Years before I was thinking artist was possible as a career it wasn’t one I wanted. I grew up where scholars and media made jokes about being an artist and they were never good. Back then it was to push at the idea of the other, the non conforming. I remember how upset and in trouble I was in a school that was largely a reflection of the larger population. Despite growing up on the home lands of my ancestry I was the 1% along with a few outliers.
Most of us in trouble were of color and in one instance I remember one thing now that came back to me during this time carving away in the studio. There was a lesson about carving a canoe out of soap and they stressed that the knife should never go back towards you. I know now as an adult and father the safety but all the pictures I had known of were of my great great grandfather and great carvers with the knife going back towards the body. It was also something I admired watching my grandmother, mom and aunties cutting potatoes cutting back but with great control.
I remember sitting in the principal office for pointing these things out and my Grandpa showing up largely under stress as he was on our tribal council at the time. I remember a confrontation sitting at that desk and having respect for my grandpa explaining to the the principle that there is value in what our culture has. His mother was a carver. She made mostly small items based on books she had and what she remembered despite boarding schools. At that time much like the Japanese internment camps, culture was suppressed. Natives at the time were just looking to reconnect.
It was around that time that my grandpa used to take me to a small mall called B&I that was somewhat famous for housing a Gorilla, Ivan. We went there often and I remember feeling so bad for animals in cages. I remember my grandfather and I spending a lot of time going there and how he was upset with the people there about captivation. Because he was a son of painter he was so upset somehow inside about locking up animals to make art.
Across from Ivan’s cage we would go to the comic store and when I saw my first impression of Batman iconography I remember Batman: The Cult . I remember my dad being so upset why would your grandpa let you buy a book about a cult. I said dad this is a story about overcoming that.
Looking back on that series even though I loved and was alway and admire of Bernie Wrightson. It made me dig into those things of amazing illustrators and their work.
When I got a job at Chief Leschi School to carve I met a friend who would change my life forever. Bruce Cook III was carving and caught the attention of Phil Zantua. At that time Phil taught art and was drumming and singing at Chief Leschi. I was a failing student at Green River Community college but captivated by line drawing. At the time I totem poles and formline were part of our culture. Bruce was hard on me but gave me true friendship and he brought me to Steve Brown who mentored us both in making tools and carving skills when he was working for Seattle Art Museum at the time as curator of Northwest Coast Native art.
All the while I went back to this book because Bruce took on the name as Batman, his dark period as it is called in the art world. I was inspired by him to keep going forward because he pushed forward that totem poles are NOT part of the land there and the people needed to recognize their own culture. Which lead to a transfer of elders that shared their knowledge to bring back story poles. Story poles were brought up in an idea in the days when our culture was outlawed yet and literally stand up against consuming culture. During the Alaska Yukon Pacific expo there was a need for Salish people to identify and have visibility.
At that time people pushed opposition of the Haida we once had great conflict with but there were under the same pressures for survival. I used to say that totems were just icons or crests and I learned how they have stories. I got caught up in a fight to preserve our culture but overlooked the importance of my brother who lit a fire for me to seek this out.
I inherited the nickname of Ironman and I am conflicted with it. I know my friend Bruce carries the name Batman. But like naming someone it stays with you and I always thought if I could name myself in the comic genre we have in this small section I love Bane as much as I love Rocket Raccoon.
On one hand I love Bane for his tactics but I love Rocket for his ability to escape any prison but also not like knowing he was made by someone. We are all culmination of ideas and the sum is greater than the parts.
Driving back from a potlatch where my car got broke into the following day when I was broke and had nothing. My friend was so upset but I shrugged it off and when he said “Raccoons” I pushed back to say hey that is of value. I don’t know why I pushed back like that but I loved that word and that they work in the night surviving.
Working away in the night over years teaches you what is important about meditation. And to me it’s been a gift. I think of Batman and his dark run and like the great movies that Nolan has made. The Batman has to come back
I see all that is going on now and have a huge respect for Bane that has never left me. Working in darkness and the people looked down on. I learned the most of what I know from people who worked tireless in the night. To be a hero you have to understand you are a villain in someones eyes like the Raccoon or Coyotes.
Bruce stood up against ideas against personal gains to make me his brother. I want people to know that by having these hard conversations and not being comfortable big things happen. Outbreak and chaos. I think of that world where opposition at large fights for a greater protection of the whole.
And why I love the Bane character because I always identified with villains more than being a hero. I feel like I learned from being a league of the shadows. Bane was the only character who broke Batman in the movies as a storyline but he was also one who came to be his brother in the comics. Not the gorilla in a cage but a brother in arms fighting for a greater good and in the movie plot I that I do approve of is the need to look out for our young ones and how you should look out for them. I love the contrast of Bane saying ‘no one knew who I was until I put on a mask’ in contrast to the end where he it shown looking up without one in his youth. There is great power in that and a story that echos something I always have seen here.
Overall I think of the league of shadows as a symbol of work without motivation of money because you can’t eat money. It is one of experience and hardship that you fight thru and come away from it enlightened. That is my honest side of being more often than not misunderstood but explained in my own words and why I make dark work sometimes. In all I give thanks to my brother who had the courage to stand up against things that didn’t seem right when I was uninformed and misguided by pure aesthetic vs meaning.