Native Art

Native Art

The Gift of Knowledge
My vision quest about my Great grand Uncle Mungo Martin.
I had a vision come to me from an area I call Eagle Rock.
I named this rock for the purpose of my eagle clan and
the connections of the spirit world. My visions come to
me in various ways. The past-present-future.

I come across so much when I enter the world of
conscious and sub-conscious. I find connections of my
consciousness like paths. It takes a great deal of
time for me to get into the meditative state and I
except to cross these paths. There's prismatical hoops
to enter to the other side of creation.

When I was meditating on Eagle Rock I came across an
eagle up in the sky. I watched this eagle as it soared
higher and higher until it looked like a small dot.
This dot started to form an atom, proton and electron
all in colours. The blue sky in the background acted as
a screen. It started to look like small hummingbirds.
Spectacles of colours sparkled the blue sky everywhere.

Suddenly this small hummingbird approached me. Within a
dreamlike trance I suddenly became this little
hummingbird. The speed of light I flew. Everything to
me was fast. I held my vision still to catch a glimpse
of my view. I looked behind me and saw the rainbow
sparkles of gold dust.

During my flight I heard the whistling sound of an
eagle. I could see the eagle up in the sky. The message
coming from the person meditating on this rock was to
see this eagle. I started my journey upwards. It only took seconds.

When I got up there the eagle was startled by my speed
and sound. The eagle tried to keep an eye on me, but I
was too quick. All this flying around made me tired. I
landed on the head of the eagle. Then I showed myself
and landed on his beak. I looked right into his eyes,
as I could see my reflection in them. The eagle finally
saw me and was wondering about my being there. I could
feel the presence of the eagle's conscious. I was so
little, this whole energy overflowed from me. Right up
my little feet I could feel the hardness of the beak.

Telepathically speaking to me, saying to go and see the
man sitting on the rock down below. I responded that I
couldn't see that far. The eagle's spirit entered me and
saying that I have to go see the man below. I said
again that I couldn't see that far and asked where about
is he, and how do I find this man? "I will show you."
responded the eagle. The eagle said that it would wiggle
one of its' tail feathers loose."You will follow this feather down,
as it will take you there."

The white feather came off. It slowly and gently glided
down as it swayed back and forth. I even took some time
to fly around this feather as it went down, and the
scenery below came closer and closer. The blue water
and everything came closer. Finally it landed in front
of the person on the rock. The white eagle feather
illuminated a sparkling spectrum of colours. The sound
of the hummingbird had awoken the man on the rock, and
I came back from the meditation vision.

I looked around and saw a white eagle feather right in
front of me. The tide was out and I was completely
soaked. Sudenly within a split second the hummingbird
flew in front of my face and disappeared. I got up and
picked up the eagle feather and went home.

I took the feather home and made a necklace with it.
Cut the tip of the feather and pushed the stem into four
blue coloured beads. Then I attached deer twine. I
placed seven beads on each side of the stem, spectrum
colours.the hole on the tip is where I placed a
beautiful red rose...The Gift of Knowledge

Butterfly Mask
This half design mask is an outline of a butterfly,
which was put together for this page. I have added many new
patterns for the design to open up. The antennae shows the hands
stretched out with a cacoon in the hands. This is attached to
a small face on the body of the mask. This mask reflects where
it comes from when we all notice the changes of the eyes.
The caterpillars' eyes to the butterfly's eyes. It's a new
world as we see it.

All my designs are futuristic creations. No other
designs have this effect. I believe in special effects as our
ancient people did. Our ancient ones were very special to have
their ways of designing their ideas which have special effects.
My designs follow the same patterns.

This is the story about my special encounter with a
butterfly...." It happened when I was sitting in the sun,
tanning outside of my brother's house. As I was sitting on a
picnic table, I noticed a butterfly landed nearby, a beautiful
monach butterfly. I just watched it opening and closing it's
wings. Opening and closing with it's back to the sun. I started
to speak to the butterfly telepathically. I repeated to
myself, "How would you like to be my friend?" and "I would like
to see your eyes." The butterfly just sat there repeating it's
opening and closing effects. I stayed still, watching and
repeating in my mind those words. The butterfly just flew away
around the house. I thought to myself, oh well, and just layed
back and enjoyed my sun tanning. A short while later, the
butterfly came back and landed in the same place. I began
repeating the words to myself again, telling the butterfly I
wanted to see its' eyes more closely. To my spiritual surprise,
it picked itself up and landed right on my right knee. I had my
hands folded between my knees and I held my breath very still.
The butterfly sat on my knee opening and closing it's wings as I
watched very closely. I had never seen anything like this
before. I felt I was touched with a touch of beauty. The
butterfly lifted itself off my knee. I jumped and I was startled
with the most amazing tingling effects all over my body. What a
feeling! I had just had a vision!!!"

"Buster the Eagle"
One day I was showing my brother a place
where they have eagles. This place is
called The Wildlife Recovery Center in
Errington, Parksville. My brother ( Fred )
and his wife Lil bell and little Tiffany,
their daughter, were there. Along with owner
Robin Campbell.

Robin was talking to us and was trying to get
a name for this eagle. He walked and talked
to us, puzzling over what to call this eagle.
Suddenly he stopped and looked at me. "That's it!
I've got it, I'll call it Buster!" said Robin.
"Yeah, that's it, Buster the Eagle".
It sure is nice to have something named after me.

How I got this design: There's a video about
eagles that I saw and it had to do with eagles
learning to survive. A young eagle noticed a bundle
of fish in the water nearby. the eagle would snap a
fish out of the water and bring it to a tree nearby.
He would eat it there. As I was watching this video,
the eagle did something very unusual. Instead of
bringing the fish to the tree the eagle would be
in midair with the fish in it's claws and then
would place the fish in it's beak. The eagle would
rip it apart and swallow. I've paused this area of
the video and this is how I got the image of
Buster the Eagle ( above ). It was quite
fascinating to me.

"Larry One Wing"

This stencil design is one of the eagles which
was in care with Robin Campbell of the Wildlife
Recovery Center located in Parksville.

I visited this beautiful site and shared some
wonderful times with the owner. I looked at this
injured eagle with one wing. I found this eagle
hopping to a small tree with branches. Even though
this eagle had one wing it got itself onto a branch.
Incredible! There's other eagles within the site from
where it will be released when it's recovered.

I was reading the Parksville paper and found an
article about an eagle looking right into a camera.
I've taken this design and trace it on a blank paper.
Then I would design this and make a stencil out of it. This is how I made Larry One Wing. ( above )

I have done designs for robin Campbell about Larry
One Wing. Larry Two Wings and also Buster the Eagle
along with a dolphin below Buster. This design shows
the closeness and the respect of the owner of the
Wildlife Recovery Center. Larry Two Wings is a blind
eagle. the blind and one wing are the guidance to mother
earth. The dolphion is the knowledge.

Crooked Beak of Heaven
This design is designed for children or adults of
all ages to trace, copy and colour. It demonstrates
the art of the Kwakiulth people. This is also part
of my storytelling, about our potlatches, in particular
this one is about the Hamatsa.

What's the Hamatsa?!?! It's the taming of the
wild man of the woods, the Crooked Beak of Heaven
is one of the four masks used in the Hamatsa
performance at these potlatches. A potlatch is a
place of dances and performances. this Hamatsa Crooked
Beak has some shredded cedar bark between the crown
above the mask. Shredded cedar bark are also on the
bottom of the mask. Within the mask a string is
attached to pull the beak for opening and closing
while there is a cry "Haaaaap"......."Haaaaaaap".
All these masks are sitting around the fire on four
corners. They're all doing the same thing clapping
beaks and crying "haaaap". the other three are the
Mythical Huxwhukw (cannibal spirit of the north)
and the small Crooked Beak, and the Raven Mask.
These are the taming masks for the wildman. There
are several stages set for each, and one dance of the
wildman. Each one changes as it progresses. the taming
of the Hamatsa.

The Pathway
This design I made is for my father. Qwa-Yas-Dam
means in our language The Pathway. This name is one
of my father's indian names. I've choosen this title
for this drawing as it is the stage that is set and
the platform is ready.

As you can see, the stairway going up heading towards
the copper and the eagle. One of my father's crests,
from our grandfathers' is an eagle. Our family crest
is an eagle. You can see the wings spanned out behind
the copper. Behind the both is the whole world.
Probably the "Smoke Of The World" (Kwakiulth).

The two eagles on the lower hand corners touching
form a window and is actually a kind of a porthole.
From a copper shaped craft. This looks like an ancient
monument of our past. Maybe there's a place as such?
My spirits will guide me to find this site. This
design I tried to make an illusion from it. Short
of a trickery-like.

I remember listening to the Art Bell program and his
guest Robert Ghostwolf mentioned a mountain to where
he found a site of a Sphinx and a statue of an Angel
and some serpent-like dragons. I was wondering if some
of my designs are just heading that way ! I do have a
design which I haven't named as yet. I've made a design
with a Sphinx surrounded by some dolphins. This is an
example. Most of my designs make sense to me later
on as life progresses.

My father told me a story about the first canoe a man
has ever made. It was sort of a vision coming from my
father. I believe this design reflects from that.
My past designs unfold in the future as time will tell.

"The Grasshopper or Cricket"
The reason for this design is for the scientific
question. "Where are the ears located on the Grasshopper?"
First of all, I didn't know until I watched an insect
program on television. I have taken great notice of the
grasshopper's survival. I watched the program very
closely and educated myself to listening to the
communication of these creatures. I found most
fascinating the main location of their listening organs.
The camera went very close up and found the vibrating
gills located on their hind feet, just beyond the bend
of their feet. I found this very amazingly strange.
This is the reason I do these designs,
it is educational to me.

Another main topic came up for what this design looks
like. A lot of people recognized this design as a
cricket. These peoples' visions made me now want to
reflect this as a Cricket. The chirping sounds of the
Cricket indicates the temperature of the weather.
You count the cricket chirps over a 13 second period
and add 40, that will tell you the temperature (in Fahrenheit)

My designs often reflect science. It's very important
to see how our culture can relate to the world of
science. I believe this is a very useful tool to
follow. It will educate not only the non-natives, but
also our first nation's. I believe both sides will be
educated for the future of our world's environmental issues.

The First Canoe Air/Fire/Water
This design represents a vision my father told me.
Also this has to do with the formula of AIR/FIRE-WATER
-- eagle (air), sun (fire), and dolphine (water).
the canoe is the journey. The sun setting is the heart of the drum.

My father told me this story and it was the first time
he used the word "vision" to me. Here's the story
that he told me, as he told it to me:

"I go for walk one day on beach to get some houlgeese
(driftwood). I walk long ways to walk. I come to reef.
The tide was up now I can't go around reef. I sit
down on log to rest for awhile. Me just sit there
looking at everything around. Mountains, trees, water, everything.

I sit there and I hear noise on the other side of reef.
I do not know noise. I listen anyways to noise. I
wonder about noise. Sounds like banging on log. I
listen to noise and I wonder what noise is. I go look for noise.

I go up reef and climb up. This reef is high and have
hard time climbing up. I climb and still hear noise I
look for. Noise coming closer. I go on top of reef.
I tired of climb and rest. I look down and see man
banging log. Him bang log. I see him banging long. I
wonder what bang log he was doing. I not know what for.
I never mind man I climb back down reef.

I tired now I sit down and hear man still bang log. I
look at everything around me and hear the songs on my
people coming from log. I look for long time and the
noise stopped noising. I now wonder what happened to
noise. I go back up and look for noise.

I got up top of reef. I look where man make noise. He
was not there, no man, he's gone. I go look for man
with noise. I climb down look for man. I go where man
bang noise on log. I see lots woodchips on beach.
I see drag on beach going to water. I see old tools he
used to make noise. I look out on the water, There's
the first man who built a canoe."

Myself, I sat there looking at the waters and mountains,
trees and everything around me. I see the vision my
father told me. I really think my father was preparing
my vision quest journey. My father taught me a
different view on the furture and to be prepared.
The access to the future.

Excerpt by Marcie Good (Staff Reporter)
Port Coquitlam, BC 1999 "Faces of The World"
Artist Buster Wilson holds a stencil called
Crooked Beak of Heaven.
children transfer stencils into
their own creations.
Wilson, who moved to this area from Victoria,
and has taken his designs to schools, Glen
Elementary in Port Coquitlam, and summer
festivals. Children trace the shapes with a
pencil, fill them in with markers, and add
their own backgrounds and colours.
"I design it for them to play around with,"
he said. "That's what I like about kids,
how creative they can be."

Burnaby NOW Photographer, Larry Wright
Creating a legacy of art
Dan Hilborn, staff reporter
Buster Wilson wants to teach the world about First
Nations art - and he's found a unique way of achieving his goal.

Wilson, a Burnaby resident who is a member of the Kwakiulth band near Alert Bay on Vancouver Island, has created a portfolio of stencils that sport his original West Coast native art designs.

He's brought his stencils to schools in Victoria and community centres in Parksville, and he's been featured in Vancouver Island newspapers. But since moving to the Lower Mainland, the only place he's shown his work has been at a small summer festival in Coquitlam.

This holiday season, he's hoping to use his stencils to add a First Nations flavour to local businesses' windows. And if that catches on, he'd like to bring his work to schools, too.

"Kids get so entranced when they colour in the stencils, it's like they're having a vision quest," he said. "But parents and grandparents like to colour them in, too. This is art for everybody."

While the 54-year-old artist has his own website and uses e-mail extensively, he doesn't have a telephone. His e-mail is armwilson88@canada.com

posted on 12/06/2004
Printed here with permission by Staff Reporter
Dan Hilborn for the Burnaby NOW newspaper and
Photographer Larry Wright
With Thanks

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