Rick Bartow, a contemporary coastal artist and member of the Wiyot tribe of California who died in 2016, is the subject of an upcoming staged reading at Astoria’s Ten Fifteen Theater.

“I am a huge fan of his work,” said Annie Eskelin, executive director of Astoria Visual Arts, who is delighted at the celebration. “He was one of the nation’s most prominent Native American contemporary artists.”

Bartow is the central character in the Ten Fifteen Theater reading, running at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Author Greg Berman and Portland gallery owner Charles Froelick will speak with the audience after the Saturday performance. Their appearance will be moderated by artist Philip Barasch. The gallery will also provide exhibits at the theater, previewing a storytelling theme that pervades their members’ showcase in October.

Bartow was a Native American artist who grew up in Newport. He worked in graphite and mixed media, creating drawings and prints, acrylic paintings, drypoint etchings, wood sculptures and monotypes.

His art features animals like hawks, ravens and eagles, many reflecting Native American transformation stories.

The reading, being performed in person for the first time, is being directed by Danyelle Tinker, executive director of the Ten Fifteen Theater.

Julian Painter appears as Bartow and Connor Swan plays a former art student who switches to a medical career and becomes Bartow’s caregiver, even as his troubles emerge.

To highlight surreal elements in Berman’s script, Bill Honl, Olive Delsol and Deborah Jensen take on multiple characters, including a bear, a coyote and a deer, as well as other caregivers. Rhonda Warnack portrays a circus figure from a Bartow painting, as well as the medical student’s mother.

Painter, who is Native American, savors Bartow’s significance as an Indigenous artist who embraced many styles. “It is interesting to learn about him as I am portraying him,” said Painter, an artist who writes poetry and music. “It is kind of nice to connect with someone who did similar things.”

Bartow earned a bachelor’s degree in art education from Western Oregon University in 1969. His service during the Vietnam War as a teletype officer, who played music to soothe wounded combatants, left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In his hometown, he was a guitar and bongo player who wrote songs for his band, Bartow and the Backseat Drivers.

Bartow’s artistic status mushroomed with national recognition after a 1985 Portland exhibit. The content and style of his art changed in his later years as battles with sobriety, mental health and the loss of his wife to cancer, were exacerbated by two strokes.

His work can be found in the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts and the Portland Art Museum.

The state of Oregon owns at least four pieces, displayed at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport and on the main campus of Oregon State University. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian commissioned him to create a cedar sculpture overlooking the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Eskelin, at Astoria Visual Arts, celebrates the title of Bartow’s national work, “We Were Always Here.” A similar phrase, “We’ve existed always,” is adopted by the Chinook Indian Nation.

Unyielding eyes greet viewers at the entrance of the Don Russell Clayton Gallery in the Zuckerman Museum of Art. They belong to the feminine figure in Firelei Báez’s Fragrant with dawn and dew, drawing the visitor in.

“I love her use of the strong female figure and the power stare,” says Cynthia Nourse Thompson, associate professor and director of curatorial affairs at Kennesaw State University’s Zuckerman Museum of Art. “They’ve been referred to as shapeshifters, the way they somewhat bleed into the background.”

The figure is almost amphibian, colored in a wash of aquamarine, yellow-orange, pink and lavender that could blend into any tropical waterscape. She could be a siren. She could be a deity. And such fluidity captures one of the main themes of {UNDER}flow, the gallery’s latest showing, up through December 9. 

The exhibit is a celebration of five internationally hailed Afro-Caribbean artists who also share their sense of place and memory in the works.

“These artists are important, and, considering global events, it’s critical that what they have to say is finally being acknowledged,” Thompson says. “We hope that introducing audiences to these contemporary artists will prompt valuable discussions about history, cultural geography, race, gender and identity.”

The show explores fluidity and struggle beneath the surface, Thompson says, “including power and control, diasporic experiences, perceived histories and sexuality. This exhibit is so powerful because it’s figurative, it’s about the body and we as viewers automatically connect with that.”

Photographer Josué Azor documents stunning Haitian rituals and pockets of community like queer nightlife. Mixed-media painter Didier William, also from Haiti, merges myths, history and personal narrative into unconventional bodies that question Black queer identity. Báez, a Dominican Republic-born, New York City-based painter and sculptor, places imaginative creatures in different universes to signal healing and resistance. 

Multidisciplinary works by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, a leading figure in the New Cuban Art movement, a professor at Vanderbilt University and a performance artist, reveal ancestral stories of survival. And David Antonio Cruz, a North Philadelphia native with Puerto Rican roots, has autobiographical paintings drenched in nods to literature, fashion and pop culture while honoring the bond of chosen family.

 Cruz will speak at the gallery at 1 p.m. October 8 as part of Atlanta Art Week. 

“A lot of his work is about home and family,” Thompson says, pointing out the ceiba trees in Cruz’ darker works of shadowy figures emerging from, or vanishing into, the forest. Ceiba trees are found throughout the Caribbean, Mexico and West Africa. “The foreground and background changes as you look closer, representing the compression and expansion of time and space and how that also relates to family and growing older.”

In contrast, the chosen-family portraits are bursting with color. Green and blue limbs bounce off animal prints, polka dots and other patterns worn by pairs or groups of people who are entangled with each other. The strings of pearls and antique sofas they rest on bring a polished, classical flair. Then there’s whimsy in their expressions and tenderness in the ways their hands and bodies touch.

“There’s a staged, performative aspect to it,” says Thompson, adding that Cruz began as a performance artist. “He plays with perspective, the flattening of space and again the fluidity that also relates to gender expression. A lot of our students who are queer really gravitate to his work. They see themselves represented.”

The eyes — or, what is perceived by sight — are also a driving theme in {UNDER}flow.

Shapeshifters (as in Báez’ “Fragrant”) have no noses, lips or ears; only eyes. The untitled Campos-Pons piece, a lithograph on paper showing the artist in performance, shows mostly blue and green eyes crowded across her silhouette. Eyes are also in the background, suggesting the pressure of inquisition — and judgment or perhaps fascination — from every direction.   

Eyes are especially present in William’s pieces. “He developed the eye motif in 2014 to return some of the gaze back to the viewer,” Thompson says. “It’s about the gaze upon the Black body and being ‘othered.’”

Using printmaking techniques, William paints on wood, making his works a blend of carving and painting. In most of his paintings, rows of tiny eyes form the entire body. The bodies are massive, mysterious and are “made deliberately queer by refusing explicit sex and gender signifiers,” William writes.

His childhood in Miami surfaces in the environments he paints, like the marshland in Cursed Grounds: Louisiana Purchase or the raging waters of Baptism: We Cannot Drown, Nou Beni (“We cannot drown, we are blessed,” in Haitian Creole.)

Cursed Grounds: Blessed Bones, a copperplate print, is a slice of William’s recent venture into more obvious nature scenes. An endless blob-like figure made of eyes seems to crawl out of layers of earth, like the cultural histories that have been buried and left stirring underground.

“There’s often a line of demarcation above and below the surface,” Thompson says. “[In Baptism] there’s this struggle of not necessarily drowning but trying to breathe.” 

William doesn’t see the figures as singular bodies, though, so those lines beyond the environmental elements aren’t always clear. It’s a reflection of the distance that can exist between the psychological and physical bodies, he writes.

And the science fiction elements of his work pay homage to Haitian culture and mythology. Such cultural notes will be explored as the exhibit is also the final stop of the Haitian Studies Association’s annual conference. Morehouse College is hosting this year’s gathering, which will end October 8 with a discussion at the Zuckerman Museum. 

{UNDER}flow also includes Interchange, an annual collaboration of faculty from all disciplines in the College of the Arts on October 10. It is free and open to the public.

“It’s a performance in response to the artwork, so I’m excited to see their interpretation,” Thompson says. “It’s a fun way to share diverse perspectives.”

::

Angela Oliver is a proud native of old Atlanta who grew up in the West End. A WKU journalism and Black studies grad, daily news survivor and member of Delta Sigma Theta, she works in the grassroots nonprofit world while daydreaming about seeing her scripts come alive on the big screen.

It is difficult to overstate the immense ecological and cultural value of the plains bison to the lifeways and lands of Native nations throughout the Northern Great Plains. In fact, for many plains people, including the Lakota, their creation stories and worldviews say that there’s no difference between people and bison.

At one point—prior to European colonization and the devastation it wrought—bison were the widest-ranging large mammal in North America, numbering between 30 million and 60 million. But by 1889, only 512 plains bison remained after the ravages of westward expansion, market demand, and a deliberate effort by the US Government to eliminate the species to subdue the Native people that relied so heavily upon them.

In response to their tragic decline, conservationists—including Indigenous people—successfully brought the plains bison back from the brink of extinction to a population of more than 20,500 that we see today.

Details

By Native News Online Staff

October 02, 2023

Chickasaw artist Billy Hensley opened a solo art premiere at the Rainmaker Gallery in Bristol, United Kingdom on September 21 and runs until October 21. The exhibition features 12 pieces of his art.

Hensley’s brand of mixing abstract paintings with a touch of realism has appealed to art lovers and judges for more than a decade.

The debut in the United Kingdom marks the first solo showing of his highly acclaimed work at a venue outside the United States. The Rainmaker Gallery, located about three hours west of London, is the only First American art gallery in England. 

Hensley’s work caught the attention of the Rainmaker Gallery’s owner Joann Prince when she saw his art at the Indian Art Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico six years ago.

“I met the gallery’s owner about six years ago when I was attending the Indian Market in Santa Fe,” the 45-year-old master artist explained. “Joann Prince was interested in my work, and I have shown a few paintings at her gallery, but this is my first solo premiere.”

“We are so fortunate to have Joann and Rainmaker Gallery request a solo premiere,” Hensley said. “To have this occur from a chance encounter six years ago is exciting.”

Meanwhile back in the United States, Hensley will have a booth with his art at the Southeastern Art Show and Market (SEASAM) in Tishomingo, Oklahoma on October 6 – 7, 2023.

His SEASAM display will include artistic works not normally associated with his previous offerings. Hensley is highlighting his broadening interest in crafting jewelry and beading. Pendants featuring leather, beading and alligator garfish hide will be on tap for patrons visiting SEASAM

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The 35th annual Native American Festival will take place at Moundville Archaeological Park Oct. 4-7.  

According to the park’s website, there will be storytelling, traditional dances and classes on flintknapping and movement. There will also be a children’s area that provides lessons on stickball and other activities. A more detailed itemized list of events and their times can be found here.  

Amy Bluemel is a professional storyteller and a member of the Chikashsha Hithla dance troupe.  

“I think it’s very important for students to grasp the enormity of the history that was there before them,” Amy Bluemel, a professional storyteller and a member of the Chikashsha Hithla dance troupe, said. “Anytime I’m allowed to talk about my culture, or my history, or enlighten people, I come away with so much joy.  

Bluemel added that discussing her ancestors makes her proud. 

“Anytime we learn, we broaden our horizons and become better people,” Bluemel said. 

In addition to entertainment, there will be food trucks and nonprofit vendors throughout the festival. 

Flynn Lewellyn, a senior majoring in anthropology and creative media, wrote via email that their family has been going to this festival for years.  

“Festivals like this are important to learn history and correct misinformation. It is an opportunity to support indigenous artists and celebrate the customs shared with the festival by the tribes,” Lewellyn wrote. 

Kiana Younker, co-president of the Bama Indigenous Student Organization Network, also weighed in on the significance of the celebration. 

“It’s important to hold festivals, gatherings and powwows because it shows how resilient our people are,” Younker said. “After over 500 years of diseases, murders, removals, kidnapping our children, murdering our mothers and daughters, we are still here and celebrating this life and this land.”  

Tickets will be sold at the festival for $10 for adults, students and seniors. Children 5 and under may enter for free. 

Alex Warnick

Jamestown native and “bird artist” Alex Warnick has been painting since she was a kid but did not officially focus on only painting birds until she began her professional career.

Graduating from college with an art degree, Warnick began her professional artistry work in 2015. Often her work will be commissioned but she has also done work for scientific magazines or for educational purposes, fine art exhibits, magazines, guides and galleries. For the last eight years she has been painting only birds.

“When I was a kid in elementary school I was obsessed with birds,” Warnick said. “I learned about Roger Tory Peterson and he became a hero of mine. My passion for birds stuck. I had a lot of other hobbies but this is the one that stayed with me. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be an artist but not that I wanted to focus specifically on birds until the end of college.”

Warnick said the idea to become what she refers to as a “bird artist” came from one of her teachers telling her to combine what she loves and what she knows. That’s when Warnick decided to combine her love of art and birds and said she “hit the ground running”.

Last year, Warnick was the Roger Tory Peterson Institute’s inaugural artist-in-residence, an experience she said meant a lot to her.

“It felt to me like going to Disney World,” Warnick said. “With my interest in art and birds, Roger Tory Peterson has always been on my list of heroes and it was great to be able to go there and see his collection and work first hand. I got to study his technique and design and see his historic guide and the effect that has had on society.”

Warnick said her time at RTPI showed her what art can do, and she spent her time there taking a lot of notes and doing research, though she personally did no art while she was on site. She devoted her time to learning and researching and learning about her heritage as someone who paints birds and does work similar to Roger Tory Peterson.

Warnick’s work has been featured in places such as the cover of Bird Watcher’s Digest for the September/October 2022 issue. This painting was of a tricolored heron which she was commissioned to do by a private collector after a trip she took with her sister — another bird artist — to Florida. While there they took photos of birds and a lot of notes, along with making plans for future paintings. Warnick said she was then commissioned to do the painting and write an article for Bird Watcher’s Digest about the experience.

“It was special for me because I have always been a fan because I knew Roger Tory Peterson wrote for it,” Warnick said. “It was exciting because it was the same year that I was at the institute and I was following in his footsteps.”

Since her time at RTPI, Warnick has been working on revising a field guide for birds of Costa Rica. She has done a few other painting exhibits and shows, including an upcoming one in New Hampshire. Her work has also been featured in other magazines and works, and Warnick said it has meant a lot to her.

“If I could go back to when I was a kid and tell myself the career I have now, I always say it would be better than saying I was a princess,” Warnick said. “My work contributes to science and makes a difference, and connects people to science. I am living the dream.”

Warnick’s future plans include the book and a few more exhibits, but she is hopeful of doing another residence soon. She encouraged everyone to take the time to visit RTPI.

“It is a gold mine and my time there was delightful,” Warnick said. “There’s something for everyone. People I don’t think realize how huge of an impact Roger Tory Peterson made not only on the area but the world. It’s fun to see and learn about him and I count myself very lucky for having that experience.”

By Betsy Webster

Click here for updates on this story

    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — What once was a Chiefs-themed room of original paintings at Gaels sports bar now has a new painting of Taylor Swift in the mix.

The faces of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and now Taylor Swift all capture them enthusiastically screaming.

It’s been less than a week since pop superstar Taylor Swift was seen with Donna Kelce, Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce, taking in a Chiefs game. Artist Nicholas K. Clark got to work quickly.

He’s working on another right now. It shows Kelce from behind in his #87 jersey, but the name on the jersey is “Swiftie.”

Clark calls himself a Swiftie “in training.” He likes her songs, but he only just started learning the lingo from his nieces.

He began doing Chiefs paintings in 2018. He’s been a Chiefs fan since he was a kid, but his Chiefs works stemmed from something not at all connected to sports.

He was doing a series of paintings based on 19th-century photographs by Edward Curtis. The photographer is well-known for his photos of the American West and Native American people.

Someone contacted him about that series. They wanted one, but in a certain color scheme.

“I did a painting for a client that was doing a Chiefs wall and they wanted a Native American Chief with a head dress because they were Native American,” he explained.

It hadn’t dawned on him that someone interested in sports-themed would want artwork in his style. He described his style as part pop art, part expressionism, with an 80s twist.

He’s painted many series over the years. He has movie characters and TV characters. Four Golden Girls paintings came from a painful breakup, because they lived their best life best buds despite being single.

He did a series of neon signs along Route 66. He does pet portraits. He started painting musicians 30 years ago, but they were his icons. He’s a child of the 80s. At Gaels, an LGBTQ-owned sports bar, he’s hung paintings of Madonna and Cher. They’re in a different room from his Chiefs series, what he calls the “queens” room. People encouraged him to do Taylor before. The romance rumors just turned those nudges into a push.

“Because she has such a fan base and because of the nicknames and lingo, it made it more fun for me to be able to create a series,” Clark said.

Some Gaels regulars are gaga over the latest addition. One woman, wearing a Chiefs jersey Friday, talked about the dating speculation as if she willed a romance to happen.

“I am a huge fan of both of them,” said Swiftie and Chiefs fan Cyndi Clark. “I have been dreaming about this since even before — We’ve been wanting this to happen for a very long time.”

Clark is also excited about the possibilities for a power couple.

“Their outward persona, I think, has really been super awesome,” he said. “I think they could be a good couple. They’d definitely make pretty babies if they just stayed together long enough.”

You can find his artwork on his web site, as well as on Facebook and Instagram.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

They attract attention. Definitely.

Case in point: “Brown-Nosing,” a half-body bent forward and standing more than 16 feet tall, in whose rectum resides a video installation that can only be seen if the viewer plunges his or her head into the hole.

“Power is corrupted by subculture,” is how David Černý describes this controversial, gargantuan sculpture.

From left to right, CECUT director Vianka R. Santana; Hohmann Gallery representative Virginia Repasky; CECUT exhibition director Sinuhé Guevara; the honorary consul of the Czech Republic in Tijuana, José Antonio González Ibarra; and CECUT’s deputy director of exhibitions, Francisco Godinez.

(Estéfany Maya)

This work — and 15 others, including eight of Černý’s famous giant babies — are exhibited under the name “Rebelión” in gallery 2 of The Cube, at the Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT) museum in Mexico.

Born in 1967 into a family of artists, Černý has been poking at the ribs of moral and political institutions since 1991, when he first gained notoriety for painting a Soviet tank pink as a war memorial in his hometown of Prague in the Czech Republic.

Since then, his artistic acts of civil disobedience, large-scale installations and exhibitions provoke, irritate, amaze and baffle.

Another thing that stand out in his work is the eye-popping use of his sculptures in public spaces, offering a local perspective on global themes of war, technology, national boundaries, religion, power and corruption, among others.

Visitors walking through The Cube at Centro Cultural Tijuana encounter one of artist David Černý’s baby sculptures, which is part of the Rebelión exhibition now under way.

(Courtesy of Alfonso Lorenzana)

The “Rebelión” gives Tijuana residents opportunity to admire and question why Černý has been compared to other international artists like Anish Kapoor, (a British-Indian sculptor known for his massive silver beanlike sculpture “Cloud Gate” in Chicago) Yayoi Kusama (a Japanese artist known for her colorful polka-dot works) or the late Louise Bourgeo. (a French artist known for his large organic sculptures like the massive spider “She”).

CECUT officials say it took two years to cultivate this exhibition with the binational collaboration of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the Hohmann Gallery in Palms Springs.

Hohmann Gallery representative Virgina Repasky said at the opening of the exhibit on Aug. 1: “His work not only speaks to his native country but is universal. He asks each of us with each of his pieces not to be complacent but to think about things like social injustice, environmental problems and country invasions, so he asks us in his own way to think, question and act.”

On opening day, people lined up to enter room 2 of The Cube. The first object they encountered was a giant baby, just over six feet tall, in a crawling position and whose face is replaced by a stamped bar code. First presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1994, the giant babies have since been exhibited worldwide. The baby sculptures traveled to Tijuana from the Hohmann Gallery in Palm Springs, where they were on exhibit for nearly five years. Černý has said the faceless babies represent the dehumanization of society.

On opening day, viewers wait their turn to watch the “Brown-Nosing” video.

(Estéfany Maya)

In an interview via Zoom, Černý talked about his work. The answers are edited for length and clarity.

Q: What would you like the viewer to feel when they see your work in “Rebelión”?

A: It is complicated because many pieces can have different meanings. For example, “Brown-Nosing” is a Czechoslovakian piece, including its video, because it is the representation of public figures who at the time were the president of Czechoslovakia and the director of the National Gallery in Prague. Both were jerks and in the video you see how they feed off each other.

This can become difficult to perceive, but on the other hand I have discovered how after 20 years it is understood to be about how the powerful feed off each other.

Q: Could you tell us about one of your other works?

A: “The Christ,” at the end of communism in Czechoslovakia the churches did not have the Christ sculpture, so many priests managed to make their own Christ by hand. Hence the joke that we could all be artists if you bought an assembly kit and created something yourself. It’s also inspired by my childhood, when we played at building airplanes.

“Cook”, 1990, by David Černý.

(Estéfany Maya)

Q: What is the main goal of your work?

A: This is just artist selfishness and a desire to propagate oneself (laughs). It’s just to entertain and change the idea that people have about the world.

“Nikola Tesla”, 2019, by David Černý.

(Estéfany Maya)

Q: What role does the concept of land play in your work?

A: Most of my work is based in the public space, few pieces are for galleries. Mine is more public installation. I think if you look at someone’s art, it doesn’t differ from their local meaning, it’s like bringing my life to someone else, however, there is hope that some pieces can be understood on a more universal level.

Q: Will there be any of your pieces on the streets of Tijuana?

A: If someone pays for it, yes.

‘Rebelión’ by David Černý

When: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Runs through February

Where: Room 2, The Cub, Centro Cultural Tijuana, Paseo de los Héroes, No. 9350, Zona Río, Tijuana

Tickets: $3 (or 50 pesos)

Phone: 011 52 (664) 687-9600

Online: cecut.gob.mx

Maya is a freelance writer.

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – The 18th annual Aaron Douglas Art Fair was held Saturday, Sept. 30 at the park that bears Douglas’ name at 12th and Lane Street.

The event is a one-day fair that showcased emerging artists to showcase and sell their work to art lovers. The event also included live music, food trucks and a Kids Zone tent, giving children the chance to draw and showcase their art.

The art fair is also a celebration of the legacy of Aaron Douglas, a Topeka-born artist who created works of art addressing social issues around race and segregation in the United States. He is also known as a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance.

“Every year, we celebrate [Douglas’] legacy by giving a venue for new and emerging artists to show their work,” Jessica Mays, Chair of the Aaron Douglas Art Far, said. “We are by far the lowest priced fair in the state. We don’t care what color tent they have. We don’t care if they’ve ever shown before. We want all artists who want to have their work seen to be able to have a venue and a safe place to do so.”

The fair has a featured artist each year. 2023′s featured artist is Topeka native Amy Allen. According to the fair’s website, Allen’s art is described as a dot art style, incorporating hand-painted dots, bright colors, mandalas, basic shapes and texture.

“It’s very cool to be the featured artist,” Allen said. “The Aaron Douglas Art Fair was the first art fair that I ever took part in and that was in 2019. So, five years later to be the featured artist is amazing. I’m honored.”

More information on the fair can be found by clicking HERE.

Copyright 2023 WIBW. All rights reserved.

Freddy Taylor says serving time at the now-former Guelph Correctional Centre started out as a very dark period in his life, but ended with a renewed passion for life and art.

Taylor, 78, was taken from his home in Curve Lake as a child and forced to go to the Mohawk Residential School in Brantford, Ont. After leaving school, he said, he turned to alcohol and then got involved in criminal activity.

Taylor said he doesn’t recall dates well, but he can confirm he was in jail from the mid-1970s to sometime in the 1980s. During that time, he helped form Native Sons, a group of Indigenous men who helped him and others at the centre to work through trauma in their lives.

“We were happy because [in] the Native Sons group, we talked about everything — alcohol, drugs, how we felt being locked up and being taken away to residential schools. Everything,” Taylor said. 

He said many men would create artwork and the group was given permission to paint three murals in the room they used for meetings in a building called the lower assembly hall.

“We planned about what we should put on there and the Guelph reformatory person that was looking after that let us do that after almost a year. And we fought for it,” Taylor said in a phone interview from the Whetung Ojibwa Centre in Curve Lake, north of Peterborough, where he continues to work on his art. 

“We took our pain and anger out, and put it on the wall.”

Advocate wants to save murals

Brian Skerrett, a heritage advocate in Guelph, wants those murals saved. 

Skerrett is the former chair of the city’s Heritage Guelph committee and continues to research the reformatory’s history. He noted that some of the buildings on the former jail grounds are designated for heritage preservation, but not all of them. That includes the building where the Native Sons met in the lower assembly hall.

He said he finds that “strange because of the whole history of the Native Sons. I mean, the fact that those murals exist is important. The reason they exist is, that room was dedicated to Native spirituality and allowing the Native Sons to explore their own heritage.” 

“That makes it really important to recognize. We’re not celebrating, but we’re commemorating. I think that’s important.”

The Native Sons program at the former correctional centre was started in 1977 and it served as a model for similar programs at other institutions in Ontario.

A 1993 report called “The State of the Justice System for Aboriginal Peoples in Ontario” that was created for the Ontario Native Council on Justice pointed to the Guelph program, and said similar ones had been set up at six other institutions.

Taylor said he volunteers as part of a Native Sons program at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay.

Video shows murals still exist

The former correctional centre closed in 2001, in part because it was too costly to maintain the property and buildings. It has now been deemed surplus land by the province, which owns it. The buildings are currently under the care of Infrastructure Ontario.

A request by CBC News to go into the lower assembly hall to see the murals was denied because of health and safety concerns.

Over the years, Skerrett said, there had been rumours that artwork on the walls in the former correctional facility had been painted over by film crews that have used the site.

But in 2021, an urban explorers group called Edge of our Youth posted a video to YouTube showing the murals inside the lower assembly hall. (It should be noted it’s considered trespassing to enter the former correctional centre’s buildings without permission.)

Skerrett said the video gave him hope because it showed the murals still existed and offered a glimpse at their condition.

The larger mural appeared to have peeled around the edges, but the two others were largely intact.

“I went, ‘Oh my heavens, it’s still there. That’s fantastic,'” Skerrett said. “That was the first ‘a-ha’ moment connecting the dots saying, ‘Yes, those murals exist.'”

Murals can’t be moved: Infrastructure Ontario

Catherine Tardik, a spokesperson for Infrastructure Ontario, said an assessment has been done of the artwork in the lower assembly hall and it was deemed it “does not warrant inclusion into the Ontario Art Catalogue.”

The report notes the murals’ style “is typical of Indigenous or Indigenous-inspired works from the 1970s or 1980s and the artists are unknown,” Tardik said in an email.

“The art is painted directly onto structural and load-bearing walls. As such, it is not possible to remove or relocate, as any attempts to remove these pieces would carry the risk of further damage to the murals, the building or potentially, the workers.”

Murals ‘worth preserving’

While the province says the artists are unknown, Taylor said he’s one of the people who helped plan and paint them. 

Another artist believed to have been involved is Richard Bedwash, who was born in Hillsport near Thunder Bay in 1936 or 1937 — different galleries list different birth years for Bedwash — and was an inmate at the Guelph jail. He died in 2007.

Judith Nasby, former curator of the Art Gallery of Guelph, remembers going to see Bedwash and even took him art supplies. His artwork is described as woodland spirit art and is colourful, and Nasby said at least one of the murals, if not two, are reminiscent of his work.

“I was amazed at the quality of the work, the care with which he did his drawings … black line drawings with the bright colours of filling in between, in the style of Norval Morrisseau,” she said. The Art Canada Institute said Morrisseau is considered to be the Mishomis, or grandfather, of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada, and was known for using bright colours in his pieces about traditional stories and spiritual themes.

Nasby said she commissioned Bedwash to do 19 legend paintings for the University of Guelph’s collection, and those pieces were shown at the university and were also on tour as part of a mobile exhibit.

Nasby said that in her opinion, the murals inside the former reformatory are significant and should be preserved.

“They’re an example of an incarcerated person with the help, we think, of other incarcerated men to express their spirituality in this way,” she said.

“The reason they did it is because they said that there was a Christian chapel on the grounds but there was no place for them to share their culture, their spirituality and to really socialize in that important way. So I think simply, as an example in Canada of this kind of energy, and desire and importance it was to them to create this space, it’s worth preserving.”

‘They should be documented’

Skerrett hopes that by bringing the murals to the public’s attention, something will be done to preserve them.

At the very least, he said, “they should be documented, they could be reproduced.”

Taylor said he “would love to see them preserved somehow, but I don’t know how you can preserve it.”

Ultimately, for Taylor, the bigger legacy is the Native Sons and how the group has spread.

“In the [United] States and Canada, you can go to any prison and ask if there’s a Native Sons group and they’ll direct you to it,” Taylor said. “That is how powerful our creation became.”