’m interpreting the universe.”

     And the influences keep coming from all directions. Currently he’s playing with aesthetics, less concerned about the subject, originally believing that it would take him four years to find his own style. “I’m trying to find my own definite look, but I don’t think I’m going to get there. I’m beginning to think I’ll never find it. I want to find something that feels new to me, but still true to my roots. I want my work to be contemporary – something influenced by my times. We’re in 2015 and things are lot different.”

     Regarding young First Nations artists he states, “It’s up to my generation to evolutionize the art. It’s always changing and we’re not shy to say things.”

     When prodded about current issues and what it might mean for the art of the future, or any potential personal statements in his work Randy briefly mentions that his father was forced into a residential school.

     “I know there’s a time a time and a place for that, but I’m not there yet. I will eventually get there, because I do know that there’s always room for more voices out there with the oppression from the government and their sweeping things under the rug. I’m getting tired of it too. I’ve definitely given it a lot of thought. I’ll definitely use that anger to create something rather than just sitting there and being angry.”

     In the meantime he’s having a great deal of fun, but laments, “It’s a lot more stressful than I thought it was going to be. It’s definitely a lot of work. My boss is my own creativity,” which is energized by a great deal of self-confidence.

     And his ancestry stokes that confidence. “Most of my root digging is done through my own teaching, smudging myself, talking to my ancestors on my own. I don’t need to go anywhere to find my own spirituality. I don’t feel like I have to talk to any outsiders.”
     Yet he does, and in a bold way that helps him to spring forward with new ideas, but which is simultaneously bound to a rich historical palette. 

Christian Chapman: Humour, Satire and the Mix of Tradition with Contemporary Aesthetics and Popular Art

    This Tuesday past, Christian Chapman stretched canvases to add a few new works to the currently running Waterfront Art Exhibition at the Baggage Building in Prince Arthur’s Landing. The show ends on June 28. Other artists include Linda Dell, Jan Luit, Mark Nisenholt, Stephanie Siemieniuk and Oliver Reimer. They’ll all be there in person on June 20^th. Christian’s paintings will feature Kakabeka, Pie Island, Mount McKay, and other regional scenery.

     If you think he’s short on time to complete these new works, don’t worry; confidence is something Christian doesn’t lack. And he’s more eager to paint than ever. He sliced his painting hand last year, his right hand, so his last set of very large post-modernist Morrisseau styled canvases featuring Elvis Presley; he did with his left hand.

     “It took forever!” he laughs. And now that his painting hand has healed, “I really want to get into the studio as much as I can.”

     Christian is leading a successful life as a full time artist, but he downplays that success suggesting that most of what keeps him painting full time are the grants he receives from the Ontario Arts Council. He’s very thankful for their support, happy to extol the virtues of the Northern Arts Program.

     What he may not be aware of is that a few professionals in our local art scene have referred to him as the next great First Nations artist to come out of our region since Norval Morrisseau. That is the kind of compliment out of whack with reality because all sorts of history with Morrisseau complicate any kind of comparison. What they are suggesting is that Christian could be, if he wanted to be, a very successful commercial artist in the larger southern gallery scene.
     At that suggestion he merely shrugs and explains that he hasn’t bothered to approach commercial galleries. He’s not even all that interested in coming into town, quite happy to paint in his studio on the Fort William Reserve where he experiments free from any kind of external pressure.

     He’s circumspect about his popularity. “When I sell work,” which is usually to people he already knows, “it’s like it’s finding a home.” He describes how his life as an artist was feast or famine but adds, “Well, it’s not that bad. It’s pretty steady now. I always have something coming up or going on.”

      Evident in his work is that he loves to play, experiment, and go with whatever excites him from one project to the next. He’s following his bliss, and this has resulted in a major element in his work that has generated fans; the element of surprise.

     “I always like trying new stuff, but I always go back to old stuff too. I find that, right now, I want to lighten up, go more loosy goosy,” he says when describing how he would like to approach his next batch of paintings. “I always want to go forward with my work, just experiment, and try new things.”

     Having returned recently from Banff, his fourth trip there, he took advantage of the studio retreat for self-directed residencies. Christian created works for his aboriginal based thematic project where the idea was to bridge the gap between aboriginal artwork and western galleries. He created a series of prints, some of which are at the Baggage Building exhibition.

     He laments the size of the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. “Man, I ate more food in the morning than I normally eat all day.” Food is provided so the artists can focus on working in their studios, which are quite big, with a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains. “It’s a great place to get a lot of work done,” he says.

     Christian describes another element of his creative process. “I like putting humour in my work, making myself laugh. I don’t take the work too seriously.” But when asked to explain how he might be making political or social statements because he so often juxtaposes Western and First Nations imagery he is again circumspect.

     “Sure. Yeah. I’m influenced by all that stuff…” residential schools, missing and murdered aboriginal women, Idle No More… “I’d have to be a robot for this stuff to not come out in some form,” he says.

     Throughout his different styles Christian contrasts First Nation culture to Western colonial art and popular culture. This mixing is very much a feature of his work, and it is done to generate a reaction, much of which involves humour, but also allows for deeper interpretation if one so desires. This is not to suggest that he isn’t willing to go deep, but like the new trend for info-comedy that is the Daily Show, Christian is working with a different level of humour, more clever than it first appears.

    Christian also points out that a lot of his work is narrative based. With sequential imagery, featuring a character or two who are repeated in each work, where the settings take on more importance. Ideas for narratives come from all over. Chapmen tells of his father’s inspiration.

     “My dad told me about the Northern lights. We were sitting together, watching them move. He said the lights were the spirits of our ancestors…” The story was told not too long ago, while Christian was still in his thirties. “So the painting came from a story that was fresh in my head.”

     Christian has two to three shows a year plus group shows. He currently has work at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto in an event called Planet IndigenuUS 4. And just recently he and about twenty other artists and craftspeople, including Elliot-Doxtater Wynn, Randy Thomas and his partner Jean Marshal, had work at Chapman’s Gas Bar on the Fort William Reserve. Christian, his sister, and their mother, operate the Gas Bar.

     Coming up on July 9, 7:30pm at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Christian and the curator, Lisa Myers are part of an opening reception and artist talk. Christian described how he’s experimenting with film, including super 8 film, allowing for narratives to develop with the film he’s shot with the influence of four other artists for four different films where they add context with editing and audio.

     Despite all his activity and productivity Christian is thinking of returning to study at Lakehead University, just to take a class or two. Speaking of a class environment, he says, “It can be really stimulating.” And he gets access to a printmaking press to try out new techniques. He’s studied at Lakehead  University before, along with the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, having lived in Halifax for two years where he got inspired to do film work. 
     His eagerness to play, experiment and continue his education for the sake of inspiration reveal how fully engrossed he is with opportunities that come from being open and in love with art and all it has to offer.