Global Arts, Northwest Territories
Prologue: L.A. Really Travels with Carving Companions
The following vignettes by L.A. are a continuation of the travels of the two companion carvings known as Habanero Sail Marlin (top) and Yorkino Boat Fish Boat (bottom). Prior to joining, L.A., the two carvings were used for the Norman Wells Gallery pilot project, and, following its completion, the School of One gave L.A. the two carvings in anticipation of future travels and vignettes. Without question, L.A. was the most prolific individual collaborator for the Global Arts Project in 2015.
The vignettes found below reveal that L.A. is an active educator and supporter of the Liberal Arts. Born and raised in Southern Alberta, L.A. also spent considerable time in Edmonton and Calgary, two cities where family and friends are still visited with frequency. L.A. also obtained a B.A. in Art and Design from the University of Alberta before the completion of a B.Ed. and a M.Ed. at the same institution. As L.A. indicated to the School of One Carver, “I’ve been very fortunate [to be] able to combine my love of Arts with a career in Education” and L.A. currently works for the School Board in Norman Wells.
The organization of Global Arts N.W.T. does not follow a sequence of linear time, but, instead, pays closer attention to thematic landscapes and locales situated within the artificial boundaries traversed by L.A. This seemed to be the most practical way to organize the extensive travel accounts of L.A. during 2015 through New Year’s Day, 2016, and e-tourists who follow the threads of original insight and observation which weave together the e-pages of Global Arts, N.W.T. should have a comfortable cognitive journey. The unique organization employed here was also undertaken in anticipation of the future travels of L.A. with the companion carvings. Part I details travels to communities in the Sahtu and Yellowknife, while Part II provides insight into travels to Alberta. Meanwhile, the vignettes found in Part III chart journeys to Northern Ireland, Portugal and Palm Springs, U.S.A.
Part I: L.A. Travels in the Sahtu and Yellowknife, 2015
The travels in the Sahtu and Yellowkhife articulated in Part I certainly demonstrate L.A.'s commitment to the Arts, educational programs, and community. Indeed, after reviewing the following selection comprising this section the first time, the School of One Carver was reminded how L.A. once remarked, "I love it here". In addition to documenting some past and recent history as well as the fundamental concerns found within the each of the communities visited, L.A. clearly outlines how learning through the lens of local culture and tradition can prove to be such a successful endeavour.
Barge Season
8:32PM September 28, 2015 10°C
The excitement builds when the barge season begins because that means summer is close by and we know that fall has arrived when the last barge for the season leaves the town. Our new truck amongst several other new vehicles and several prefab houses arrived on the last barge. In the past, parts of oilrigs, cranes, the new fire truck have arrived to their new location by barge.
This season, like the last few seasons were challenging for the barge companies because of the low water level in the Mackenzie River. Last year, the barge was not able to land in a few communities down river from us due to low water levels. The barges got hung up on the sand bars. The barge had to turn around and leave their cargo in a community up river. The communities down river then had to wait for the winter road to get their supplies. This year, the barge companies had to adjust their loads to take into account the low water levels. Is this a result of dams up river or is this a result of global warming? Either way, it makes getting supplies to our northern communities challenging and expensive.
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Colville Lake
7:30PM March 14, 2015 16°C
Colville Lake is a beautiful, isolated community of approximately 170 people. Bern Brown established a mission in Colville Lake in 1962 and then built Our Lady of the Snows church. After the church was completed, he built the Colville Lake Lodge and the Kapami Co-op. There was one permanent family that lived there before Bern Brown settled in Colville Lake. Bern Brown wrote a few books about his experience in the North. It was delightful to visit Bern when travelling to Colville Lake. He had wonderful stories about the region. Bern Brown died in the summer of 2014. He will be missed.
Some of the distinguished guests that have visited Collville Lake are Prince Charles and Pierre Trudeau. There are only four beds in the B&B. My husband, on his many visits to Colville Lake, made sure that he slept in all four beds at some time or another. In that way, he can say that he slept in the same bed as Pierre Trudeau.
When we were scheduled to leave Colville Lake, the plane that we were to leave in brought in a Quad. It was a site to behold to watch the pilots remove the Quad from a twelve seater plane. If supplies are not sent to Colville Lake on the winter road, they must be sent by air. That makes everything very expensive.
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Where the Water Flows, Deline
12:25PM October 22, 2015 -0.9°C
Deline means “where the waters flow”. The community is located on the banks of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories. Great Bear Lake is home to some of the largest lake Trout in the world; a trout weighing in at 38 kilograms was caught a few years ago. Deline also claims to be the birthplace of hockey. It is documented in Franklin’s journal that he and his men played hockey on the ice in Deline.
Deline is the first community in the NWT to negotiate for self-government. On March 12, 2014, 64% of eligible voters voted in favour of self-government. An agreement in principle was signed on August 23, 2003 describing the parts of government (health, education, social services, etc.) that Deline will eventually consolidate under one government body.
Deline is a beautiful community and the lodge is exquisite. The tourist industry is busy during the summer months; both fishing and cultural tours are available. This display emphasizes how important traditional skills are to this community.
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Northern Dog Teams, Tulita
4:33PM October 27, 2015 -6.5°C
In the past, dogs played a very important part in the life and survival of the Dene. Dogs were used as pack dogs and then later they were hitched up for dog teams. In the summer, they were used as pack dogs and in the winter, dogs were used to pull sleds. Often the pack dogs carried packs that were almost as heavy as they were. The dogs that were hitched to the sled were lined up in single file in front of the sled which allowed the dog team and sled to navigate through the brush in the Mackenzie Mountains. The original sleds were made from the leg skin of a moose or caribou.
The students are able to learn how dog teams were used in the past in the Grade 4 Social Studies NWT curriculum. The curriculum contains stories and lessons of the utilization of dogs for survival and the differences between summer and winter use of dogs. It also contains a lesson on how to make a model of the sled.
This model, which is in the school, is a representation of a life style that is no longer practiced. Very few people today have dog teams and those who have them use them for racing or recreation, which includes ecotourism. Dog sleds are no longer used for subsistence living, they have been replaced by snow mobiles and all terrain vehicles.
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First Snowfall, Norman Wells
5:41PM October 7, 2015 -1.6°C
Love the first fall of snow. It makes everything look so beautiful. With the first snowfall comes the freezing weather and the disappearance of the mud. Every house and every building had to deal with mud being tracked in all day long so this event is highly anticipated. Every vehicle was privileged to receive a free mud bath. As soon as it gets cold enough for the mud to freeze, the question arises, when is the car wash. This year the 2016 Grads held the car wash as a fund raiser. They had enough business to run the car wash from 10:30 to 5:30. They turned away just as many vehicles as they had washed.
Norman Wells Oilfields
11:23AM October 4, 2015 3°C
Norman Wells came into existence because oil was discovered seeping through the ground in the late 1880’s. In the 1920’s, oil wells were built. Oil does not exist in the ground in isolation; often there is also natural gas in the oil fields. The surplus natural gas is burnt off since there is not enough to make it economically viable to capture and use the natural gas. The flare can be seen for miles.
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Church of Our Lady of Good Hope
12:31PM November 18, 2015 -18.4°C
The hamlet of Fort Good Hope, traditionally known as Radili Ko which means “rapids”, is located on the magnificent Mackenzie River. Some of the sites that tourists come to Fort Good Hope to see are the northern lights, the rugged scenery, the limestone cliffs known as The Ramparts and the National Historic Site of the Church of Our Lady of Good Hope.
The Church of Our Lady of Good Hope is a simple white building built in the later 1800s and the interior holds some amazing treasures. The walls are covered in stunning frescos that took around 20 years to complete. Being my colleagues first visit to Fort Good Hope, we had to go visit the church. We enlisted some assistance from the secretary of the school to locate the key to the church. After some time, the key to the treasure was located and we went to the church. Since the church is not heated and not used on a regular basis in the winter, the door was frozen shut. With a little kick, the door opened and we entered the church. We closed the door lightly and proceeded to enjoy the ambiance of the church. When we were ready to leave, we were unable to open the door. The ice held the door tight even though we tugged at it with all our might. We searched for another exit but it was locked. Thank goodness that Fort Good Hope got cell service some time in 2014 or we would have had a long stay in the church.
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Honour the Young, Yellowknife
8:18AM October 1, 2015 8°C
I participated, with other teachers, in a workshop for Northern Studies. Northern Studies is a high school course, created in the North for Northerners. All the topics in Social Studies are covered in this course from the lens of a Northerner. This give the course a unique flavour. This is the third time that this workshop has been offered and each time, it has incorporated more Northern and Aboriginal themes.
Before starting this workshop, we were invited to place the name of a youth that we had a special connection with in the birch bark basket. We were instructed to keep these young people in our minds while we were at the workshop. What a nice way to begin a workshop. All of the names of all the special young people have been kept in the basket from the other two meetings. It was a wonderful message that we were at the workshop for the benefit of all the young people in the Northwest Territories.
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Mining in the North
12:43PM 1 October, 2015 12°C
Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories was the home to several gold mines and now is the outlet for diamonds that are mined in the Northwest Territories. The structure in the picture, amongst others sculptures in the city, are a reminder of the economy that Yellowknife was built on and in memory of the miners who have lost their lives in the mines.
Giant Mine is infamous. In 1992, there was a strike which divided the workers and the city. As a result of the strike, there was a bomb placed in the mine that killed nine miners and replacement workers. That further divided the workers and the city.
Giant Mine opened in 1948. At that time, there were no environmental regulations. Now there are unground chambers with tons of arsenic trioxide dust. The owners of the mine have abandoned the mine leaving the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories to deal with the storage and clean up. While I was in Yellowknife, there was also a meeting of the elders to discuss what to do with the toxic material. The elder I spoke to was disturbed by the fact the Southerners started the mine but left it up to the Northerners to deal with the aftermath of mining. This is a legacy that this elder was uncomfortable leaving for the next generation to deal with.
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Love of Art, Norman Wells
2:40PM November 9, 2015 -4.5°C
I have surrounded myself with my art and several pieces created by my daughters and some of my students. It soothes my soul to see and share my art work. Currently I’m intrigued by encaustic painting. This method uses hot wax to create an image. I’m collecting the supplies to create a more economical version of encaustic painting by using old wax crayons to draw on a piece of paper placed on a warm flat griddle. In the past, I have used this method to create art works with Kindergarten students but I have recently viewed professionally produced encaustic paintings. They are spectacular so I’m going to give it a try.
The picture in the background was created with water colour pencils and pen. I enjoyed this activity so much that a few years ago I made enough to give them to some of my colleagues at the end school year. I experimented with different colour combinations and different moccasin patterns.
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Moose Hide Boat, Tulita
10:21AM December 2, 2015 -18.6°C
Pictured here is a moose hide boat that was made with the students at Chief Albert Wright School prior to 2013. In the summer of 2013, a larger moose hide boat was constructed which involved the whole community. Almost fifty people worked on various parts of the boat. The boat was built up river from Tulita and on August 27, 2013, a group travelled down the river in the boat. The whole community came to celebrate this event. This traditional skill is something that the community would like to recreate every few years. It was a great undertaking in organizing all the people and obtaining the appropriate supplies. It shows the resourcefulness of the people who lived in the past of making disposable boats large enough to carry their meat from the hunting grounds to their settlements. The frame of the 2013 boat sits in front of the airport and as in the past, the hides have since dried, cracked and fallen off the boat frame.
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Permafrost Challenges, Norman Wells
5:21PM October 8, 2015 1°C
Building in the permafrost is a challenge. The land shifts a lot therefore architects have to be very creative in designing buildings. One of the creative ways that the early road builders dealt with the permafrost in Yellowknife was to place large logs down as an insulator before pavement was put down. The practice of laying the logs down was discontinued and the roads eventually became wavy like washboards due to the permafrost melting and freezing again. New technology of stacks that allows heat built up in the permafrost to be released from the ground is now used. These stacks are very long pipes where one end is buried in the permafrost and the other end extends several meters in the air. Heaving of the roads still continue but not as extreme as before.
Our house is built on pilings. A pile or post is driven into the ground to solid rock. The piles that were used for our house are metal pipes. This is a time consuming process where the pipes have to be pounded into the ground until the pipe doesn’t move after being pounded 20 to 30 more times. Suspended basements are built above ground on top of these pilings because we cannot build down into the permafrost. On top of the suspended basements, the main living quarters are built. It does make for great views.
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Hockey Season, Norman Wells
11:52AM December 5, 2015 -27.1°C
Hockey season has started in Norman Wells. While many southern communities have access to ice hockey all year round, we have to wait until it is cold enough to create natural ice. The hockey season is short, it starts when we have sustained cold weather, usually near the end of December, and it ends when the ice that have built up on the ceiling begins to fall on the ice surface or when the ice surface begins to melt, usually mid March. Despite these challenges, we have steady crew of Hockey enthusiastics. The Sahtu Cup is a tournament where the three largest communities send teams to Norman Wells to play. This is a weekend full of thrills and spills.
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Walking on the Snow, Fort Good Hope
11:48AM November 19, 2015 -27.3°C
As noted above, Fort Good Hope is one of the Sahtu communities on the banks of Mackenzie River. Many people still practice traditional methods of trapping, hunting and fishing to earn a living. In the new Chief T’Selehye School, which was built in 2011, many of the students learn traditional crafts and skills. Some of the traditional skills that the students learn in the school are how to bead, make fur mitts and making snowshoes similar to the one that is in the picture.
Several years ago, a student explained to me that the width, angle of the lift and the whether the front of the shoe is pointed or curve is region specific. The design depends on the kind of landscape the snowshoes are to be used on. If there is a lot of brush to walk through, the snowshoes will be narrow and have a prominent point. On the other hand, if one is travelling on a flat landscape, then the snowshoe can be wider with a rounded front. The student was extremely proud to share this skill and knowledge that he learned from his grandfather and I was very impressed with the first pair of snowshoes that he produced.
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