For Haida artist James Sawyer, art represents freedom.
Sawyer was born on Haida Gwaii, but his family moved to Richmond when he was young for his father's job working on barges. He recalls being interested in art from a very young age, which his grandmother encouraged.
"I'd always draw do art stuff and my grandparents... would come down and visit us lots and she'd bring me down to books and stuff and I'd sort of look at the designs and draw designs from them and it just sort of stemmed from there," he said.
When he moved back to Haida Gwaii in 1992, he worked at various things including crab fishing, but continued his art education.
"I started learning a lot more with one of my relatives, Pat Wesley," Sawyer recalled. "He's pretty good at what he did, well-known in the art world and he taught me some stuff, I sat with him drew with him for at least a couple of years, did a bit of argellite and then just started doing paintings."
Later on, he branched into jewellery-making, which he learned with his cousin Bussy (James) McGuire.
It was in 1997, he learned he could do it commercially. He said he had taken some trips down to the Lower Mainland before with prints, paddles and drums to sell, but on that first jewellery trip, he discovered his niche.
"I had a whack-load of stuff, it was, way back then, say almost about $10,000 in wholesale stuff and I think we started at the galleries around nine or 10 that morning and, I don't know, went to like three or four galleries and it was all gone," he recalled.
He quit crab fishing and has making art for a living ever since working mainly with precious metals.
"It's nice. It's fun. I still like doing it every day."
And that's where the freedom comes in, doing what he loves, but also doing it on his own timeline. For example, when his daughter was in Prince Rupert to have a baby, he was able come over and be with her.
Sawyer's designs are rooted mainly in the Haida tradition, but he draws inspiration from a wide range of sources. As just one example, an original painting titled "Standing Together" that hangs proudly on a wall in his home in Prince Rupert's west end, came out of the 2001 destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City.
The painting features an Eagle representing the United States being held up by a bear representing Canada symbolizing the country coming to its neighbour's aid in its time of need, he explained. A border around the main imagery has designs representing the other countries of the world that also supported the U.S. during that time.
Sawyer did not promote the design as such at the time because he felt it would be too opportunistic under the circumstances to profit from it.
These days about 80 per cent of what he creates is sold before he even makes it, he said, having built up a clientele over the past 20 years that includes many individual collectors as well as a handful of galleries he still deals with.
"I get a lot of repeat business, which I'm thankful for because I'm happy people like my stuff and I try and keep my prices as reasonable as I can, but not giving it away. I still make a comfortable living at it."
Any extra art he makes, he posts for sale online or sells at various events such as the All Native Basketball Tournament where he had a booth this past February.
He said he's slowed down some, busy with family, travel and enjoying life. He also works for the Port of Prince Rupert in the train switch yard on a casual basis, a job, he said, that also affords him a lot of flexibility and freedom.
He is also an avid golfer. You'll often find him on the links in Prince Rupert or at tournaments in other towns. Last year, he won the B Flight at the Men's Northern Open in Smithers, the largest individual stroke play event in northern B.C.
Sawyer and his wife Memory Brown currently live in Prince Rupert. They came over from Haida Gwaii around six years ago to pursue a job opportunity for Brown. This year, she became a member of the All Native Basketball Tournament Committee.
Sawyer said there will likely come a time, when they retire, they will return to Haida Gwaii.
