[quote=“Spider”]
I do not believe it is the Green family we are talking about but all of the carvers, Mr. Henry Green is trying to get things happening for his fellow carvers. [/quote]
You, obviously, haven’t met Henry. He’s extremely vain and probably believes he’s entitled to use the shed, like his own private shop. He’s a great artist but he’s not royalty, as he’d have you believe.
Max… Maybe like Smurfette says, people don’t understand what others want. Their position in their culture, because it is a different culture, can be misunderstood by outsiders. Maybe Mr Green is some sort of chief/royalty?
This is 2 cultures clashing and because neither seems to respect, to some extent the others…? Is it that both parties don’t have the time to sit and listen to each others concerns or are both too vain to admit compromise? Ego…on both sides.
Jaada, if you and Henry are still following this thread, Stackedsports has made an excellent suggestion here that I agree with and have thought for many years now that there should be some kind on artist’s Co-op established here, (Guild or Association or whatever) where first nations artists and carvers could work together in the community, that also had a store front or gallery to sell their work to both locals and tourists. I’m fairly certain that there would be a lot of local and community support as well as financial aid and business advice available from organizations like Tri-Corp, or possibly one of the local bands. There are many talented yet struggling artists that could greatly benefit from a venture like this both as a place to work from as well as a place to sell art directly without going through ‘middle men’ like the museum, the Crest Hotel or other galleries, and put more of the profit being made from their art directly into the pockets of the artists themselves.
The museum and it’s board are a more political organization with their own agenda and specific goals or mission statement to follow, but if it remains your intent to change this decision by them then one other way to do this is have one or several people run for positions and elected to the board and possibly influence the decision making process from within, however this could be both very time consuming and challenging, but you may be pleasantly surprised in how much public support you may get trying this as well, as I have heard from several other people with similarly difficult and unpleasant experiences in dealing with the museum. Perhaps they could use a bit of a ‘shakeup’ ?
I am not native, but have known Henry for a many years, since purchasing a piece of his work which has hung in my home ever since. Although I haven’t been to the carving shed in a very long time we used to go down there all the time to ‘hang out’ and watch several friends carve and work. good luck.
the atlin terminal has an area where artists cooperatively use the space do they not?
Yeah, but it’s hard to get in there as the space is pretty much maxed out. They’re far past the point of taking everyone who want to sell their art - there’s some kind of vote by the Icehouse board involved. Personally, I think the idea of someplace with a clear focus on selling and promoting authentic art by local First Nations artists is an excellent idea!! What a great opportunity to showcase all the local talent in that area!
Also, they need to have a place big enough to accommodate very large pieces like long totem poles, and big masks, etc. with space enough for the artists / carvers to come and actually work for hours on end as many of them do not have this available to them which is why the carving shed was built in the first place. The atlin terminal space as great as it is does not provide this.