Hindsight is 20/20 as they say. I’m asked often where ideas come from and there is no answer EVER. Like any creative person I have to have experience to draw from and for many of us in this field an old idea pushed back to you like the tide when you might feel lost as sea.
A perfect case in point is the Salish Sea. This idea stemmed from spending time at the beaches admiring the moon and the water. At the same time I wondered why I was there at night drawn to it always as a relief in times of hardship. My brother and cousins used to work night shifts and all of my friends did when we were starting out and a lot of them were cooks. They would come to my studio I would have music on and I learned cooking techniques while they had a place to learn about art. I found myself connected to people who worked in the night and connected with an amazing mentor who was and to this day still a nigh owl. I always loved raccoons despite their nature and persona but knew they were a part of a bigger system. People envy wolves and bears but the seagull and the seals were put here for a reason. Checks and balances. The tide pushes back the world works in ebbs and flows.
In this time of isolation a lot of artists talk and I was reminded by a close friend how far we’ve come as Salish people pushed out and disregarded like rats or raccoons. I feel like the tide pushes along with the moon as a reflection of how powerful a current can be. If you’ve never been in a canoe or boat it’s hard to understand but those who have been in the water know how vulnerable we are in the water but how much we depend on it.
I’m a simple man at the end of the day I work at making images but those images should mean something. I was never in this to waste paper and resources. I’ve always felt that our resources are limited and that what was and is this land a great place. Life is to be treasured. We are all just animals looking to survive.
The earth has pushed back the tide to reveal that we can’t eat money. That the veil of keeping animals in cages for profit isn’t sustainable. It’s about personal responsibility and we have no power over nature itself. It is a tide we can’t turn with all the technology we have and even so would you really want to.
Our people believed in this region that moon was the older brother of the sun and that he gave up his power to reflect his light onto the creatures that are necessary for balance. It is not much different than the story of Thor and Loki. Mythology is a powerful thing and looking to the Salish sea working at the night time I feel all the more reason to do what I do and converse with the late hour gas station workers and nurses I know. I learn a lot from what makes the world work and why there is a low tide and a high tide. From that I am moved like a creature in the water exploring the surface when the moon is out. That is what this idea has taught me that needed to become a print.