Norman Tait | |
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| Born | May 20, 1941 Kincolith (Gingolx) on the Nass River in BC |
| Died | May 21, 2016 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | Nisga'a First Nations |
| Known for | sculptor |
Norman Tait (May 20, 1941 – May 21, 2016 [1] ) was a Nisga'a First Nations sculptor and totem pole carver from northwestern British Columbia, Canada.
Norman Tait was born in Kincolith (Gingolx) on the Nass River in BC. His father Josiah Tait, was also a carver, and his great-grandfather was Chief Alfred Watson Mountain, Sganism Sim'oogit. His brothers Alver Tait and Robert "Chip" Tait was also an accomplished woodcarvers, as is his son Isaac. [1]
Tait was a member of the House of Luuya'as of the Laxsgiik (Eagle clan) and holds or has held the hereditary titles Na'ax-lax, Gawaakhl, and Naawootkw Lik'inskw lax galts'ap, the last meaning "Grizzly Bear Coming onto the Village."
Tait attended residential school in Alberta and later completed high school in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. [1]
When he began carving in 1970, Tait sought out Nisga'a artifacts that he could study since there were no living Nisga'a master carvers for him to study. He worked with his father to raise the first Nisga'a totem pole in over 50 years. [1] He later studied under the tutelage of the Haida carvers Freda Diesing and Gerry Marks.
During his career as a carver, Tait carved 39 totem poles. [2] Many of these stand in British Columbia, including poles in Port Edward, Lax Kw'alaams, and Alert Bay. Five of his poles are in Vancouver, including poles at the University of British Columbia, Stanley Park, Capilano Mall, and the Native Education Centre. [2]
He carved The Story of Big Beaver totem pole, a 16.8-metre (55 ft) pole installed in 1982 at the entrance to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. [3] In 1992, Tait raised a totem in Bushy Park in London, England. Tait raised a totem pole to commemorate the opening of the Nisga'a Lisims Government building in New Aiyansh, BC, "Goothl Lisims", which translates as "the heart of the Nass". He has also carved poles standing in Osaka, Japan, and Germany, as well as many private collections.
Tait had a breakthrough in 1977 when the UBC Museum of Anthropology hosted a solo exhibit of 125 of his works. At the time, First Nations carvers were exhibited in group shows.
Tait was known for the realistic detailing of his sculptured carving, moon masks, two-dimensional doors, and jewellery.
Tait worked with his carving partner, Lucinda Turner. He began teaching Turner in 1991, and they subsequently collaborated on many carvings, including two major commissions for the Vancouver Stock Exchange. [3] They also opened the working art gallery, Wilp's Tsaak Gallery: House of the Mischievous Man in West Vancouver.
In 2015, the West Vancouver Museum held a retrospective on Tait's work, his first solo exhibition since 1977. [2]
Totem poles are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from large trees, mostly western red cedar, by First Nations and Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast including northern Northwest Coast Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian communities in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth communities in southern British Columbia, and the Coast Salish communities in Washington and British Columbia.
The Nisga’a (Niska), often formerly spelled Nishga or Niska and spelled in the Nisga'a language as Nisg̱a’a, are an Indigenous people in British Columbia, Canada. They reside in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. The origin of the term Niska is uncertain. The spelling Nishga is used by the Nishga Tribal Council, and some scholars claim that the term means 'people of the Nass River'. The name is a reduced form of, which is a loan word from Tongass Tlingit, where it means 'people of the Nass River'.
Roy Henry Vickers, is a Grammy Award nominated Canadian First Nations artist. He owns and operates a gallery in Tofino, British Columbia.
The Gispwudwada or Gisbutwada is the name for the Killerwhale "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the Gisgahaast clan in British Columbia's Gitxsan nation and the Gisḵ'ahaast/Gisḵ'aast Tribe of the Nisg̱a'a. The Nisg̱a'a also call this group the Killerwhale Tribe, though the Gitxsan use the term Fireweed clan; Gisgahaast means literally "people of the fireweed."
The Laxsgiik is the name for the Eagle "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to identically named groups among the neighboring Gitksan and Nisga'a nations and also to lineages in the Haida nation.
Robert Charles Davidson LL. D. D.F.A., is a Canadian artist of Haida heritage. Davidson's Haida name is G̲uud San Glans, which means "Eagle of the Dawn". He is a leading figure in the renaissance of Haida art and culture. He lives in White Rock, British Columbia.
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Freda Diesing was a Haida woman of the Sadsugohilanes Clan, one of very few female carvers of Northwest Coast totem poles and a member of the Council of the Haida Nation of British Columbia, Canada. Her Haida name is Skil Kew Wat, meaning "magical little woman."
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George Hunt (Tlingit) was a Canadian and a consultant to the American anthropologist Franz Boas; through his contributions, he is considered a linguist and ethnologist in his own right. He was Tlingit-English by birth and learned both those languages. Growing up with his parents at Fort Rupert, British Columbia in Kwakwaka'wakw territory, he learned their language and culture as well. Through marriage and adoption he became an expert on the traditions of the Kwakwaka'wakw of coastal British Columbia.
Henry Hunt was a First Nations woodcarver and artist from the Kwakwaka'wakw people of coastal British Columbia. He carved a number of totem poles which are on public display in Canada and internationally.
Nisga'a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Nass River valley in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, about 80 kilometres north of Terrace, and near the Nisga'a Villages of Gitlakdamix and Gitwinksihlkw.
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Ellen Neel (1916–1966) was a Kwakwakaʼwakw artist woodcarver and is the first woman known to have professionally carved totem poles. She came from Alert Bay, British Columbia, and her work is in public collections throughout the world.
The Nisg̱aʼa Museum is a museum of the Nisg̱aʼa people that is located in Lax̱g̱altsʼap, a village in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The Nisg̱aʼa name means "the heart of Nisg̱aʼa House crests," a name that celebrates the role of tribal crests in Nisg̱aʼa society. The museum is a project of the Nisg̱aʼa Lisims Government and opened in the spring of 2011. It is a place for display of Nisg̱aʼa artifacts, sharing traditions and ideas, and a centre for research and learning. The museum's collection of Nisg̱aʼa culture is "one of the preeminent collections of Northwest Coast aboriginal art" The museum's website states: "This is our gift to each other, our fellow Canadians and the world."
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Big BeaverTotem Pole is a 55-foot (16.8-meter) tall outdoor totem pole sculpture by Norman Tait, of the Nisga'a people of British Columbia, located in front of the north entrance to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.
Tim Paul is a member of the Hesquiaht tribe from the Nuu-Chah-Nulth first nation. He is a master carver from Esperanza Inlet British Columbia. He was the senior carver at the Royal British Columbia Museum until 1992 when he left to oversee an indigenous education program for the Port Alberni school board on Vancouver Island.
The Ni'isjoohl totem pole is a memorial pole created and owned by the Nisga'a people of British Columbia, Canada. The pole had been held in the National Museum of Scotland and its predecessors for almost a century before being returned to the Nisga'a Nation. It is held by the Nisg̱aʼa Museum in Lax̱g̱alts'ap.
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