The Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia have a story that, in the beginning, the sea covered all the world except for a flat rock on which the supernatural ones lay crisscross. One day, Raven alighted among these beings and then flew to the top of the sky, through which he was able to pass. In the sky world, Raven picked up the sky chief’s infant grandson and dropped the child into the sea. A messenger from the undersea world invited the child to a house under the water where he was given two cylindrical objects and directions for using them to make land. The sky chief’s son bungled the matter somewhat, but the objects given to him expanded to form the Queen Charlotte Islands and then the mainland.The Haida people, as well as other Northwest Coast peoples, have throughout time incorporated myths such as this into their art. The combination of myth and art is powerful, making the art of the First People of the Northwest Coast popular throughout the world.
The Deschutes Gallery, a new gallery located in the Old Mill district, plans to make available the mysteries of Northwest Coast native art to Bend. Run by Deanna Paik, the gallery specializes in Northwest Coast native art, as well as Inuit soapstone carvings from the Northwest Territories. The gallery represents artists with Haida, Salish, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nootka, and Inuit tribal affiliations. Pieces range from masks, rattles, canoe bowls, paddles, sandblasted glass, and prints.Paik, a native Canadian, moved to Bend this year from Vancouver, B.C. Asked why she opened the gallery, she states, “When I moved to the States, I wanted to have something from where I grew up, something that represented me. I made a decision at the end of February and the beginning of March to open a gallery of Northwest Coast native art.”
Four months is not a lot of time by any estimation, but Paik managed to pull together the gallery. When the doors opened for the First Friday Gallery Walk two weeks ago, she and her husband were finishing focusing the track lighting as the first guests strolled into the gallery.The small six hundred foot gallery houses an impressive selection of different forms of native art. Intricately carved masks and paddles share the walls with crisp prints of stylized moons, frogs, and other animals. Thick plates of glass etched with designs stand on pedestals. A glass case holds a canoe bowl with abalone shell inlays, a carved wooden rattle, as well as other carvings. Another glass case holds a collection of Inuit soapstone carvings of bears, human and mythic figures.
Each month, Paik hopes to have different concentrations of different forms of native art. Over the coming months, she plans to showcase silver and gold jewelry, more masks, and argillite carvings. In order to acquire these pieces, Paik makes shopping trips to British Columbia every six to eight weeks. “It gives me an excuse to go home,” she laughs, “I meet with the artists and see what they’re doing, or perhaps commission work.” Unlike in other galleries, the art work shown in her gallery is not on commission—Paik purchases every single piece from the artists. “This is a cash business,” she explains.The artists whose work the Deschutes Gallery represents are, for the most part, prominent Northwest Coast artists. “Most of the artists that I represent are prominent artists that people collect worldwide,” Paik says. A few up-and-coming artists are also represented. Germaine Arnaktauyok, Larry Rosso, Carl Stromquist , Steve Smith, Alvin Adkins, Doug Zilkie, Jim Charlie, and Trevor Hunt are a few of the artists whose work is featured in the gallery.So far, the response to the gallery has been good. During July’s First Friday Gallery Walk, it didn’t take long for a couple of decorative paddles to find their way into the hearts and home of two new collectors. Paik is cautiously optimistic about her enterprise. “A lot of people have been coming through,” Paik says, “People are surprised at how contemporary the art looks.”Her goals are to expand the number of collectors of Northwest Coast native art. “I would like to educate new collectors of Northwest Coast native art and to attract corporations,” she explains, “I’m also hoping to attract architects and contractors to incorporate this art into homes and offices.”Asked why she thinks the art is so appealing to people, Paik thinks before replying, “I think people are attracted to the design of the art. And people are attracted to the sense of transformation that goes with each piece…the story within a story.” In looking at such powerful art, we can get a new sense of ourselves and the world we live in.
Deschutes Gallery, 520 SW Powerhouse Drive, #628 in The Shops at the Old Mill District. (541) 617-9472.
