Renowned First Nations artist celebrates milestone birthday busier than ever
Posted June 11, 2016 1:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Roy Henry Vickers is celebrating his 70 birthday with a new book. “Peace Dancer” is the fourth and final installment in his “Northwest Coast Legends” series. NEWS 1130 sat down with the renowned BC First Nations artist to talk about it ahead of an event in Vancouver today.
What is the “Peace Dance” and why is it important?
“Well, the Peace Dance is an incredible dance that’s done at every potlatch and it’s the dance that begins a celebration of opening the treasure boxes at a potlatch. So, in the beginning of a potlatch, there’s what is called cedar bark ceremonies, which is all part of mourning the ancestors who have passed away, and once the Peace Dancer comes out, then the celebration of life starts. Now, that’s just the beginning of this whole thing. The Peace Dance began its life right after the Great Flood, thousands of years ago.”
Every story has a moral. What are you trying to say with yours?
“Peace Dancer is actually the story of the flood and we came to the name Peace Dancer instead of the flood because there’s so many stories written about the Great Flood, including Noah’s Ark, and so, from the time of the flood, the people of my village of Kitkatla decided that they would create songs and orchestrated dance that would be used forever to remind people of the flood and the promises that were made by the people to follow the rules of obeying the ancient laws of love and respect for all, so for the land, for the sea, for each other, for life, period.”
It’s quite remarkable about how every major faith and culture has its own take on the flood, isn’t it?
“It is, and what’s amazing for me is I come from the village of Kitkatla, and I’ve known of Anchor Mountain since I was a little boy and in 1974 the story of the flood was told to me formally, one-on-one, by a storyteller. And he said to me, ‘So, you know Anchor Mountain?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Now you know why that’s called Anchor Mountain, that’s where our people in ancient times anchored the canoe during the time of the flood.'”
You celebrated your 70th birthday this month and your fifth decade of making art. How does it feel?
“Well, for the 70 years part of it, it feels quite unbelievable that I’m there. I keep thinking somebody’s made a mistake and it wasn’t 1946 it was ’56 or ’62 or something. But, yes, I was born in 1946 and I’m 70 years old and it’s kind of hard to hear me saying that. It’s hard to believe. But if this is what 70 years feels like, it’s fantastic. I recommend it to anybody. I’ve been working for 42 years as a professional artist, so most of my life as an artist, and after 42 years of working as an artist, I’m getting more inspiration daily to create more art than I ever have in my life.”
So, you don’t find yourself slowing down necessarily.
“No, the opposite. In the four years that Lucky and I, Robert Budd and I have been creating this series, I have a done a year-and-a-half extra work as far designs go, so the images for the book, each image, for me, usually, I do 12 images a year for my business and they are created as limited edition prints. So, I’ve done that plus another 18 images for each book. Plus, I’ve carved four totem poles and we’re working on my biography and we’re almost finished that. So, yes, I am doing more in one year than I have ever done in my 42 years as a professional artist.”
What is next? Is it the autobiography, the life story, to sort of sum it all up?
“Yes, I think that’s next. There are a couple of other books. One, a more serious book about the Four Directions, about the sweat lodge, the teacher, the healer, the visionary, and the leader. Pipe carriers around the world work with the four directions and the four elements. It’s going to be a really good book. It’s like outlining the steps to leadership. So, you begin with education, the teacher. Then healing, the healer. Then visionary, the visionary. And then the leader. So, education and healing help our vision to be clear and then clarity of vision helps us to be good leaders. So, that’s the next exciting book I want to do.”
So, it’s what you want to pass along to the next generation then.
“That’s exactly what I want to pass on to everyone and just outline the Four Directions as used around the world by spiritual leaders and each time you hear it, it’s the same, only different. Just like we are as people. We all look different, but when we get to know each other, we’re all the same family of human beings.”
Vickers will be appearing at CBC’s Studio 700 for a special book launch and free storytelling event from 1:00 to 3:00 this afternoon and at Mosaic Books in Kelowna tomorrow.
