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Antoine Mountain
Guest columnist
Monday, September 24, 2007
I must say that my dreams for the Arts in the North are finally coming true, slowly but surely...Specifically, I was invited as guest speaker to the Sahtu Artists' Workshop held in Tulita and organized by the Government of the NWT.
The two people with Industry, Tourism and Investments who were most helpful and enthusiastic about the Arts in the Sahtu, Sam Fagbemiru and Nazim Awan worked well with local Tulita representatives Lucy-Anne Antoine and Fred Andrew to put together the one-week event, held in mid-August. As a full-time practicing professional artist I spoke on how to motivate yourself as an artist, and began with a word or two about the purpose of art, what function beauty has in our everyday lives.
There is a saying that goes something like a healthy society is one which supports the arts, which I found to be true in the case of Tulita.
There in the shadows of Bear Rock Mountain, an enduring symbol for all of Denendeh, we were treated to their sumptuous hotel, complete with Internet service. One interesting feature has the local teens park themselves on the steps of this establishment, with their laptops! I also spoke of my experiences amongst our southern Dineh relatives, the Navajo, and how their entire world-view revolves around what they call the Beauty Way, Hongho, a way to stay in balance with the natural world.
I also spoke of our Dene culture in the arts and how we have to be careful when depicting our old-time legends in visual form and how it is to be used. Early in my career I was strongly advised by one of our elders that our legends are not for sale, period.
With this in mind I began just doing landscapes and portraits, adding images to do with our First Nations' ways of living and our spiritual beliefs. I have thus learned that as a Native artist you can still well achieve your goals while avoiding our long-standing respect for our own stories, if you trust in your talent throughout.
I finished off speaking about making your living as an artist, and how you do have to find ways to force yourself to learn to work artistically in a modern technological world. And, we also spoke briefly on the idea of eventually forming a Sahtu Artists Association, which remains for further discussion...And, finally, as most of you already know, my art has taken me all over the world to represent not only my own Mountain Dene people, but also the NWT and Canada.
I have learned to give one hundred percent on these trips as your cultural ambassador and have received in return one-thousand fold in dreams realized! For this I say masi cho and thank you all!
- Antoine Mountain is a Dene artist and writer originally from Radilih Koe'/Fort Good Hope. He can be reached at www.amountainarts.com