By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – Condolences are pouring in from across Canada after the death of famed Indigenous artist and residential school survivor Alex Janvier, whose funeral will be held  July 17 at the Cold Lake Energy Centre, followed by a private burial.

Janvier, who hailed from Cold Lake First Nations in northern Alberta, was internationally renowned for incorporating traditional Indigenous styles into modernist painting.

In a statement posted to Facebook, Cold Lake First Nations said Janvier’s “creativity enriched our lives and strengthened our connection to our culture and heritage.”

“Through his profound storytelling, Alex’s artwork beautifully captured the essence of our traditions.”

Janvier’s works are featured in the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) in Ottawa, the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, as well as the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Two Janvier murals, entitled Sunrise and Sunset, have been displayed in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta’s chamber since 2019.

“It’s the only prominent display of anything Indigenous in any provincial legislative chamber in Canada. And those two murals will remain there for generations to come,” Edmonton-based Indigenous educator Lewis Cardinal wrote on Facebook.

Outside Rogers Place, where the Edmonton Oilers play, sits a large Janvier mosaic, Iron Foot Place. The flagship downtown Edmonton Stanley A. Milner Library also displays his art, as does the Strathcona County Library.

Upon his July 10 death, the NGC called Janvier “one of the most respected artists in Canada,” sharing a 2017 interview with him from the opening of a career retrospective exhibit.

“I live on the natural land that’s still pristine, and so I walk in it and that’s my university,” Janvier said in the interview. “I pick up my information from the land.”

Michelle LaVallee, director of Indigenous Ways and Curatorial Initiatives at the NGC, said Janvier’s “spirit and legacy will live on forever in the beautiful works he created which will continue to uplift, educate and inspire for generations to come.”

Edmonton-West Henday NDP MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul, who is from Alexander First Nation, called Janvier’s death a “profound loss in the art world and NDN country” on Twitter.

“Rest in Power Alex Janvier. Signed, a little nehiyaw napesis who got it. Mahsi cho,” Arcand-Paul added.

Edmonton Journal art critic Fish Griwkowsky described Janvier’s “playful-rascal sense of humour, his utterly expressive art, his hidden Easter eggs, his international impact — especially on so many young artists over decades.”

“So many of us miss you, but you’re still here in a great many ways,” Griwkowsky wrote on Twitter.

Edmonton-Griesbach NDP MP Blake Desjarlais, who is Métis and Cree, described Janvier as a “powerful spirit now made ancestor.”

“May Alex Janvier’s art be a constant reminder of the strength, resilience, and love that has guided him and that he has offered all of us,” Desjarlais wrote on Facebook.

“His work has deeply touched me and countless others. His work and legacy have offered us strength and pride as native people.”

“Sad to hear of Alex Janvier’s passing,” noted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on social media. “His art reflected so much of Canada’s history, including some of the hardest parts of our story.”

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he’s “saddened” to hear about Janvier’s death.

“Alex was an inspiration, who paved the way for many Indigenous artists,” said Singh. “My heart is with his loved ones and members of the community who are grieving this loss.”

Laurie Hawn, the former Conservative MP for Edmonton Centre, spoke fondly of the times he used to see Janvier when he travelled to Cold Lake.

“We have two pieces of Alex’s work, one original and one giclee; both are treasured,” Hawn wrote on Facebook.

Jill Andrew, the Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament for Toronto-St. Paul’s, expressed her “deepest condolences to [Janvier’s] loved ones and the many hearts and minds he touched through his revolutionary paintings.”

Born on Feb. 28, 1935, Janvier was sent to Blue Quills Indian Residential School near St. Paul, Alta., for forced assimilation when he was eight.

University of Manitoba historian and Indigenous Studies scholar Sean Carleton said he teaches about Janvier in his Residential School Literature course.

“[H]e learned to make art as an escape,” Carleton wrote on Twitter.

After studying at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary, now known as the Alberta University of the Arts, Janvier began his career as a painter, illustrator and occasional teacher.

In 1973, he founded Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., better known as the Indian Group of Seven, alongside fellow First Nations artists Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig and Jackson Beardy.

The naming of Alex Janvier School in west Edmonton is a testament to Janvier’s local significance. On July 10, the public school announced it was lowering its flags at half-mast in honour of its namesake’s death.

“His legacy is far reaching as an artist, community leader, and advocate and we are even more honoured to continue to live out his legacy of resilience, determination, artistic excellence, and hard work here at Alex Janvier School.  We remember his words that each of us needs to find and use our voice,” a school spokesperson wrote on Facebook.

Setup for the second annual Indigenous Artist Market began at 8 a.m. July 10 when local youth assembled the Honoring Dakota Project community tipi in Central Park as a reminder of the city’s history. 

Originally, generations of Indigenous families lived in tipis spread along the riverside in the land we now know as downtown Red Wing. 

And today, Red Wing Arts and the Honoring Dakota Project came together to host a day of reconciliation and appreciation through various art forms, storytelling and music.

“We are deeply honored to host the second annual Indigenous Artist Market, a celebration that pays tribute to the Dakota heritage and the vibrant arts scene in Red Wing,” said Red Wing Arts Executive Director Emily Foos. “This event is a testament to the power of art in bridging cultures and building community.” 

The Indigenous Artist Market was established to provide a platform for Indigenous artists to share their work, stories and cultural heritage with the broader community, said Foos, while simultaneously creating a space for connection and dialogue.

“It’s really meaningful seeing this form of representation in the community,” Tipi Designs artist and owner Jasmine Fiddler said. “We always want the younger generations to have a platform to tell their story from their perspective.”

Fiddler played a large role in organizing the market this year and said she appreciates how this event brings people from different communities together to express themselves through contemporary art and handmade items.

All afternoon Indigenous artists and business owners displayed their products in tents lining Central Park – including bead and quill work, wall art, jewelry, clothing, natural products and more.

Estella Yeung, owner of Growing Blue Flowers, sold her natural products for the second year during the July 10 market. 

“I’m just so happy to see Red Wing and the Prairie Island Indian Community come together like this,” Yeung said. “To see them building this type of relationship is beautiful.”

She expressed how events like the Indigenous Artist Market “need to happen” to help people recognize that we are more alike than different.

“The ancestors must be smiling down on our communities today,” Yeung said. 

Design by First Light artist and owner Crystal Wabnum displayed her two-needle embroidery stitching and hand-sewn beadwork designs for the first time at the market. 

Wabnum, now based in Minneapolis, is from the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas and describes her art-making process as a form of meditation.

“It’s really nice to get out in the community and have conversations,” she said. “Connecting with the local folks makes it a more personable experience.”

Having conversations is important to acknowledge history, even when it’s difficult to address the violent past, she said.

Other artists exhibiting their work included Angel Froemel of Ojibwe Dreams, Dionne Jacobs of I.Moore Collective, Charisse Nepoose of Charisse’s Pieces, Mat Pendleton of J&M Arts, Jeff Pulliam of River Valley Trading Company, Cassie Hindsley and Bianca WhiteClaw, Beads & Bling Buckskin and Sheila Smith, “The Party Lady.” 

And from the bandshell, Prairie Island Indian Community Tribal Member DJ Austin Owen returned for a second year to fill the park with a blend of contemporary and traditional music.

Later in the evening, hundreds came to watch Native American blues artist Corey Medina & Brothers perform at the Concert in the Park. 

Details

By Kaili Berg

July 12, 2024

This week in Indian Country, there are plenty of events for everyone to enjoy. From powwows to Native American Art Exhibits, here is Native News Online’s weekly round-up of arts, culture, and entertainment offerings around Indian Country.

Whispering Winds Powwow
West Friendship, MD
July 13-14, 2024

Prepare yourself for an enriching cultural journey at the Howard County Fairgrounds. Engage with American Indian dancers, singers, drummers, artists, and craftspeople. Gain insights into the rich culture and traditions of American Indians, past and present.

Bear Mountain Native American Celebration
Bear Mountain, NY
July 13-14, 2024

Bear Mountain Pow Wow is a full contest powwow attracting over 500 Native American artists, educators, singers, dancers and performing groups from across the Americas. Over 40 artist booths selling crafts, jewelry, food and more. Other highlights of the event include authentic cuisine: buffalo burgers, venison stew and corn soup. 

World Tour Series with Native American: Reg Pettibone
Ludington, MI
July 13, 2024

Reg Pettibone from the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Nation will set up a 12-foot tipi and perform a Native American dance with his wife Marca and one of their daughters. Audience participation is integral to their performance. Participants will then make Native American friendship bracelets with leather and beads, followed by the Native American game “Chase the Rabbit,” a toss-type game.

2024 Wishpemishkos Dises Sweetgrass Moon Powwow
Hipkins, MI
July 13-14, 2024

The Gun Lake Tribe of Pottawatomi Indians is inviting the public to the Sweet Grass Moon Pow Wow on Saturday from1 PM to 10 PM and Sunday from noon to 5:30 PM. The Sweet Grass Moon Pow Wow is a cultural celebration of Pottawatomi traditions, dance and songs. Jijak Camp is a sprawling cultural center that features a beautiful pow wow arena, cabins, lakes, a community center and much more. Native American vendors from across the Great Lakes region will offer native foods, arts, and jewelry.

Curators in Conversation: Native Modern Art
St. Louis, MO
July 13, 2024

In recognition of the closing of the exhibition Native American Art of the 20th Century: The William P. Healey Collection, join scholars for an engaging discussion about the revolutionary Native artists and artworks that form the collection. Alexander Brier Marr, SLAM’s associate curator for Native American art, will moderate the discussion with Tony Abeyta, Heather Ahtone, and Bruce Bernstein.

Education Powwow
Ledyard, CT
July 13, 2024

The Mashantucket Pequot Museum’s Educational Powwow is a narrated exhibition showcasing Native American dancers and the significance of this cultural gathering for Indigenous people. Gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the powwow experience and how it helps sustain a sense of community for America’s first people.

The Great Jim Thorpe: Longest Run 40th Anniversary
Salamanca, NY
July 19, 2024

Join in to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Jim Thorpe’s longest run with a day of commemoration featuring some of the original runners and organizers. The day will kick off with a relay run from the Cattaraugus Territory to the Allegany Territory, covering approximately 36 miles. This will be followed by dinner and a Q&A session. 

Sacred Native American Pipe Ceremony
Las Vegas, NV
July 12, 2024

This is an authentic ritual Pipe Ceremony and healing circle, led by Sean Walking Bear of the Cree Indian Tribe. This is an ideal time to bring items such as crystals, necklaces, drums, rattles to be cleansed, energized, and blessed. For those requesting for a more personal healing, blessing, or guidance, it is traditional for the Shaman to be given tobacco as a gift for their sacrifice and offering. The ceremony will involve storytelling, a talking circle, drumming, meditation, and chanting of sacred songs and songs from the heart.

Native Nyyte Lyyv
Spokane Valley, WA
July 13, 2024

Join in to see Indigenous artists of all genres perform live, with an authentic Indigenous menu, and arts and merchandise by independent Indigenous creatives. 

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Veteran Summit & Resource Fair
Grand Ronde, OR
July 12-13, 2024

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde invties all veterans to the 2024 Veteran Summit and Resource Fair. Veterans are welcome to visit all the resource tables and talk with Veteran Service Officers about service connection. Come enjoy the day and stay for the 2024 Marcellus Norwest Powwow that begins Friday night at 7 p.m. and goes throughout the weekend.

2024 North Dakota Indian Education Summit – 10th Anniversary Celebration
July 18-19, 2024
Bismarck, ND

This two full-day event will be held at the North Dakota State Capitol. The NDIES is open to all ND educators and is designed to provide professional development and education on best practices in Indian education. The registration cost includes two full days of dynamic keynotes, educational breakout sessions, cultural presentations, breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks, handouts/resource materials, product vendor and information exhibitor booths, door prizes, and great networking opportunities. Single day rates are not available. 

Native Nations in LA: Pamela J. Peters Photo Exhibit 
Santa Ana, CA
July 13, 2024

Join in for Native Nations in LA, a special pop up photo exhibit by Diné (Navajo) photographer and multimedia documentarian Pamela J. Peters. The Native Nations in LA exhibit showcases the rich diversity of tribal nations present in Los Angeles, California. The images displayed highlight the modern representation of Native Americans from different tribal nations, shedding light on cultures often overlooked in the diverse landscape of Los Angeles.

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About The Author

Author: Kaili BergEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Staff Reporter

Kaili Berg (Aleut) is a member of the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq Nation, and a shareholder of Koniag, Inc. She is a staff reporter for Native News Online and Tribal Business News. Berg, who is based in Wisconsin, previously reported for the Ho-Chunk Nation newspaper, Hocak Worak. She went to school originally for nursing, but changed her major after finding her passion in communications at Western Technical College in Lacrosse, Wisconsin.

The seminal Denesuline artist Alex Janvier merged swirling abstractions of natural forms with Indigenous iconography to create an art that was both unprecedented and hugely influential. A member of Cold Lake First Nations in Alberta and the collective nicknamed the “Indian Group of Seven,” Mr. Janvier died Wednesday at age 89. His death was announced at the annual general meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Montreal, where a moment of silence was observed.

A survivor of the residential school system and a full-time professional artist for most of his long career, Mr. Janvier was recognized for his distinctive painterly style influenced by European abstract art but incorporating an Indigenous understanding of nature, the animal world and the cosmos. He was especially well known as a muralist, creating impressive frescoes in public buildings across Canada including his largest, the Morning Star ceiling in the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que.

Alex Janvier was born Feb. 28, 1935, in the Le Goff section of the Cold Lake First Nations reserve near Bonnyville, Alta., one of Marie and Harry Janvier’s 10 children. His father was the last hereditary chief of the Cold Lake First Nations, before the federal government imposed an elected band council.

The family lived simply in a small house heated with a wood stove. Light was provided by coal lamps and babies were diapered with moss. The Janviers raised cattle, chicken and pigs but also trapped coyote, fox, mink and muskrat to sell the fur. Marie Janvier produced handicrafts including birch bark baskets and traditional beadwork, both of which would inspire her son’s art.

Young Alex was artistic as a child, often observed drawing in the dirt with a stick, but was only seven when he and his five-year-old sister, Elsie, were taken from their parents to attend the Blue Quills Residential School near St. Paul, 150 kilometres away.

It was one of 20 residential schools in Alberta, part of a notorious national system established in the 1880s that attempted to force assimilation on First Nations children, ultimately leading to the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008. Mr. Janvier served on the commission, and in a 2018 interview with The Globe, described the school experience as traumatizing. He said that the nuns who had come to collect them appeared very gentle to his parents but changed personality as soon as they were alone with the children. Throughout his life, Mr. Janvier suffered from hearing loss in one ear where a nun had struck him.

“I am still trying to grow up,” he said in 2018. “They removed me from my family as a child, removed my spirituality, and tried to remove my language.

“I would like to say today that they have failed.”

The school did provide Mr. Janvier with access to drawing materials and he escaped the brutal regime through his art. By his final years, he was being tutored by Carlo Altenberg, an art professor at the University of Alberta, who introduced him to reproductions of European abstractionists including Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Joan Miro.

After high school, he applied to various art schools but told a documentary crew in 2020 that he was discouraged from enrolling by the Indian agent on the reserve. Eventually he studied at Alberta’s Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, in Calgary, now the Alberta University of the Arts.

“I don’t remember what they taught me but I remember what I taught them,” Mr. Janvier said in a 2017 interview with the National Gallery of Canada. “It became a way for me to be a self starter: You begin things, you create things.”

On graduation, he initially worked as an art teacher at the University of Alberta, and later consulted on both the collection of the federal Department of Indian Affairs and on the Indigenous art included in the Canada Pavilion at Expo 67. In 1968, he married Jacqueline Wolowski, who was to provide crucial help as the manager of his career. The couple had six children and were married for 56 years.

Making a career as a contemporary Indigenous artist in Canada in the 1960s was no easy feat: The white establishment tended to view First Nations art as either something historical or mere handicraft, leaving the artists without access to the gallery system, grants, and critical and academic consideration. Mr. Janvier would soon join with others who shared his frustrations about the condescension and lack of professional opportunities.

In the late 1960s, Winnipeg artists Jackson Beardy, Eddy Cobiness and Joseph Sánchez had been meeting at the Donald Street print shop and gallery run by Daphne Odjig to compare notes on their progress. When the four artists put out a call for others to join them in a new national organization devoted to the advancement of Indigenous art, Carl Ray, Norval Morrisseau and Mr. Janvier responded. In 1972, they founded the Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., (PNIAI) one of the first Indigenous cultural advocacy groups in Canada. Because there were seven members, an article in the Winnipeg Free Press dubbed the collective the “Indian Group of Seven,” and for a while that name stuck.

The group showed together successfully on several occasions and did get its members’ art into commercial galleries, but it disbanded in 1975 without achieving many of its larger goals. Its importance lay in the example it set for the next generation of Indigenous artists in seeking professional recognition within the art establishment while simultaneously furthering Indigenous cultural and social traditions. (Today, the only surviving member is Mr. Sánchez, an American artist, curator and museum director of Puebloan and European ancestry, who returned to the United States in the mid-1970s.)

“Alex’s contributions are significant,” said Michelle LaVallee, director of Indigenous Ways at the National Gallery. “He once told me, in reference to the efforts he and his peers put toward breaking through barriers and biases, that ‘We set out to change the world, the art world.’”

Several of the artists of the PNIAI worked in the style that became known as the Woodland School, established by Mr. Morrisseau’s brightly coloured X-ray paintings of mythic animals and shamans. Mr. Janvier’s art was significantly different and looked like nobody else’s. Familiar with the work of early European abstractionists such as Kandinsky and Miro and the Canadian painter Jock Macdonald, he was already developing by the 1970s what would become his idiosyncratic style. He used a semi-abstract iconography that made reference to both biological and celestial forms, creating paintings full of circular motifs, swooping shapes and calligraphic lines in a palette that was colourful but refreshingly light. Recognizable animals did reappear in his work over the years but mainly he stuck with abstractions that evoked Indigenous iconography without quoting it directly. In the 2017 National Gallery interview, he said he mainly sought inspiration by being in nature.

Even when considering dark subjects such as the Oka crisis and the treatment of the Lubicon First Nation, Mr. Janvier’s abstraction remained delicate. For example, Indian Residential – The Way of the Cross – English vs. French, a 2014 watercolour in the National Gallery collection, directly addresses the damage inflicted on Indigenous peoples by the Church – it features a coffin marked with a cross sitting at the centre of ruptured shapes – yet retains the airy quality so typical of his work. The overall effect of Mr. Janvier’s art, which may explain its great popularity, is one of spiritual uplift.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Janvier would become renowned not only for his paintings but for his large-scale public projects, culminating in the ceiling at the Museum of History in 1993. With the help of his son Dean, he painted Morning Star-Gambeh Then’, a 418-square-metre mural on the dome of the museum’s Haida Gwaii Salon. Divided into four sections, of white, yellow, blue and red, the painting evokes a history of the land from a Denesuline perspective. To reach the ceiling, seven stories above the ground, Mr. Janvier would lie on his back on scaffolding in a position that recalled Michelangelo working on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

In 2003, Mr. Janvier and his family established a gallery on the Cold Lake First Nations to sell his art and maintain firm control of his legacy, conscious of the issues of authenticity that had plagued the estate of his colleague Mr. Morrisseau.

Mr. Janvier continued to paint into his last years and in 2016, he designed another massive piece, Tsa Tsa Ke K’e (Iron Foot Place), a 15-metre-wide circular mosaic on the floor of Rogers Place in Edmonton, home of the Edmonton Oilers. The mosaic, with large passages of white, pale blue and light turquoise bisected by strong lines of red and yellow, is intended to evoke the beauty of the land. In 2017, the National Gallery circulated a major retrospective of his art.

Mr. Janvier leaves his wife, Jacqueline; six children, Dean, Tricia, Duane, Kyle, Jill and Brett; and several grandchildren. Those who knew him describe someone approachable, honest and humble, but Mr. Janvier was well aware of his legacy.

“I don’t need to be remembered,” he said in the 2018 interview. “It is my paintings that are going to do that.”

You can find more obituaries from The Globe and Mail here.

To submit a memory about someone we have recently profiled on the Obituaries page, e-mail us at obit@globeandmail.com.

A federal judge in Juneau on Monday sentenced two members of a Washington state family who sold over 1 million dollars of fake Alaska Native art in Ketchikan. The judge gave the mother and son five years of probation, a few months of home confinement, and a couple hundred hours of community service.

46-year-old Glenda Rodrigo and 24-year-old Christian Rodrigo pled guilty last month to violating the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act. They were part of a scheme to pass off fake stone carvings and wood totem poles as traditional art made by local Tlingít and Haida artisans.

Cristobal Rodrigo, Glenda’s husband and Christian’s father, was sentenced in 2023 to two years in prison for his role in the scheme. Its still the longest sentence a defendant has received for any similar violation in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

The Rodrigo family ran two storefronts in downtown Ketchikan – Alaska Stone Arts and Rail Creek. They were living in Washington state at the time. Rail Creek sold mostly wooden totem poles and Alaska Stone Art sold stone carvings. Both though were advertised as being made by Alaska Native master carvers and artisans. 

But they were actually sourced from a business in the Philippines called Rodrigo Creative Crafts. The company in the Philippines was owned by Glenda Rodrigo. Its sole purpose was to use Philippine labor to make knock-off Alaska Native designs. 

They were then shipped to the U.S. and the Rodrigo’s Ketchikan storefronts. The family even hired Alaska Native people to sell the art as their own. Federal prosecutors found that the workers told customers they were all one big family and made everything from locally sourced materials. 

The stores operated from 2016 to 2021. In 2019 alone, after they’d unknowingly drawn the attention of federal agents, they sold nearly $1 million of the fake art. 

Cristobal Rodrigo worked in the tourist trade for over 20 years before the family started Rail Creek and Alaska Stone Works. According to the Department of Justice, he went to the Philippines in the late 90s to teach the Filipino employees of his wife’s company how to imitate Alaska Native styles. He also handled most of the day-to-day operations in Ketchikan.

Glenda oversaw the Philippines operation from afar, and the affairs at both stores – though she only co-owned one of them with her husband. Cristobal was the sole owner of Rail Creek. 

As for Christian, he worked as a salesperson and helped operate the stores. 

Meridith Stanton is the Director of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board. In a written statement, she said that she hopes the sentences will send a strong message to those who may prey on real Alaska Native artists and vulnerable consumers.

She said: “Fakes and counterfeits, such as those marketed for huge sums of money by the Rodrigos, tear at the very fabric of Alaska Native culture, Native livelihoods, and Native communities.”

Glenda Rodrigo was sentenced to up to six months of home confinement and 240 hours of community service, and Christian Rodrigo was sentenced to up to three months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service. Plus, both defendants are required to serve five years of probation and write a letter of apology to be published in the local newspaper. The whole family is required to pay a little over $54,000 in restitution.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the names and images of people who have died. 

When times are tough, music has the power to lift us up, dust us off, and point us back on our path with purpose. Even when the flames can feel feeble, a good song can get your fires burning again.

The theme for this year’s NAIDOC Week — the annual celebration of the music, history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people — is Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud.

So, to celebrate, Double J spoke to some excellent First Nations artists and asked them to share the songs that keep their fire burning.

Kaiit, DOBBY, Radical Son, Jada Weazal, Shellie Morris and Andrew Gurruwiwi came back with music that embodies the NAIDOC spirit of ‘Blak, Loud and Proud’, ranging from legends like Yothu Yindi and Warumpi Band, through to newer voices continuing vital songlines, like Miiesha, Barkaa and Miss Kaninna.

Kaiit

The first song that came to mind for Kaiit when hearing this year’s NAIDOC theme was ‘Change Has To Come’ by Mo’Ju.

“Keep singing, screaming the reminders. The fire of reminders that Mo’Ju has written in their music, driven with love and positivity,” says the neo-soul favourite, who recently released their comeback single ‘Space”.

“That’s the main thing that I’m trying to feel in my life and express in my music: positivity and a want for change and moving to a better place.”

Another song filled with fiery reminders for Kaiit comes from Barkaa.

“What an iconic sister we have, expressing so beautifully and so staunch,” they say of the Malyangapa, Barkindji woman and her banger ‘Bow Down’.

“I love Barkaa so much. I really love this song and always makes me feel super powerful bumping it.

“The coloniser will love to keep you distracted and keep you in this colonised mentality and coloniser rules, but we need to break from those.”

DOBBY

Murrawarri and Filipino artist DOBBY has just released WARRANGU; River Story, the composer, producer, rapper and drummer’s stunning debut full-length record (and Double J Feature Album) that’s been five years in the making.

The song that lights a fire under DOBBY is the debut single from Miss Kaninna, the uncompromising ‘Blak Britney’.

“She came out swinging!” DOBBY tells Zan Rowe for Take 5.

“I’ve seen her perform a couple of times now and what amazes me is how she is so versatile with this song.

“[It’s] a club banger that goes off at any party… but then you hear her perform it, it’s another thing: Rage Against The Machine-esque, amazingly energetic.”

Miss Kaninna wrote ‘Blak Britney’ as an anti-establishment anthem to amplify the voices of Blak women.

For DOBBY, it “instils pride and a feeling of resistance. 

A “timeless” anthem that has inspired DOBBY throughout his career is ‘We Have Survived’, the signature protest song by pioneering reggae-rock band No Fixed Address.

“Absolute trailblazers, and they’ve set such an influence in the hip hop space,” Dobby says.

“[This song] has a very permanent place in my heart with how it makes me feel as a blackfella surviving a white man’s world.

“It’s amazing how powerful it is in its simplicity, and I mean that in the best way possible.”

DOBBY covered the 1981 song for the 2019 compilation Deadly Hearts 2, remixing elements and adding new verses. It even got the tick of approval from No Fixed Address songwriter Bart Willoughby.

“That was very special and something I’ll never forget,” he recalls.

“A big shout out to Uncle Kutcha Edwards who gave me that opportunity to play the drums for ‘We Have Survived’ with Uncle Bart playing and singing.

“It kind of makes you feel like time doesn’t go from left to right, but rather from upwards, on top of each other because we’re still here and we’re on the same soil.”

That powerful message of resilience through decades of dispossession and discrimination resonates in ‘RED FUTURE’ by Snotty Nose Rez Kids, a First Nations duo out of British Columbia.

“I love them so much. I actually had the chance to see them perform in 2020, right before COVID, at the Indigenous Music Summit in New Orleans,” DOBBY says.

The track is a collaboration with Australia’s own Eurovision reps, Electric Fields. “I’m a massive fan — [they] have the Midas touch.”

“The video is incredible as well because they’re imagining, or should I say manifesting, that red future, that native future, this Indigenous black future,” DOBBY continues.

“I’ve always been an advocate for when indigeneity is globalized, and how we can set an example by unifying all our global indigeneity together. I think that’s the most powerful thing we can do.

Radical Son

Radical Son is the stage name of Kamilaroi and Tongan man David Leha, whose powerful voice (and even stronger stage presence) first got noticed in 2004 with his song ‘Black Baptism’.

“It started off as a spoken-word piece and became a song [that] started my singing career,” he explains. “In short, it’s a song talking about a way to reset, something you can believe in, talking about something that is ours.”

Since then, Radical Son has released a string of acclaimed releases and collaborations. That includes his link-up ‘I Can’ with The Last Kinection, a mid-2000s Indigenous hip hop group from Newcastle.

“To me these fellas were champions on the field and off the field. I was impressed with the brother Joel Wenitong. He went from being an MC, rapping words, to become a doctor. We call that not just talking the talk but walking the walk.”

Radical Son’s other pick comes from “the late Lawrence John Hill of Narrabri, better known as L.J. Hill”, a singer-songwriter who drew from his Kamilaroi, Cherokee and Irish heritage.

‘The Pretty Bird Tree’ is the centrepiece of his under-appreciated 2009 album Namoi Blood, a song that has even been covered by Paul Kelly.

“He sings of a sacred place,” Leha says. “He evokes a place on the banks of the Namoi River where many days passed, where they would come to drink and spin yarns.”

Jada Weazel

She might be turning ears with her velvety R&B and neo-soul, but Jada Weazel still has love for the classics. Namely, Australian music legends Yothu Yindi, who she calls “synonymous and well-known across all our Indigenous communities in Australia”.

“The song ‘Freedom’ has a melody that invokes such pure freedom. Lyrically, speaks about how all it takes is a little understanding, keeps the fire burning and reminds us that we are black, loud and proud.”

Jada credits her family for inspiring her music career.

“My aunty always had a strong influence of music in our family as a female singer in bands. [She] was actually the first person to pull me up onto a stage and sing in front of a crowd. I was about eight or nine years old.”

Weazel is also cousins with the ARIA-winning vocal wonder from Woorabinda, Miiesha, and shouted out her “very, very special” tune ‘Self-Care’.

“I picked this song in particular because of my favourite lyric, where she sings ‘I’m still here because of this pride within in my skin’. That to me speaks so much power, so much resilience.”

Shellie Morris

A living legend who writes and sings music in around 17 Aboriginal languages, Dr Shellie Morris is a two-time National Indigenous Music Awards Female Artist of the Year recipient. She knows talent when she hears it.

Such is the case with Emily Wurramara, a “beautiful singer all the way from Groote Eyelandt,” says Morris.

“Emily did her first gig with me and the Borroloola Cultural Songwomen when she was 14 years old at Woodford [Folk Festival],” she adds. She’s a big fan of ‘Midnight Blues’, which was released in April ahead of Wurramara’s new album NARA, which is out in August.

Andrew Gurruwiwi

A blind, keytar-wielding force of funk, Yolngu elder Andrew Gurruwiwi‘s eponymous Andrew Gurruwiwi Band recently released their long-awaited debut album, Sing Your Own Song. Bursting with the eight-piece ensemble’s infectious rhythms, the record opens with a dose of bush reggae titled ‘Wata Mäwi’.

“This is our way to keep the fire burning, to share to Yolngu people: to our land, to our community, to our people, and also, nature,” explains Gurruwiwi. “To make them happy. Yolngu way of life, Yolngu way of giving special to the land, to make us proud.”

Gurruwiwi also gave props to fellow Arnhem Land group, Bärra West Wind, and the track ‘Bärra Part II (Biḻma ga Yiḏaki)’ from their 2018 album Djoŋgirriny.

Featuring the sounds of traditional instruments bilma (clapsticks) and yidaki (didgeridoo), “it talks about the songline Bärra came from, the west wind. This is for my tribe, Galpu,” says Gurruwiri.

Hear these songs and more on a special NAIDOC Week episode of Double J’s Artist In Residence. Hear it right here.

CATSKILL, N.Y. — Lush Northern hardwood forests, cascading waterfalls, serene valleys and the distant Adirondack mountains populate the works of Thomas Cole, father of the Hudson River School.

His seminal works are often lauded for being the few of this period to include Indigenous individuals — typically a lone Native American male at the edge of the painting or an indistinguishable group seen in the distance.

View the full episode transcript.

The dense green woods of Sonoma County’s Forestville are home to a two-story music studio and residence that runs on solar energy. Known as The NEST, the mocha colored building is made completely of wood, clay and cob; and it was created for the purpose of serving Native artists.

Ras K’dee, a Pomo-African hip-hop musician who grew up in the area, is the caretaker of the space, but he didn’t build it alone. He worked with over 350 people, many of them young folks from youth groups like PODER, who took the 70-mile trip from San Francisco to this town by the Russian River, or Bidapte, “big river” in the Pomo language.

In addition to being the founder of SNAG Magazine, an Indigenous periodical that has been in print for over two decades, Ras K’dee is also a DJ and emcee in the group Audiopharmacy. This week on Rightnowish, we talk about the importance of working together to create spaces for artists to grow, and the ins and outs of land reclamation in the North Bay.

Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on NPR One, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode Transcript

This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.

[Music]

Pendarvis Harshaw, Host: What’s up Rightnowish listeners, it’s your host Pendarvis Harshaw. I don’t know about you but being in a forest soothes my soul. I got to feel that special bliss a few weeks back when I was in Sonoma County, specifically in the town of Forestville. 

Rightnowish producer Marisol Medina-Cadena and I got to visit a place called “The Nest.” It’s a quarter acre of land nestled among lush trees, and it serves as an arts and culture hub built by and for Indigenous folks. 

Over the last 6 years, it’s been the publishing home of a Native arts magazine called SNAG, which features poems, essays, photographs, and collages about Native identity and activism.  

The Nest has also been a space for Indigenous folks across Northern California to convene for permaculture workshops, ceremonies and community feasts, as well as trainings on natural building. 

And what came out of those training sessions is the construction of a two story art studio made from cob.

Facilitating these trainings is a DJ and musician who started SNAG magazine. His name is Ras K’dee.  

Ras K’dee, Guest: I’m Pomo. My ancestry is from right here. The river that flows down that we’re on right now is Bidapte, Big River. And then Ashokawna is where our people are from. And so we’re on our traditional lands right here, this is our traditional grounds.

Pendarvis Harshaw: Ras K’dee sees The Nest as the intersection of creativity and environmental responsibility. And so he, with the help of other Indigenous folks have built this place to be completely fueled by solar panels. 

We’ll hear how Indigenous creativity is taking shape at The Nest right after this.   

[Music playing]

Pendarvis Harshaw: About 15 minutes away from the Russian River is The Nest, a space built by and for Native people. Ras K’dee  who was born and raised in Sonoma County was able to purchase this plot of land with the inheritance he got from his grandmother selling her house. 

Ras K’dee, Marisol and I stand outside and take in the beauty.

Ras K’dee: We had a land blessing from my, from my grandmother and my aunt, came and did like a land blessing, in the Pomo way, where they sing songs and offer prayers and, and, had our had our community here that were coming to help.

We got the land in 2012. But slowly, we’ve been building building it up. We actually intentionally didn’t build for, like, four years. We just kind of, like, watch the land and, during in the winter, during the spring, during the summer and just kind of in the fall, kind of see the different seasons and… Four years of that and like slowly just kind of clearing and like putting garden beds and stuff and planting trees.

Pendarvis Harshaw: This slow process of tending the land allowed Ras K’dee  to be intentional about how to build out the space.

The first structure he envisioned was the art studio. It’s brown, and 2 stories tall with hexagon sides and has a roof that extends over the sides. It kinda looks like a trumpet mushroom.  

He designed it by thinking about what would be conducive for creating.    

Ras K’dee: I was visualizing “what do painters or artists need?” You know, taller ceilings, you know, like, open like, clay wall where they can, like, you know, put their stuff up. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: And the construction of this is completely made from cob.

Ras K’dee: The building is sitting on mortared stone. And then it goes up about three feet. And then, on top of that is cob, which is the plaster of clay and straw and sand, mixed together. And it makes like a kind you know, really strong, like, kind of like concrete, almost. And so then you have, like, a foot of that and then from that going up is all pallet wall. So those are like pallets that are, that are stuffed with straw and plastered over.

Ras K’dee: Structurally it’s got wood and it’s got these big lumber, lumber pieces that are holding it up. And inside you’ll see there’s beams going across.

Marisol Medina-Cadena, Rightnowish Producer: Is it redwood beams?

Ras K’dee : Yeah Redwood. Yeah. Wanna go and check it out?

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Yeah, let’s go inside.

 [sounds of footsteps]

Pendarvis Harshaw: Ras K’dee encourages us to touch the cob walls to feel all the love that was poured into making it. We do and it has a calming quality to it.  He says, it’s the energy of all the people who he invited to help build it. 

 [Music]

Ras K’dee: We had about 350 people work on the structure, over 350 people and mostly youth. There’s a lot of young people, a lot of youth groups.  We had PODER and their youth group come up. We had a bunch of families, like friends with families came up.

Ras K Dee:  We had my friend Tomaggio and his family… were some of the first people here helping. They had a three year old and a one year old at the time. Inside is like a plastering and mixing area. And so you just put a tarp down and put all the ingredients in. And so the youth are just in there, just, you know jumping around, having fun. And like, we went to lunch and we were eating and, you know, just visiting and having a break and we came back and like the whole thing is like, mixed. We’re like, “oh man, you guys, you guys did the work, you know”?

But it was really cool like seeing the young people, yeah, just bringing in the clay.  Like, the three year old is like giving it to the one year old or the one year old giving it to the three year old and three year old is like, bringing it in to the parents and then the parents are like, putting it on the wall. So that’s kind of like how this started in here.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: How did you even know how to do sustainable type of building?

Ras K’dee: I’m pretty self-taught. I also like went to a lot of workshops. But, really got my chops in Hoopa. At the Hoopa Rez, we built a straw bale structure. It was little bit different of, of a kind of a building. But you basically use the straw bales and you cut them and make them look kind of like Legos. So they’re like… and stack them and then you plaster that. And that that structure is still, still standing.

 That really like gave me a perspective like what it takes and the amount of people and the amount of work that it takes to do this kind of building. But this is my first building that I built from scratch.

 Marisol Medina-Cadena: When I was touching the wall, like you said, I noticed it was very cool. Can you talk about how the material itself is good for winter and summer? 

Ras K’dee: Yeah, you know, the walls themselves absorb you know, the humidity, the moisture. And the clay walls, they’re like, really they’re known to, be a great barrier in terms of like, creating a more, just relaxed temperature inside. And what the clay does is it absorbs like the humidity and the kind of the, the heat, the moisture and kind of captures it. And when it starts to cool at night, it starts to release it inside. And so it keeps the building naturally fluctuating between just a comfortable temperature. But you’ll notice when we walk outside even, you know that it’s much cooler inside of here.

[Music]

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Yeah

Pendarvis Harshaw: Yeah

Ras K’dee: Ya know, behind building a structure like this is that it’s nontoxic. You don’t have all the waste chemicals. You don’t have all the waste number one from from the construction industry. There’s a lot of waste. Like, I don’t know if you ever been to a construction site, but you look in the dumpsters, it’s like, full of, like, perfectly good, usable materials, but it’s just stuff they cut off or stuff they’re not going to use. So it’s it’s… I pulled a lot of the lumber for this structure out of dumpsters actually, because people just throw away perfectly good two by sixes.

 Pendarvis Harshaw: This room is essentially a sleeping den for Ras K’dee. A mattress takes up the full space and original art pieces from visiting artists hang on the walls. 

Next Ras K’dee invites us to check the upstairs level of this structure. For the last couple of years it’s served as a creative studio for visiting artists to retreat and work on their own visual art. Most recently, they had an  Anishinaabe artist from Detroit stay and create graphics and articles for SNAG magazine.

[Ras’Kdee talking]

Pendarvis Harshaw: We walk up a flight of stairs made from redwood trees.

Ras K’dee: Okay. Watch your head here this is a little low this side. Gotta duck down there. 

 Marisol Medina-Cadena: It’s cool up here.

Pendarvis  Harshaw: It’s a fully fleshed out recording space. There’s acoustic and electric  guitars hanging on the walls. a desk with 2 keyboards, sound mixers and recording microphones. The wooden roof has a skylight so the sun shines into the studio and provides beautiful natural lighting that feels conducive for getting the creative juices flowing.

[Music]

Pendarvis Harshaw: Ras K’dee has even recorded a couple albums here with his group Audiopharmacy. 

Ras K Dee: The founders of the group are all kind of like rooted in hip hop and hip hop, I would say is, you know, really a music that’s founded on sampling. And so it literally sampled every genre, you know, and so that’s kind of like what we are. We’re like, we are every genre, you know. But I play keys, is my main instrument that I, that I grew up playing. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: After this short tour, we sit down to talk more about the vision behind The Nest.

Pendarvis Harshaw: You live here as well? What’s your day to day life like here?

Ras K’dee: Taking care of the garden is a big part of my day. Waking up in the morning, watering the garden, doing some weeding. I like to, I like to do a little bit of work. Work in the garden in the morning, and then jumping on my other work that I do. I’m also a musician and artist, so it’s a busy time. You know, we got gigs and stuff, so there’s a lot of calls and stuff happening around negotiating and figuring out gigs. But yeah, just supporting artists, you know is kind of what I do here.

Right now, I’m working on a mural project in Windsor, we’re, we’ve got like, a 100 foot wall over there and so bringing in the artists for that. 

Pendarvis Harshaw: So, juggling the arts, also juggling all that comes with managing nature. You’re in the middle of nowhere. What’s nightlife like out here?

Ras K’dee: Quiet. it’s quiet. Like all those scary movies start creeping in, you know, you’re like, man, it’s dark out here. Like, what’s out here, like, you know, mountain lions, bears, you know, like you start thinking about things. And so it took me a while to like to like, unlearn that programing, you know, like to like, get out of that like, cycle, like fear and just be like, oh, it’s just nature.

Being out here alone and just kind of like in the elements, I started to really enjoy it and really enjoy that that peace,connecting to to that darkness in a different way. But, there’s constantly people coming through, especially during this, this time of year. We do like a men’s healing circle.  

 Pendarvis Harshaw: As a kid, were you the builder type?

 Ras K’dee: I grew up in Sonoma County. I grew up, not too far from. And in northern Santa Rosa. Where we grew up, it was like the end of town, like our street was like the last street in town, basically. And like, as soon as you leave there, it’s just like hills,and  so like, we would be off in the hills, you know, with our B-B guns, our slingshots. And it was like, you know, we go out all our homies, like 4 or 5 of us, you know, me and my brother, my older brother. And we would, we would just be out all day long. 

We’d have different forts built. It was always kind of like in my, back of my head is like, got to get to the forest, got to get back to the forest and build that tree fort. As an adult, you know, this is kind of like a representation of that I think.

Pendarvis Harshaw: In this part of the region in Sonoma County, there’s a couple of other organizations that are doing similar work, like EARTHseed, like Heron Shadow. Are you in communication with these organizations? And is there like a movement occurring?

Ras K’dee: There’s definitely a movement. Yeah. It’s pretty special, actually, to be be a part of it.  I am in community with a lot of a lot of the organizations you mentioned. I was just deejaying, actually, at EARTHseed’s “Black to Land” event last week. They open up their, their space to, you know, to, to the Black community. We we all collaborate. We all connect. And Heron Shadow has a farm, so they have more food and, they do like, Indigenous food and Indigenous seeds. They bring back seeds. And so it’s perfect because, you know, like we go over there like, do an exchange or do a collaboration and they gift us this with seeds and gift us with plants to bring back here to plant. So it’s kind of like this, you know, this sharing of resources.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Being in your space and you talking about all the community groups that come here, it makes me think about how other land back efforts we’re seeing in NorCal are very different, in that it’s like a city, you know, giving a plot of land to a formal nonprofit to steward and tend. But this is like your private space built from your like, family equity. And talk to us about that decision to open up your personal space so that it is a collective thing.

Ras K’dee: This building couldn’t have been made without, you know, people coming. I think it was more of a prayer, you know, like I want to I want to put the prayer here, for this space to be a community space and for it to be, a resource for the community,

And so we put the prayer in and like, you know, kind of like not knowing, you know, if the community was going to show up, just like, oh, let’s start doing this, this crazy project and see, see who shows up kind of thing and the community, community showed up.

 [Music]

Marisol Medina-Cadena: I’m wondering when you’re either in the garden or just sitting here with your dog Panda taking in the breeze, the sounds, how do you feel? Or what are you thinking about what this land means for you?

Ras K’dee: What I’ve gained is, I guess, a sense of peace. And coming into this land with also like a lot of work to do to like prepare it, it felt like overwhelming, you know, and it felt like, you know, like impossible at first because it was an empty lot and it was just overgrown. And, you know, trees had fallen and it hadn’t been taken care for many years. And yeah, just doing the work to, like, slowly heal the land and steward it in a good way, you know, has really just helped me to like, to heal myself,

As Indigenous people, you know, we see it as like as, like a generational commitment to the land. You know, like, we’re going to be here for generations. We’re not just here for build our house right now and then sell it and then, you know, move somewhere else, you know, or to Mexico or whatever, you know. What do they call them? Digital nomads. You know, like we’re not thinking in terms of that. We’re thinking in terms of generations.

So what are we building here right now that that we can leave generationally for, for our for our youth in the future, right. I don’t have youth of my own right now, but I have young people that I that I work with. This is a lifelong project. It’s not a temporary thing.

We were creating this space as kind of a showcase place where people can come and see, you know, a building that’s that’s cob. And they could touch the wall and feel and see what it looks like and what the different building techniques are and learn about the different building techniques and then be like, oh, I want to, I want to build an adobe, you know, adobe dome.  

But really, really just incubate, incubate art that changes the world, you know, that’s that’s that’s why the space is here. So those are, those are the things that we want to do here and invite the artists that can bring about that change that we need in this world.

 [Music]

Pendarvis Harshaw: Ras K’dee, we can’t thank you enough. Much appreciation to you for welcoming us to your corner of Sonoma County to see and experience The Nest.

The Nest is still evolving and Ras K’dee has plans to build a yurt and a dance studio to be able to host more classes and workshops. To stay updated on The Nest follow along on Instagram @SNAG.magazine.

And to keep up Ras K’dee’s  art and music projects, you can check out his IG @raskdee that’s spelled R-A-S-K-D-E-E.

This episode was hosted by me, Pendarvis Harshaw. Marisol Medina-Cadena produced this episode. Chris Hambrick held it down for edits on this one. Christopher Beale engineered this joint.  

The Rightnowish team is also supported by Jen Chien, Ugur Dursun, Holly Kernan, Cesar Saldaña, and Katie Sprenger.  Rightnowish is a KQED production.

Until next time,  peace!