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Art Native American

People Among the People

The Public Art of Susan Point

by (author) Robert D. Watt

foreword by Anthony Alan Shelton

preface by Susan A. Point

Publisher
Figure 1 Publishing
Initial publish date
May 2019
Category
Native American, Canadian, Monographs
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781773270425
    Publish Date
    May 2019
    List Price
    $50

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

This beautifully designed book is the first to explore Susan Point's publicly commissioned artworks from coast to coast Susan Point's unique artworks have been credited with almost single-handedly reviving the traditional Coast Salish art style. Once nearly lost to the effects of colonization, the crescents, wedges, and human and animal forms characteristic of the art of First Nations peoples living around the Salish Sea can now be seen around the world, reinvigorated with modern materials and techniques, in her serigraphs and public art installations - and in the works of a new generation of artists that she's inspired.

People Among the People beautifully displays the breadth of Susan Point's public art, from cast-iron manhole covers to massive carved cedar spindle whorls, installed in locations from Vancouver to Zurich. Through extensive interviews and access to her archives, Robert D. Watt tells the story of each piece, whether it's the evolution from sketch to carving to casting, or the significance of the images and symbolism, which is informed by surviving traditional Salish works Point has studied and the Oral Traditions of her Musqueam family and elders.

In her long quest to re-establish a Coast Salish footprint in Southwest British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest of the US, Point has received many honours, including the Order of Canada and the Audain Lifetime Achievement Award. This gorgeous and illuminating book makes it clear they are all richly deserved.

About the authors

Contributor Notes

Robert D. Watt is the former Chief Curator and Director of the Museum of Vancouver, where his passion for the art and culture of BC’s Indigenous peoples began with a collaboration with Bill Reid. He served as the first Chief Curator of Canada for over a decade. He lives in North Vancouver.

Editorial Reviews

"Better yet, the content goes well past Vancouver landmarks and travels up the coast, inland and beyond to include everything from the Frogs at the South Surrey Recreation and Arts Centre to Written into the Earth's cast-iron tree grates in Seattle's CenturyLink Field. It becomes increasingly clear that Point's vision isn't only one that has been embraced throughout both the Pacific Northwest, but as far beyond as the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and even her work's farthest reaches at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich. By the end of People Among the People you have a much greater appreciation for the genius of this exceptional artist and how fortunate we are to have such a wealth of her work available to see on any given day." - Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Sun