For eskimo artists seeking inspiration, money talks

Previewing the Article

When is primitive art no longer primitive? Does change in traditional forms always mean a change for the worse? For example, does it mean that art no longer expresses the native culture? The following article discusses these and other important questions about artistic expression. It also discusses the relationship between the artist and the purchaser of art. Is artistic expression negatively affected when art is altered to increase sales?

Before You Read

Before you read the article, discuss these questions.

1. How do primitive cultures differ from those considered civilized?

2. What are some characteristics of primitive art? Why do you think it is still popular today?

3. What people, animals and activities are the usual subjects of Eskimo art?

As You Read

As you read, look for answers to these questions.

1. How has Eskimo art changed in recent years?

2. Does the author express his opinion about whether the changes in Eskimo art are good or bad?

For eskimo artists seeking inspiration, money talks

by William Claiborne

Washington Post Service

Holman, Northwest Territories - According to animistic beliefs held for thousands of years by Eskimo stone carvers in the Arctic tundra of Canada’s far north, the soul of a piece of stone whispers to the artist before the first strike of the chisel and guides his creativity until the work is finished.

But more likely in modern-day Arctic communities such is this isolated island hamlet in the Beaufort Sea, the voice speaking to the artist comes from the other end of a display terminal of a video-telephone linkup. And it is not the soul of the stone that is heard but that of a big-city art dealer with a profitable deal in mind.

High technology and sophisticated marketing techniques are helping to drive the Arctic’s $48 million art-and-craft industry, propelling some formerly impoverished aboriginals into comfortable lifestyles and generating wider interest in sculptures and primitive prints by Eskimos, who in this region of the western Arctic are known as Inuvialit and in the eastern Arctic are called Inuit.

Some purists see such advances as a cultural intrusion into an ancient and remote civilization that could dilute and ultimately spoil a unique art form.

5 “I’m not so sure it’s a good thing at all”, said John Bailey, chairman of the Northwest Territories’ Wildlife Management Advisory Council. “Whose expression is coming out in the end - the artist’s or the dealer’s?”

Gordon Peters, manager of the government-assisted Holman Eskimo Cooperative, defends the use of the high-powered marketing strategies as a boon to artists who for years were a commercially exploited by white dealers before they banded together in the 1980s to command hefty prices for their work.

Soapstone carvings that may take three or four days’ work now can bring an artist $2,000 or more, and the 1,200 limited-edition prints being produced this year by this community’s 20 artists are bringing in an average price of $350.

Pointing to the video monitor he has been using for three years to help market Eskimo art throughout Canada and abroad, Mr. Peters, 33, said: “It takes away the guesswork. A dealer can have an idea of what a carving is really worth, and he’s more likely to buy it.”

Mr. Peters, who lives in this Eskimo settlement on Victoria Island, about 300 miles (500 kilometres) northeast of the district capital of Inuvik on the Arctic mainland, establishes telephone-video links with dealers in Toronto, Montreal and other cities. Placing a carving in front of a small camera, he transmits front, back and side views to potential buyers.

10 Similar video screening methods are used by the Hudson Bay Co. outlet in Holman and by other agents for Eskimo artists throughout the Arctic.

Mr. Peters says that sometimes, particularly in the case of commissioned work, a buyer will ask that changes be made in uncompleted carvings - a practice that purists complain is alien to native artisans and corrupting of their craft.

“This leads to better understanding between the artist and buyer”, Mr. Peters said. “One time I paid a carver $1,200 for a carving. But I only got $200 for it, because when I sent it down there they thought it was too gruesome. The television could have avoided that”.

Last year, native arts and crafts were the basis of an $80 million wholesale business in across Canada, of which Inuit carvings and prints made up a substantial share and provided financial independence for about 5,500 of the Northwest Territories’ 18,360 Eskimos.

For more than 300 years, Inuit carvings were brought south by Jesuit missionaries, the white crews of whaling ships and traders working for the Hudson’s Bay Co. But it was not until 1960s that a commercial market began to develop in Montreal and, gradually, in cities around the world.

15 Consumer demand is gradually altering the style of Inuit art in ways that go beyond the use of video screening by dealers.

Traditionally, Eskimos used soapstone for their printing blocks, which in recent years were destroyed after limited editions of no more than 50 prints were produced. However, they stopped using that technique in 1995 and turned to woodblock printing and relatively modern lithography techniques.

Increasingly, buyer demand led the artists to branch out into stencil art, using sheets of plastic and brushed paint, and into free-form work using crayon and felt-tip pen. As the demand for colour has increased, more and more Eskimo artists are abandoning traditional one-dimensional, black-and-white prints and are expanding into impressionist and modern art to suit the tastes of their clients.

“There’s less demand now for the old-style black block prints”, Mr.Peters said. “People want more colour, and the artists are responding to the market”.

I. Getting the Message

After reading the article, indicate if each statement is true (T) or false (F).

___ 1. TV sets attached to telephone lines let art dealers see Eskimo works in progress.

___ 2. Contemporary Eskimo artists use exactly the same materials that their ancestors did.

___ 3. Today, art dealers make a lot of money on Eskimo art, but the Eskimo artists make very little.

___ 4. The people whom the author calls purists want Eskimo art to be unaffected by the modern world.

___ 5. Some buyers request that the Eskimo artists make changes in a carving.

___ 6. The author of this article says that, in his opinion, Eskimo art is being spoiled by high technology and modern marketing techniques.

B. Decide if each of the following descriptions relate to traditional Eskimo art or new Eskimo art. Write T for traditional and N for new.

___ 1. soapstone blocks ___ 2. crayon or pen ___ 3. many colours

___ 4. maximum of 50 prints from each block ___ 5. wood blocks

II. Expanding Your Vocabulary

Getting Meaning from Context

Use context clues to determine the meaning of each word, found in the paragraph indicated in parentheses. Choose the right definition.

drive (3):	carry in a vehicle cause to have force and energy
2. intrusion (4):	unwanted influence unexpected visit
dilute (4):	cause to use a mix make less powerful and materials genuine
4. boon (6):	benefit a very loud noise
5. hefty (6):	heavy in weight high in cost
6. limited-edition (7):	as many copies as people want to buy a relatively small number of copies
7. average (7):	usual, expected the arithmetical middle
8. abandoning (17):	leaving no longer using

III. Working with Idioms

Study the meanings of these idioms and expressions.

money talks (from a headline) = possibility of profit influences behaviour

high as in high technology (3) and high-powered (6) = more than usual, advanced or sophisticated

band together (6) = unite, form a group, organize

bring in (7) = produce, earn as income

take away (8) = remove

guesswork (8) = uncertainty, need to guess

branch out (17) = try something new (usually in a business)

Answer these questions.

1. How does a video monitor take away guesswork from the marketing of Eskimo art?

2. Why are Eskimo artists branching out?

3. According to paragraph 6, who banded together to avoid being exploited?

4. Has high technology helped or harmed the Eskimos of Canada?

5. Does the article prove or disprove the popular saying money talks?

IV. Analyzing Paragraphs

In well-written articles, each paragraph or sets of paragraphs performs a specific purpose. Reread the paragraphs indicated, looking for their function and type of development. Then answer the questions.

1. In paragraphs 1 and 2, which of the following is the author doing: explaining cause and effect, contrasting the past and present, or defining artistic terms?

2. In paragraphs 3 and 4, what two reasons are given for recent changes in Eskimo art?

3. Paragraphs 4 and 5 present ideas that contrast with ideas presented earlier in the article. These paragraphs quote people who don’t like the recent changes in Eskimo art. What is their objection to the changes?

4. In paragraphs 7 and 13, the author explains how these changes have affected the lives of some Eskimos. What has been the major effect?

5. Paragraphs 16 through 18 give examples of new developments in Eskimo art. List three examples of these.

V. Talking and Writing

Discuss the following topics. Then choose one of them to write about.

1. How has high technology changed the marketing of Eskimo art? Reread the article carefully, and then summarize the information you find.

2. How does the primitive art of your native country compare to Eskimo art? Point out similarities and differences.

3. Some people think that technology has spoiled many things. Can you think of something (for example, a product, job, or form of recreation) that you liked better the old-fashioned way?