Native Artists --- 2011

I have a ‘black belt’ in adaptation, you artist out there know what I mean. We survive where few others could, we adapt, and we make slight corrections on our inventory, focus on other animals or designs, or change the stone or wood on the art piece. We do what ever we can to follow a changing market, so we don’t get left behind, or stuck in one place too long. We are like ducks on a swollen ocean, going to and fro on the current, and you can make little corrections, so in effect, you can go against the current and get some where. You use ‘uncertainty’ to your advantage… regardless if the buyer is pondering the consequences of buying your art. The smart artist knows that ‘they’ always have the advantage… “We make the art!

A sea lion rookery in soapstone

I know native artists in almost every state in the U.S. and every province in Canada. We are part of a small network who communicates with each other… we know when a certain area is hot and big sales are being made… or we know when another area is taking a dive. We always make time for each other… hang out, share stories, but most important, is to find out where the buyers are, in any particular town you are in. If it’s bleak, you look around a little, and then buy your way out of there… and hit the road! We follow the money, and sometimes the journey is quite interesting.

I have been asked how I come about in creating some beautiful pieces of art… I don’t think I could accurately answer that. It just happens. Sometimes I see the bears moving in the stone or the sea lions are ‘barking’… I keep removing the stone until the seal can’t move! Sometimes I see the whole design in a flash… other times you work on a piece, and all of a sudden you notice another seal sitting close to the one you are working on. Other times you know what you are doing, you know exactly how it will turn out… but it is taking a long time… fighting you every step of the way, but you have to be tough… hungry enough to persevere, and then… all of a sudden, you are finished! This beautiful polar bear is standing there, and it had such a difficult childhood. Lately I have allowed myself a ‘moment’ to admire what I just created…  before I spend the time it takes of selling it. “No money, no honey!”  My young five-year-old cousin used to say that. She would come up to me, and see me carving, and she would smile, and say “No money, no honey!” “Yes… I know” was my reply. Then most of the time, you are just carving to keep busy, and a little inventory starts to develop.  You start dreaming of cruise ship season eating steaks instead of ‘tube-steaks.’ When the first cruise ship arrives in Juneau, you see a bunch of us native artist… waiting, to greet the first ship with open arms… “Welcome.”

The Tucson Gem shows are the biggest show of any kind in the world. It has a life of its own, it has many facets, and many shows… you must learn its jargon to follow what’s going on there. It takes time to prepare for the show… if you want to have a successful show, you must put in the time in preparation. Just don’t fantasize too much… be realistic about the outcome. Too many times I would think about certain scenarios in the show… “Oh yes, I can take my coffee break when I go to the bank to make a deposit.” Hahahaha… ha-ha! This year I didn’t make any deposits until I was near the end of the show. I deposited my check to my account, and I can hear the ATM chewing on my check… making me feel that I’ll never see that money again! If I were a smoker, I would light a cigarette after making a bank deposit. I made enough to pay my way there, to maintain a comfortable stay, eat nice meals, enjoy other vendors, and maybe have some ‘walk around’ money to maybe buying something. Most of us are just waiting to sell something big; you put in the time and just hope that today you’ll make a huge sale. Then it’s steaks, buying people a ‘round’, buying some art, and just sits in a café pondering the state of the world. But many times you just miss out, took a break at the moment a major buyer came around. You hope that the show you are in has a great selection of interesting ‘stuff’ that would attract buyers to your show. Weather also has a big effect on the outcome of a show… we are all amateur meteorologists… looking up at the sky, trying to figure what’s going on, and with your ears… listen to the Federal Reserves Economic Report on the Economy. Last night they said that they have confidence in the economy and expect it to grow by 4% within the next year. Most of the time we’ll witness ‘one of us’ native artist, hit a home run, making a big sale, and we all stop and just watch with happiness for them. At least we know that big money is being made. Every once in awhile, just when you think you almost lost it, we make a big sale… like hitting a grand-slam in the last inning, the last hitter, the last ball in a ‘no-hitter’ game… you knock the ball out of the stadium. Then you feel invincible; you can do anything, even calculus! The artist, who keeps working, no matter what is happening, will always make it.

We always look forward… not backwards. It is better to look ahead, to get better, and try to learn from past mistakes. If you don’t make money, you always want to at least learn something… to add to our experience, which is valuable to other artists. To be part of an artist network, you must also contribute to the knowledge being passed around. Keep moving, keep growing, and to be like, ‘Cain, who wandered around the land’ in the TV series Kung Fu. I like what my teacher Simon Koonook used to say… “Have tools, will travel.”

Tucson Gem Shows 2011 --- Day Fourteen

The leisure class are every where here in Tucson, from the homeless living on the streets, to the winter mansions up to the eastern hill, the rest of us in-between are just working for a living. Native artist are somewhere in-between, one foot in tradition, the other using the latest business technique in selling our art. We have laptops, cell phones, Ipods, digital cameras, and websites to promote our work. Some have I-phones that can surf the ‘web’, but I have my eye on the new I-phones, that you can swipe credit cards from your customers when buying your art. My native artist friends all over the U.S. and Canada are very similar with each other; we all share the same hardships that come with our profession. The successful artist actually sell them selves… not their art, it is their passion for art that spreads to the customer. The art piece is just a representation of an ‘idea’ that we hold special in our hearts. I don’t think twice about going to the ‘rez’ to hang out with friends. It’s true that conditions in most ‘reservations’ are similar to most third world countries, but it’s the people there that make the difference. They are friends, and they are family. Their traditions may be different from mine, they have different names for familiar things, but they are just like you and me.

My demonstration space

I love coming to Tucson for the gem shows, and meeting people from all over the world. I see familiar faces, same vendors, the same promoters, and have course… many buyers who over the years have become my friends. We all take care of each other; we may buy things that we don’t need because it would help our friends. Others buy sculptures from me, because they need a gift for someone… but we do things for each other at these shows because we want each other to succeed. I love staying at the Road Runner Hostel in Tucson, because so many people there come every year during the Tucson Shows. We eat together; show each other the purchases we made, talk of exciting events happening during the shows.  The food is great in Tucson; the El Dorado restaurant in the old Barrio is fun, 99-cent Margaritas are the main attraction, along with good Mexican food. El Minuto Café just has great Mexican food. The Grill located on Congress Street is open 24 hours and serves breakfast, hamburgers, and pasta at all hours. The Silver Saddle along I-10 is a steak house, featuring prime rib. I don’t eat much seafood here in Tucson, because we are in the middle of a desert. As a Tlingit whose traditional food is seafood, makes me very picky, I always note how far I am from the ocean. There are so many restaurants that I can’t list them all. The Barrio Brewery is fun because when ever a train goes by; there are drink specials available for the whole bar. One night a mile-long train inched by slowly, so the drink specials were on for some time.

The Tucsonans who live here does a great job of hosting the gem shows. We kind of take over their town, the accommodations are full, we add to the traffic, and make their coffee lines much longer. They always make us smile when they complain the temperature dipping below 68F (20C)… most of the visitors here are from colder climates. At home we don’t have little ‘house plants’ growing all over the place like it is in Tucson. The little cactus is quite cute, and I have to resist the urge to dig them up and take them home. The saguaro cacti are quite tall and they each look different. I used to have a collection of photos of my favorite cactus… looking like they are waving… or having both hands up. By next month, they will be bloom with little red flowers on top of a cacti fruit, and the Tohono O'odham, the local tribe, harvests them to eat, and to make teas.

2011 Tucson Gem & Mineral Show at TCC

Most Tucsonans are happy when it’s 90F (32C). A couple of years ago, I stayed for six months after gem show, and house-sat this little home for a friend. At the same time, I used James Fendenheim’s yard outside his art studio for carving stone. It was perfect studio for me; I set up a tall tent and carved stone sculptures underneath. The climate here is dry, and to me… very warm. By April 4^th of that year, the temperature reached 100F (37.8C)… it was so hot for me! I started working on sculptures at night because in the day the temperatures felt ‘life-threatening’ to me, I would run from shadow to shadow. One day the temperature reached 109F (42.8C)… and on that day, I became a ‘man of leisure’… I didn’t do anything, but sit there and contemplate ‘suicide.’ I asked my Tohono O'odham friends how they handled the heat; and they said they are miserable too. The American southwest in the summer becomes an ‘oven’ and there is no relief from the sun. Tucson becomes a ghost town when compared to the busy times of the gem shows. The large mansions up on the east hills of Tucson are empty, as the wealthy move north to cooler climates… like to Santa Fe. Native artists also move, we follow the money; we emphasize different types of designs on our art. In Alaska I make polar bears, sea lions, humpback whale sculptures… and sell every one of them. In the Tucson Shows, my polar bears are big sellers. Not many other sea mammals sell at the local galleries, but bears of any kind sell, as much as I can make them. In a few days I will have a show at Gathering Tribes in Albany, a suburb of San Francisco. My friend Pennie who owns the Gathering Tribes Gallery told me a native radio station wants to do a radio interview with me, so I’ll go early to San Francisco. At the moment, I am just enjoying Tucson; already looking forward to next years show… let the sales begin.

Tucson Gem Show --- Day Four

It was a nice slow day at the show. It was windy today with gusts up to 30mph (48 km/hr) and the temp was around 59F (15C). The weather is decent for me, but terrible for the Gem Show people, or customers. I’m not certain why they don’t show up; because 95% of the vendors/buyers are from cold climates… their homes are socked in with three feet (meter) of snow. That’s all right; I made a bunch of little polar bears out of soapstone, and sold one of them. I enjoyed the ‘summer breezes’, let my mind wander, thinking of times growing up in Alaska.

James Fendenheim & Terry Williams

When I was a teenager in Juneau, on really hot days (70’s F or 20’s C), a bunch of us Tlingit’s would go to the dock and jump off into the Gastineau Channel, much to the delight of the tourist. Back then only the Princess ships would come to Juneau in the summer, a throng of them would be on the dock taking photos of us. The water felt good at 42F (5C), because the sun would warm up the top layer, but if you dove in, you felt this intense cold, that would almost suck the life out of you, and you shot back to the surface.  I remember walking along Sandy Beach just south of the town of Douglas, across from Juneau, about a half mile (0,7 km) was the ‘glory hole’ and near there on the beach was a hole… in the water, about the size of a hot tub, and the Kaatzeek brothers where sitting there, in that hole, like they were enjoying a hot tub, except this is sea water. I went in and joined them, it was all right, but after awhile, you would get cold, but you didn’t want to show anyone that you were cold, you had to be a ‘tough bastard’ … a real Tlingit! Long time ago the Tlingit men would run in the water naked and sit in it for 15 minutes, then run back out. They did this to gain strength. In the 1800’s the guards at the Russian Sitka fort, often witness the Kitsadi Tlingit’s run naked, yelling, and diving into the water, and stay there for some time before running back to the clans houses, this happened in the middle of the winter some dark mornings.  It kind of made the guards uneasy when they saw the Tlingit’s not affected by the winter. When I was in High School, a bunch of us Tlingit’s spent Christmas in Los Angeles, we went to Disneyland, Magic Mountain, went on the Queen Mary, walked on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and then we ended up at Huntington Beach, just south of Anaheim. We just love it, the waves were huge, the beach is long, and there were only a few people there. We took off our shoes/socks and stepped into the Pacific Ocean ‘Ahh, it’s really warm!’ So we all put on our swimsuits and jumped in! We were splashing, swimming, body surfing, and just having a blast! We were the only people in all of Los Angeles bowl that was swimming. Other people were jogging, walking their dogs, or just having a romantic walk along the ocean. They all stopped to watch a bunch of Tlingit’s splashing around in the ocean, just days away from New Years! Yah… what’s cold for me would kill most people! Most Alaskans I know, even the weak ones, can outlast anyone else in tolerating cold. Tucsonites & gem show folks are such a docile, over-weight little creatures who need an extra blanket, or to turn up the heat a little, but I still love them… I like their bank accounts. It was slow today because, God forbid, the temperatures were in the high 50’s. I don’t think those folks will survive the next ice age… the Tlingit’s will, so will the Athabaskans, the Inupiaks, the Yupiks, the Aleuts, the Haidas and other native Alaskans.

James Fendenheim, Sonny, and Alex Streeter

We all met at Terry’s & Bua, hanging out, watching TV and watching the events happening in Egypt, then we decided to eat out, go to Pho’s #1… a Vietnamese restaurant on Stone Avenue. Terry said, “it’s on the intersection of Grant & Stone, just a little south…” Well, I told him I knew where it was; I have eaten there the last gem show, so I thought I could find it. Terrence and myself left and told them we’ll ‘meet you there!’ We arrived in a short time, but we couldn’t find the restaurant. The restaurant business card that Terry gave me was not on my ‘person.’ I looked in all my pockets, in my wallet, and even around the truck, but could not find it. We drove all over Grant, and up/down Stone Avenue. This restaurant disappeared off the face of the earth! Terry doesn’t have a cell phone, so we just kept driving, trying to find Pho’s #1! We found two other Vietnamese Restaurants… Terry & Bua was not there… but still no Pho’s #1. After an hour of driving up and down Stone Avenue, we headed downtown and ate at the ‘Grill’… an all night diner with good food, opened 24 hours a day... since 1938. We headed back to Terry & Bua’s house and we chucked about our ‘tour’ of Tucson. It turns out, the neon sign for Pho’s #1 was out, and it was full of Gem Show vendors… kind of hidden from Grant/Stone. As I left, Terry said, “at least you spent an hour on Get-Stoned Avenue,” a Tucson nickname for Stone Avenue. Tomorrow is day five for the Tucson Show… let the sales begin!

Tucson Gem Shows --- Day Two

Terrence, Sonny, Tomara, & Terry

Damn, what a day! The promoters just love me at this show, but they don't want other artist with me, even if they we're distant family. They kicked them out. I pleaded their case to no avail, and I was bummed out. I finished the day, making one sale, then I closed up. I had a few ‘bites’ on my large bears, and I think they will nibble some more, and then I'll snag them, reel them and  'close' the sale, all before they know what happened. 'You are the proud owner of an eight inch long soapstone polar bear!' But sadly the influx of cash is immediately going some where, out of your possession, never to be seen again. Bills, debts, or new stone eats up the cash at the beginning! Some artist and vendors are just squeaking by when the Tucson Show opens, it seems they have just enough for morning coffee, just waiting for those sales. So when my friend Terrence had to move out, I was unhappy, I felt bad, the promoters wanted me to stay put, but I had ask my friend & distant relative to move. I felt terrible. It was a good thing other good friends came to the rescue, they are buying my friends art at wholesale or on consignment. At the end of the day... it was 'beer thirty!' Terrence and I went to 'El Minuto Cafe', located near the Tucson Convention Center and had a drink, a plate of 'Cheese Crisp',  'Carne Asata Burros' with a salsa salad, soft shell tacos, and Tortilla & salsa... it was heaven. Then we went to Terry and Bua to visit, started watching 'Ace Ventura Pet Detective', very funny, and then Mags and James Fendenheim (High Times magazine did an article on James entitled 'Getting high on the Rez"... also an IAIA graduate) dropped by to visit. After a while I had another beer, talking Tucson Show 'incidents' of years gone by (I've done the shows since 1985), talking of how we used to stayed up all night, eating late dinners, going to a bar, then ending up at someone's house, miles from the Gem Show, and you start figuring out how you are going to make it back. It seemed we had a lots of stories like that. I don't do that anymore, the mornings are harder if I did. Once in awhile I still see artists or vendors with blood shot eyes, all hung over, drinking coffee, and looking at your art. I felt bad for them. We each had stories of working in New York City, Montreal, Vancouver, Whitehorse, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Washington DC, Europe, and Central America... and of course southeast Alaska.

Sonny is roughing out a sculpture from soapstone

Many years ago, my teacher Simon and myself got stuck in Ketchikan, Alaska with no money! Back then Simon Koonook, who was teaching me soapstone carving, was in charge of the money. He some how spent, lost or just gave away a couple hundred dollars between Juneau and Ketchikan on the ferry. It was 10pm, broke, no place to sleep, we were sitting there at the Ketchikan ferry terminal... and the summer night was finally getting dark. We each started carving sculptures, sitting there on a bench, until we each made a couple sculptures, then we packed ourselves and headed to downtown where an all night cafe was open. On our way to downtown, Simon recognize a gallery owner who was going back to his gallery at midnight at the Sunshine Mall. He invited us in his gallery, and then he presided to buy all of our work. Now we had money, ate a large breakfast at 1am, then called around to find a room... they were all booked, I have no idea what's happening in town, and why all the rooms were all taken, but we found one costing almost two hundreds a night... and it had a hot tub. One moment we were broke, stuck some where, then later we were in a hot tub drinking wine, wow, what a contrast. Today is a day like that. After the ‘Ketchikan incident’, I was in charge of the money. Here in Tucson, all of us native artists had stories like that... of just making it in by just a hair. The only thing certain is your ability to make art, just put in your time, crank it out, get the piece complete so you can  sell it. We had so much fun telling funny stories and events that happened in Gem Shows years ago. At some point it’s late so we started getting ready to leave, and James Fendenheim is persuasive, persistent, and talkative... so I’m sunk! At some point, Mags, Jimmie, Terrence, and myself are driving to the dark streets of the ‘Burrio’.... old Tucson, to stop by and visit a friend. It looks dark, but Jimmie knocks at the door loudly for over ten minutes straight, someone finally arrives at the door, and say they were reading a book. Oh yah I thought, they fell asleep with the book on their chest. They invite us in, and another hour goes by as were visiting and telling Gem Show stories, and soon we decide to leave. They wanted to go driving, but no!! Its late, I open up for business in seven hours. I must go home to sleep. We had plans to check out the night life, but that went out the window when James came by. One night with Jimmie is all I can handle. Next week at the show, I’ll be asleep by seven! Tomorrow is day three.