The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 11, 2002 - B1 TERRACE STANDARD INSIDE SECTION B COMMUNITY EVENTS B2 Around Town FEILE REIDY played the harp at the Dec. 6 Day of Remembrance held over the neon hour that day. A number of people spoke, including Terrace mayor Jack Talstra, RCMP Inspector Marlin De- grand and Leslie King from UNBC. Entertainers wanted LOOKING FOR a place to perform? The Ter- race and District Arts Council might have just ' the ticket. The arts council plans to present monthly coffeehouse performances at the Terrace Art Gallery starting in January, president Kim Beaupre says. It’s an idea the art gallery iried out last year. “Our plan is to provide more opportunities for musicians to perform in a move relaxed . venue,” Beaupre says. .... The coffeehouses will take place on the. second Friday of the month. First up in the’ new year are the Northwest Singers, who plan to perform at a coffeehouse in January. , The arts counci! is an umbrella organization comprised of several local performing arts _ groups as well as the Terrace Art Assaciation, which operates the art gallery. “It’s a really nice space down there,” Beaupre says of the lower level of the art gall- ery, where the coffeehouses will be held. “It’s cozy for people who are intimidated by a bigger space or a larger audience.” Beaupre says the coffeehouses will also likely feature an open mic component where . basis. War dead honoured . TERRACE’S KEITH Goodwin laid a wreath in Hong Kong last month in memory of Cana- dians killed in the Battle of Hong Kong during the Second World War. Goodwin did so at the Sai Wan Bay War Cemetery on behalf of the Appraisal: Institute of Canada. He’s the president of the institute and stop- ped in to visit the Hong Kong chapter in con- junction with attending a conference in Mal- aysia. Canadians fought valiantly at Hong Kong but they and other Commonwealth forces were outnumbered by the Japanese and were forced to surrender at Christmas in 1941. Challenge is on CALEDONIA SENIOR Secondary students have banded together in a challenge with their Mount Elizabeth Senior Secondary peers to see which school can collect the most food. The non-perishable food items will then be donated to local anti-poverty organiza- tions in each community. The challenge continues until Dec. 18. Count those birds ‘LOCAL BIRD watchers are invited to join this year’s Christmas Bird Count, an enduring tra- - dition that’s also a scientific research project. ing Day - Dec. 26, as in previous year, says count compiler Diane Weismiller. United States in 1900 by the National Audu- bon Society. when a group of conservationists in 25 different locations offered. an a seasonal © alternative to the “side hunt” where teams of hunters competed to see who could shoot the most birds and srnall animals. Each count group completes a census of : _ within a designated 24-km diameter location. | Even novice birders are welcome to take part. ‘For more information, call 635-6984. ‘performers can take the stage on an informal ’ ‘The Terrace bird count will be held on Box- The Christmas Bird Count originated in the . birds found during one 24-hour period from: - Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. The. count ‘takes place. - -COMMUNITY- Freda’s legacy An important artist in her own right, Freda Diesing’s greatest contribution may be the fact that she shared hi her considerable knowledge and skill with so many By JENNIFER LANG A LIGHT has gone out in northern British Columbia. Freda Diesing, an artist who led a cultural renaissance on the north coast, has died. The 77-year-old was killed in a car accident last week, prompting an outpouring of grief. “She was our school,” Tahitan- Tlingit master carver Dempsey Bob said earlier this year. “She was a great teacher for our people — she saved us, she saved our work.” Her artistic career spanned “mote than three decades. She bepan carving in her ancestral Haida style at the age of 42 at what later became the Gitanmaax School at Ksan. Her work is widely collected, commanding national and interna- tional acclaim in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s. She broke artistic and creative fround as one of the first women carvers in B.C. and was the first contemporary Haida woman to carve a pole. Diesing was called out of re- tirement earlier this year when she received a National Aborigi- nal Achievement Aware for her artistic and cultural contributions. Many say her true legacy is her students, who are among the best- known artists working in the form today. She’s been called the mother of northwest carving, introducing the principles of carving and de- sign to students in Prince Rupert, Terrace and Alaska. Just next month she planned to teach two upper level courses at the Sitka campus of the University of Alas- ka. She was also a student. This fall she enrolled in a Tsimshian language course at the University of Northern B.C. “A light has gone out,” said UNBC regional chair Leslie King, who nominated Diesing for an honorary doctorate the Haida ma- triarch received in May. “] believe she was responsible for a renaissance in First Nations art in this region ~ and the world,” King said. Diesing was touched by her honorary degree because she placed such a high value on edu- cation. Diesing was often called upon as a guest lecturer, enthralling students with the breadth of her experience, the scope of her knowledge, and her artistic (alent — she’d always end with a carving demonstration. “What was really powerful in her talks was theatre was some- one who was working into her 70s and was strang, and doing what she was doing and being very humble about it,” friend Rocque Berthiaume said from Vancouver, recalling her many visits to his anthropology classes at Northwest Communily College and UNBC. “The tragedy, of course, was that we lost her too young. She was still making contributions to the community.” Diesing will be remembered as an important Canadian artist. But her role as a bridge be- tween different generations and cultures is her greater gift, he said. “What was really important about Freda was she was a bridge between the elders of the past and the people of today.” Through her Masset grandpar- ents, Diesing was a living link to the past. She was also a bridge between aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities in the northwest, where her sudden absence will be sharply felt, Descended from a distin- - guished Haida family on her mo- ther’s side, she was born in. Prince Rupert on June 2, 1925 to Flossie and Frank Johnson. After Frank passed away, Flos- © sie married Geoff Lambly, who moved the family to Terrace. in. 1934, FREDA DIESING, seen here in this photo taken in March, was enjoying renewed interest In her career. News of a national award and an honourary degree called her out of retirement. She studied painting at the Vancouver School of Art in the 1950s. Her instructors at Gitanmaax — Robert Davidson, Tony Hunt, Na- than Jackson — were members of the first generation of contempor- ary carvers to rediscover the art form as it threatened to be lost forever. Northcoast carving techniques almost died out due to a ban on potlatches, diseases that ravaged B.C.’s aboriginal community, and ignorance. Although Diesing’s great great grandfather on her mother’s side was a Haida carver, she only be- came acquainted with his work in museums, years after she became a carver herself, Diesing lived much of her life in Terrace, in recent years divi- ding her time between her home here and her home in Prince Ru- - pert, where she sang with the Sweet Adelines. “It’s a great loss for Terrace,” her friend Yvonne Moen said. The two shared an interest in compil- ceremonial regalia worn by dan- cers and dignilaries by aboriginal people in the region these days is a credit to Diesing's efforts to keep traditional arts and craft techniques alive. “Her overall impact is she was instrumental in getting our people going.” His son, he noted, was also one of her Prince Rupert carving stu- dents when he was a child. “She was such a loving, caring person. T don’t think she had a mean bone in her body.” In an interview she gave earlier this year, Diesing explained some instructors found it challenging to teach little kids. She didn’t mind, she said, laughing as she recalled the day someone brought a stink bomb to class, In addition to her house panel at the House of Sim-Oi-Ghets, Diesing designed and executed three lotem poles in Terrace. She and her students comple- ted them in 1987, Two were raised outside the “! believe she was responsible for a renais- sance In First Nations artin this region ~ and the world.” ing stories about the heritage of the Terrace area. “She was a remarkable person and you don’t come across re- markable people very often. That’s why we are grieving,” said friend Joan Turecki. “She. has been an integral part of the northwest,” said her cousin, Ivan Adams. He recalls a time when First Nations people were just begin- ning to rediscover their cultural traditions. ; He joined one of the first dance groups. He remembers some dan- cers showing up without buiton . blankets or masks of their own. “They were using paper bags. for headdresses and so on,” he said. ‘The. intricacy and artisiry of pe ek oi m ~ Kitsumkalum band office (one un- expectedly fell down during a windstorm a little more than one year ago). The third is at the RCMP de: tachment. “They did it for themselves,” she said of her former students in March, adding the students at Kit- sumkalum were first-timers and mostly women. “[ think that’s every bit as im- portant.” One of her totem poles can also be seen in Prince Rupert's Moose Tot Park. She also designed and carved the house front panel at the Prince Rupert hospital. Her. masks, headdresses, ratiles -and. bowls have. been showcased in some. of the most important ex- THIS MASK, Elderly Noble Woman, was carved in 1974, hibits to take place in the past three decades on contemporary horthwest coast art. Her work is also featured in a number of books. A UBC anthropology student named Mary Slade has just com- pleted her PhD thesis on the life of Freda Diesing. She aiso produced a number of silkscreen prints, and designed and sewed button blankets. Diesing is survived by her sis- ter, Roberta (Bobby) Perry, mI nieces and nephews and cousins. She is predeceased by her mo- ther Flossie Lambly, her father Frank Johnson, her stepfather, Geoff Lambly and her brother, Frank Lambly. Family and friends said good- bye Sunday at a gathering at Kit- - sumkalum in a building that car- ties a house front panel Diesing designed and carved — one of the many tangible legacies she leaves behind. The master of ceremonies was Tom Harris. The eulogy was given by Denipsey Bob and Don Yeo- mans. . Tributes were. delivered by the Haida Nation, the: Kitsumkalum community ‘and singets, UNBC, . and others, = :