Collective Spirit Podcast

S2E8: Robert Charles Davidson (Haida, Tlingit)

• First Peoples Fund • Season 2 • Episode 8

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2023 Community Spirit Award Honoree Robert Charles Davidson (Haida, Tlingit) shares his journey as a Tlingit/Haida carver and a career of over 65 years. His life is a testament to the power of art in the revival of indigenous culture. His artistic roots stem from the teachings of his father and grandfather, who instilled in him the importance of their own way of carving in the Haida style.  Robert shares the significance of traditional ceremonies and how his artistic practice became the bridge to reconnect with one's roots and inspire subsequent generations of Haida and Tlingit carvers and artists.

Speaker 1:

When I caused the tone of call in 1959, there were a few of the elders who were really against me doing it, and I didn't realize until years later the reason why they were afraid they were afraid. They thought we were going to end up in jail. They were afraid of that law. That put a bit of a ground in our culture.

Speaker 2:

First People's Fund presents the Collective Spirit Podcast. The Collective Spirit moves each of us to stand up and make a difference, to pass on ancestral knowledge and simply extend a hand of generosity. The Collective Spirit Podcast features Native artists and culture bearers who discuss the power of indigenous art and culture.

Speaker 1:

My name is Robert Davidson. My title name is Oak Fondland Eagle of Tadon. My mother is from Heideberg. We are met millennial, so I'm from Heideberg, but I was brought up by Heideguide in Mathit. My father is from Mathit. We're a branch of the Heide called the Kegami Heide in Alaska, up on Prince of Wales Island. My main mediums are wood, silver and gold. Painting, singing, composing new Heide songs with the Rainbow Creek Dancers. We choreographed new dances based on stories from my grandparents' generation.

Speaker 1:

I learned my carving during and with my father and then with my grandfather and later on with other artists such as Bill Reed, doug Cranmer and I've been working in the medium of the art Heide style since 1959, but I didn't really become fluent in the art form until about 1972 when I felt I was finally able to create my own design. My father instilled in Reed, my brother and my sister that we have to learn our own way. My grandfather he said that even when I don't have any order or commission, keep working. So I didn't really have any other desires to work as a plumber or truck driver. My main focus is always in the art and while the door is opening up for me to continue being an artist every turn, there would be permission to create tone polls or map masks, and also working with my grandparents, nani and Chinni. There was a real blank vacuum culturally, and so, as I was learning from Nani of our history through the song, through the dances and stories, I was really for everyone to fill that void by learning the songs, by learning what the meanings of the behind each mask, behind each song, and also contributing to ceremony, learning about ceremony through non-inherent generation. So all the avenues kept opening up for me to continue being an artist, and as I learned more and more about the earth from the old masters creations that are housed in museums, I really wanted to become fluent in the alphabet of the Northwest coast art that was created by the old masters.

Speaker 1:

My inspiration has been seeing the void, the emptiness I moved away from math and I made quite a few visits back home and seeing the art in the museum that were created by the old masters, that were blown away by the quality and when I would go back home, there was absolutely no evidence of that great art that was created there, and so that's when I committed to carving a tombpole to present to the village.

Speaker 1:

I didn't realize how important that gesture was to the old people, to my grandparents generation, because they were living in that void. They weren't allowed to participate in our ceremonies, sing our songs, dance and pop lats host feasts outside of Christmas dinners and picnic. Up to the present moment, because of the trauma we lived through, many people who left our homeland to live in the cities or urban areas. They never, ever wanted to go home because of that trauma they experienced. So I posted to what I called Urban Peace in Vancouver so that the hideout in the urban area could experience our peace, our ceremonies, and I was so blown away on how many people came out of hiding or came out of their woodwork. Jim was just packed with hideouts who never, ever went home for decades.

Speaker 1:

I overheard one gentleman greeting another friend of his he's wow, I haven't seen you for 15 years. And when I started to carve argillite, the only place you can get the quality of argillite is on the high-deck y of this quality that's carbable. There were five gentlemen in Masset and they were all in my grandparents' generation that were carving, but it didn't have the same quality as the old masters. The reason for that is the arc went into a very dark period for 40 to 50 years and skittig at the other surviving hide-of-hills there were the same amount of men carving and in Masset there were about five or six basket weavers and they were all in my grandparents' generation. Today it's an absolutely amazing how many people are connecting to our ceremonies and.

Speaker 1:

I feel a lot of it had to do it with the art. To do the art you really have to know the history from the old masters. And also it triggers memory. Today there are. I was able to name all the people carving today and I can't even do that because I'm afraid down to my grandchildren' generation. So I didn't hear my first hide-of-hills until I was 16. Today, even before the babies are born, they're hearing hide-of-hills.

Speaker 1:

When the Rainbow Creek with Reginai, when we introduced a new dance and a new song, I thought it was a new dance. It was the famine dance to welcome back the famine, and an elder of mine was really moved. Either way, I haven't seen that dance for a long time. It made me think that we have a cosmic memory. The role of an artist is to tap into that cosmic memory. I was so excited when I heard that because I was quite nervous when Reginai introduced a new song and a new dance. So obviously we were tapping into a cosmic memory.

Speaker 1:

When I carved the tonopola in 1969, there were a few of the elders who were really against me doing it and I didn't realize until years later the reason why they were afraid. They were afraid they thought we were going to end up in jail. They were afraid of that law that forbid us from practicing our culture. But my family were very supportive. I know I could not have completed the project without family support. My dad, for example. He found the tree for the torn pole and read my younger brother. He never carved before. After school he committed to carving for the summer with me and my aunties. My grandparents, like they all, were 100% in support of this project. And further to that, my grandparents hosted meetings with the elders, with their generation, at their home so that the elders can talk about how the torn pole would be raised, and they had four or five meetings over the summer while we were carving the torn pole and then after, like, everybody had a chance to speak and it was all in Haida, so I would sit with one of my uncles and they would interpret to me what was being said. After every meeting my grandfather Chini, would get the drum out and they would sing songs and they would dance and it was a real joyful time leading up to the pole raising.

Speaker 1:

But it took me years to grasp the impact the torn pole was going to make. Fortunately I tape recorded the songs that were being sung. Then I learned the songs and my grandmother, nani, would translate and help me with the correct pronunciation, and that created the foundation to revive ceremony and to revive the dances with the masks. But it all came from my grandparents' generation. We gave voice to that generation and now all of these songs are sung. My brother Ridgeworth told me there was a little boy across the street from where he lived and he was singing Haida songs by himself. So what is the real reawakening? What keeps me working? I feel there's still a lot of voids that we need to propel. One of the most challenging will be how do we later rest the trauma? How can we work through it and let it be part of our journey, but not something that will hold us back?

Speaker 2:

The Collective Spirit Podcast is produced by First Peoples Fund, whose mission is to honor and support indigenous artists and culture bearers through grant making initiatives, thoroughly rooted programming, and training and mentorship. Learn more at FirstPeoplesfundorg.