An Indigenous design consultant whose input is shaping the future of the Gibsons Public Art Gallery last week issued a call for increased sensitivity to the practice of traditional West Coast art forms.
Cory Douglas, a consultant and artist with a background in architecture design, is a member of the Squamish Nation with Haida and Ts’msyen ancestry. For more than two decades, he has been seeking the cultural knowledge that was denied to his grandmother during her enrolment in the Indian Residential School system.
“I didn’t really understand the purpose of getting a culturally rooted understanding of who I am in my family until I was in my 30s,” said Douglas, a graphic artist and trained jeweller. “That’s when I started practicing artwork itself.”
Douglas delivered a wide-ranging public lecture in downtown Gibsons on Feb. 27, picking up on themes he explored with local tourism and heritage officials in an earlier meeting. He is providing ongoing guidance to the Gibsons Public Art Gallery as it develops plans for renovations and upgrades.
GPAG is just one of Douglas’s current projects: last month, Vancouver Community College released its new brand identity, to which he was a major contributor. The historic Sen̓áḵw urban development initiative south of the Burrard Street bridge — where the Squamish Nation plans to construct 10 high-rise towers — has also engaged his services.
Although Douglas is a draftsman-turned-artist whose business prospects are burgeoning, he’s emphatic that cultural art forms should respect strict boundaries. When he started his art practice, he was unaware of the differences between Coast Salish motifs and the formline art of Northwest nations (Tlingit, Haida, and Ts’msyen). He began sketching the flowing, unbroken ovoids that distinguish work of artists like Robert Davidson and Bill Reid.
“This is perpetuating a cultural identity and the traditional territory of another nation,” he realized. “Formline design is not an art that is practiced in Coast Salish territory.”
His insight led him on a quest to identify and learn the key elements of uniquely Coast Salish art with the help of his mentor, Squamish carver Aaron Nelson-Moody. As the distinctive elements came into focus, he had a further revelation: distinctive Coast Salish design is conspicuously absent from public places across the traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations.
“Architecture and planning have played a significant role in the erasure of our visibility in our own territory,” he said. “In Gibsons, I don’t see any cultural relevance to or references to the Skwxwú7mesh people other than the land acknowledgements. There’s a lot of room and space for culture to play a role in this [architectural design] industry. We’re seeing some pretty significant efforts with various municipalities where culture is beginning to play a little bit of a role.”
Even totem poles are not part of traditional Coast Salish art, Douglas said. He cited the example of UBC’s Museum of Anthropology, which is ringed by Haida-style big houses and poles. “Arthur Erickson [its architect] didn’t engage with the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nation,” he said. “If he did, he probably would have found moments of more culturally appropriate and relevant ideas that could be used for his expression as an architect.” Instead of totems, welcome figures and house poles are commonly part of Coast Salish heritage.
Two traditional Squamish village sites — Ch’ḵw’elhp and Schètx̱w — neighbour the Gibsons townsite. As the Squamish Nation expands its development portfolio across its territories, Douglas foresees collaboration with the municipality to ensure that the land’s essential identity is made clear in culturally appropriate ways.
“Whether it’s five years or 10 years from now, Gibsons needs to get ready,” he said.
