eg ee al

‘Earl Muldos, a Gitkean carver with an international reputation, stands next
to his most recent creatlon, a pole erected in the village of Kitwancool.
Muldoe Is one of two artisans selected by Japanese researchers to travel

to inuyama, Japan this. month and carve a pole for the museum there.

_ Betty Barton photo

Shames group gets

financing

The Kitimat-Stikine Regional
District has agreed to defer in-
terest payments on the equip-
ment at Kitsumkalum Mountain
for one year.

In a letter to the Regional
District, Shames Mountain Cor-
portation Chairman Barrie
Phillips explained, ‘‘We are

‘essentially a new company. The

old company was about
$400,000 in dept, money having
been spent on blasting the unex-
pected solid rock on the road to
Shames and ski hill design
studies, etc.”” .
Phillips said the directors of
the corporation decided to keep
the corporation afloat ‘‘for the
benefit of the town and the more
than ‘one hundred creditors.’
He added that it is also a goal of
the directors to prevent any
delays in the construction of the
Shames Mountain ski facility.

In order to do this, Phillips

said the corporation had spoken
to the creditors and arranged to
pay them with shares in Shames

.. Mountain. ‘Creditors now have

something (shares) rather than

_ bankruptcy (nothing),”’ he said.

According to Phillips, Kit-
sumkalum is meeting its current
obligations but still has no

‘surplus money for the interest

payments. The problem he said,
has been caused by the expen-
diture of $35,000 for repairing
equipment for the current
season, and then the late winter.
He said that by missing the pro-
fitable Christmas season, Kit-
sumkalum lost about 40 percent
of their expected revenue.

In court

In Terrace provincial court on
Friday, February 19 Donna
Steponavicis was fined $500 and
given a six month drivers license
suspension for impaired driving.

In Terrace provincial court on
Friday, February 12 Grant
MacIntosh was fined a total of
$335 for violating two sections
of the Motor Vehicle Act.

break

In asking for a deferment of
interest payments, Phillips ex-
plained that the new company
had only: been operating: for-a
few months and the one-year
delay in opening Shames had
meant the loss of a year’s
revenue in implementing the
original development plan.

He also pointed out the
benefits to the area through the
operation of Kitsumkalum
Mountain this year: more than

$11,000 in wages every ‘two.

weeks, maintaining the ski hill as
a tourist attraction, and the
cooperation with programs
organized by local schools.

Once the Shames Mountain
complex is completed, Phillips
said, there will be numerous
benefits to the area. ‘‘We will be
spending hundreds of thousands
annually. Bus lines, motels,
hotels, service stations, road
builders, loggers, and others are
going to benefit in the near
future. The employment and tax
base will be broadened to all
levels of government.”’

-Phillips said that 1988 plans
include a $30,000 engineering
study to bring the Shames
Mountain road up to Ministry of
Highways standards- and com-
plete construction.

Terrace Review —

~ Wednesday, March 9, 198813.

Kitwancool carvers
on journey to Japan |

This month two Northwest
native craftsmen will travel from
Kitwancool, via Seattle on
March 13-to Tokyo, then to their
final destination of Inuyama,
Japan, (50 miles south of
Tokyo) to carve a Gitskan totem
pole.

by Betty Barton
Earl Muldoe and Philip Janze

‘were chosen for this honored

task after two Japanese resear-
chers, Michinan Watanabe and
Tetsuya Inamura from the
privately funded’ Little World
Museum in Inuyama, Japan,
visited the Pacific Northwest,
They were searching for a totem
pole that they could buy and
transport back to Japan and
erect it in front of a Tlingkit
{native of coastal Alaska)
longhouse already on site.

In late October, 1987
Watanabe and Inamura first
visited the band office in Kit-
wancool because they liked the
replicated and: original totem
poles they saw. erected in the
village. Elmer Derrick, consul-
tant to the Gitanyow band
stated, ‘‘They were very
knowledgeable and must have
researched totems well before

- coming to the area,”’ Derrick,

with Richard Douse, Kitwancool
Band Council Clerk, were their

‘original contacts and negotiators
. in the band office.

The museum represents every
culture on the Pacific Rim, and
many other cultures, as well, in
the form of art, buildings,
modes of transportation and

household items; Because totem ~

poles tell a story or a legend, and
belong to a clan, they cannot be
sold, It would be like selling a
member of ones’ family. No
legends will be involved in the
design of the Japanese pole, but
rather a melding of the Japanese
and native cultures, industries,
animals and interests. Elmer
would like to see representations
of the salmon prevalent in the
diet and ceremony of both coun-
tries, and the sun,a major sym-
bol in Japanese art and also pre-
sent in Gitskan art. The final
details of the pole and what the
Japanese want it to represent
will be negotiated upon Earl’s
and Philip’s arrival in Japan.

Earl stated confidently that he -

will have some say in the com-
pleted design.

Earl sees a great similarity bet-
ween the Japanese and coastal

‘Indian cultures in their diet and

food preparation, art and the
gentle manners and respect for
their elders. He expects to feel
right at home in Japan. When
asked if he’s started to learn
Japanese, he replied, ‘‘No. I
think many people in Japan

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speak English, so it shouldn’t be
a problem.”

Earl Muldoe a native of
Kispiox has been a carver for
over 20 years. He started carving
at K’san Village in Old
Hazelton, where he still lives,
and taught. northwest coast art
at the Gitanmaax School there.
He has travelled internationally
demonstrating his skills and
culture, A 47-foot pole, standing
in Golden Gate Park in San
Francisco, was carved jointly by
Earl, Walter Harris and Vernon
Stephens. Earl carved the first
Canadiana to be found in the

- Parliament Buildings in Ottawa
(in 1982), the stone archway into
the House of Commons. A col-
lection of his gold, silver, and
ivory jewellery, a gold bentwood
box, woodcarvings and masks
are permanently displayed in the
Museum of Man in Ottawa.

During Expo 86, Muldoe
demonstrated native woodcarv-
ing and carved a totem pole at
the Van Deusen Gardens in Van-
couver, .

Most recently, and for two
years, Earl has been involved in
the restoration and/or duplica-
tion of old and delapidated
totem poles in Kitwancool, He
explained that it requires a lot of
discipline to copy another
carver’s style without sneaking a
little of your own into it. Kit-
wancool is the only site where

this restoration and replication
is taking place, and there, only
when funds are made available.
Ear! clarified: ‘‘The federal and -
provincial governments want to
trade our original totem poles
for the funds that we need to
make the replicas. It’s unfair.
Our art is more appreciated and
understood in Europe and Japan
than it is in Canada.’’

Philip Janze has also nad 20
years experience as a fine
jeweller and carver, and has won
awards for his gold and silver
jewellery in Canada. Until two
years ago, he had never carved a
totem pole. He did his appren-
ticeship under Earl, during the
carving of a large pole at Kit-
wancool. He will be travelling to
Japan as Earl’s assistant.

Preparation for the trip has
included application for work
visas through the Japanese em-
bassy, pasports, return reserva-
tions (a requirement of the
Japanese government), an ex-
port permit for the totem pole
log from the B.C. and Federal
governments and Provincial
Forestry, and the actual selec-
tion of the log, a 30-foot cedar.

Earl spent three days tromp-
ing throught the woods around
Hazelton for the right tree. He
finally selected three, which
Westar felled for him. He made
his final selection once the trees

continued on page 23

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