Tag Archives: edenshaw

Signed Without Signature Vignette

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The links below shows a short clip of some of the events at the opening reception for Signed Without Signature: Works by Charles and Isabella Edenshaw. We were joined by some of the Haida descendants of the Edenshaws, who performed and gave some moving speeches.

Signed Without Signature Exhibit Opening (Museum of Anthropology: MOA)

Welcome speeches and procession

And for those who haven’t yet seen it, here’s a link to a video of Bill McLennan describing the process of scanning bracelets in order to discover who was the creator.

Bill McLennan and northwest coast metal art

Signed Without Signature: Works by Charles and Isabella Edenshaw

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Signed without Signature: Works by Isabella and Charles Edenshaw
Exhibition opening Thursday, November 25, 7-9 pm in The O’Brian Gallery at the UBC Museum of Anthropology 
  
Objects made by 19th-century Haida artists can be seen in museums and private collections around the world. The names of the carvers, painters, and weavers who made these works were, however, rarely recorded.

 
Isabella and Charles Edenshaw—also known by their Haida names Qwii.aang and Da.a xiigang—were prolific artists who lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time of profound culture change on the Northwest Coast. Although they never signed their work, each developed personal styles and inventive forms of expression that continue to inspire their artist-descendents today.
In this exhibition, MOA curator Bill McLennan focuses on Charles Edenshaw’s metalwork and painting, and Isabella Edenshaw’s basketry, to see how each artist created a recognizable “signature” and how it evolved through their long careers.


Drawing on MOA’s own collection, as well as those of private collectors and major institutions such as McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Museum of Vancouver, Royal British Columbia Museum, and Royal Ontario Museum, Signed without Signature will inaugurate The O’Brian Gallery, named in recognition of The Michael O’Brian Family Foundation’s recent gift of $1 million to the Museum. New exhibit cases, custom-designed by Milan’s Goppion Laboratorio (the same firm that designed MOA’s Multiversity Galleries casework), will showcase works ranging in material from gold, silver, wood, abalone, ivory, bone, and paint, and in form from fine jewelry and extraordinary woven and painted hats to objects of everyday use, including spoons, walking sticks, and napkin rings.
Besides the work of Charles and Isabella Edenshaw, the exhibition features works by other Haida artists, some of whom were their contemporaries, such as John Cross and Tom Price, and others who are either their descendents (such as their nephew, Charles Gladstone), or who continue to be inspired by their legacy. Artists of today whose works are in the show include Chief 7idansuu (Jim Hart), Robert Davidson, Ben Davidson, Bill Reid, Isabel Rorick, Ernest Swanson, and Darrell White, among others.


By showing the work of others alongside that of the Edenshaws, the exhibition addresses such questions as: What is the aesthetic that makes their work recognizable and so respected? How has it remained contemporary for

more than 100 years? Questions are raised as well about the process of attribution of unsigned artworks – a process that continues today, and is illustrated by a selection of materials in the show whose makers have yet to be identified.
 
Exhibition curated by Bill McLennan, text co-written and edited by Karen Duffek. Designed by Skooker Broome and David Cunningham

Thanks to MOA’s many Haida community advisors, in particular Chief 7idansuu (Jim Hart), and to the lenders: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Museum of Vancouver, Royal British Columbia Museum, Royal Ontario Museum, and private collectors. Media sponsor: The Georgia Straight.

Watch Bill McLennan explain the process of scanning NWC bracelets on MOA’s youtube.

 

(from top) Detail, Walking stick by Charles Edenshaw, c. 1853-1920. MOA 7091; Spruce root hat (top view) woven by Isabella Edenshaw, painted by Charles Edenshaw, before 1980. MOA Nb1.489; Silver bracelet (beaver design) by Charles Edenshaw, c. 1890. MOA Nb1.742.

Call for NWC metal work!

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The Museum of Anthropology is in the process of developing an exhibit on the engraved metal work of Haida artist Charles Edenshaw and the basketry work of his wife Isabella. “Signed without Signature: Works by Charles & Isabella Edenshaw” will be shown at MOA from November 25, 2010 to October 2, 2011.
 
Unlike the artists of today, who engrave bracelets flat by affixing metal to wax on an engravers block, carve the desired forms, and then shape the bracelet to fit the wrist, Edenshaw and his Haida peers in the late 19th century shaped the bracelet first, and then held it their hands around a wooden form while they engraved it. By this process, the complete engraved image was never seen flat.
 
To help in the viewing and appreciation of the engraved work of these 19th century artists, MOA curator Bill McLennan has developed a scanning technique that presents the bracelet, which was originally engraved in the round, as a flat digital image. This format enables comparison and helps to determine individual style and chronology of production. It also allows us to create an inventory of work dispersed through museums, galleries, and private collections around the world, which can then be made accessible to researchers, community members, and the general public.
 
To build this inventory, we are hoping to hear from individuals who may have 19th century Northwest Coast engraved metal work, and would like to participate in this unique project by having their objects identified, and their object(s) photographed as part of the project.
 
It would be fantastic if you could help us reach potential participants by having Rick Cluff interview Bill McLennan, MOA Curator Pacific Northwest, who developed this innovative technique, and is also curating the upcoming exhibition. He is

available anytime through the summer. For your information the images shown here are of three bracelets by Charles Edenshaw, originally carved in the round, which have been scanned so that the engraved forms may be viewed flat.


 
If you have information, please contact Bill McLennan at 604.822.5950 or bill.mclennan@ubc.ca.
 
We are very excited to be showing a number of rare and only recently-identified works by Charles and Isabella Edenshaw in “Signed without Signature,” and would love to connect with people that would enjoy sharing in the exhibit’s development and in creating valuable knowledge for generations to come. Many of Edenshaw’s bracelets have found their way into private collections here in the Lower Mainland, and in our experience, people are always excited to share their Edenshaw treasures and their stories of how they came to own them; they just need to know the opportunity is there.