On a weekend morning in his workshop, Art Sterritt is busy putting the final touches on a totem pole he has been carving.
Surrounded by his tools, Sterritt stands over the long, thick log, and begins to shave away excess pieces of wood around a pattern.
Ever the perfectionist, Sterritt says if a client did not give him a date for delivery, he could keep working on a piece indefinitely.
READ MORE: Heart of Our City - Sabrina Clifton shares knowledge from sea to land
“It’s bittersweet to hand it over to a client because I always feel like there’s something that could be done” he said, blowing away a few loose flakes of wood. “I’ll work on it almost as long as I can within reason. There have been times when I’ve asked to extend the deadline to keep working on it.
“But there are other things you need to do in life.”
Sterritt has indeed done many things with his life. Born into a logging family in Hazelton in 1948, he spent his early years working with his father, who cut down tress for BC Tel as a logger in the 50s and 60s.
As a young man learning the family business, Sterritt was taught how to operate a logging saw and bull dozer earlier than most people learn how to drive.
“When I was growing up, I learned about cedar,” he said. “It was what we knew how to do, and we learned how to do it safely and efficiently.”
After he turned 16, Sterritt left the family business, eventually moving to Prince Rupert to work in the fishing industry working on tug boats and delivering oils to lighthouses and fish camps. After working in the city for three years, Sterritt chose to return to his home town to study art at ‘Ksan in Hazelton.
Under the tutelege of esteemed Gitxsan artists Walter Harris and Earl Muldoe, Sterritt learned the finer points of converting raw materials into refined, meaningful pieces.
“You start with two dimensional art like painting and design,” he said. “Then I moved onto things like silver smithing and gold smithing and carving.”
While he became accomplished working with a variety of mediums, it was working with wood that Sterritt was most drawn to. Sterrit said he loves the process of creating totem poles, from stripping away the sap wood and bark, to hollowing it out and laying down a pattern and carving.
“I’d spent my whole life dealing with cedar,” he said. “Perfecting it as an art form was just a natural progression.”
After graduating from ‘Ksan, Sterritt returned to Prince Rupert where he continued to fish during the summers and create pieces during the winters. He has also spent time as a political leader and was named by Macleans Magazine as one of Canada’s most powerful people in 2014 for his work opposing the Northern Gateway pipeline as executive director of the Coastal First Nations.
But over and above all these things, Sterritt sees himself as an artist who is helping to keep the culture of his people alive. As a master carver and goldsmith, he has been creating traditional pieces for more than 50 years that has been on display in museums, galleries and shops in Prince Rupert, Vancouver, Toronto and New York to name a few.
He has also been commissioned to carve totem poles for former Prime Minister Paul Martin, and had the privilege of delivering it to him at his home in Quebec.
READ MORE: Heart of Our City - Riding for Bob
“It’s always nice to do art for someone you know and respect so to get to spend four of five days with him and his family was fun,” said Sterritt. “That was a very good experience.”
Sterritt also creates masks and other regalia that is used in Indigenous ceremonies, something that gives him a deeper sense of pride.
“Doing it for traditional reasons as opposed to simply selling the work is extra rewarding,” he said. “Using it to maintain the culture in your own community. “Those are the ones that are going to stand the test of time I believe.”
Leaving a legacy is what matter most to Sterrit, and he says hopes the work he’s done will be something his family can be proud of for generations.
“I take my grandchildren to see some of the things I have done,” he said. “And the things I’ve done are going to be around a lot longer than I am. I’m hoping it will help to perpetuate our culture and history.”
matthew.allen@thenorthernview.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
