The more than 20-year-old School District 57 sign has seen better days and will soon be restored with the help of the original carver and his daughter.
Indigenous master carver, artist and knowledge keeper Peter B. George created the carving commissioned by School District 57 (SD57) and it has weathered over time.
Jameel Aziz, SD 57 superintendent, reached out to George to make the request for the sign to be revived.
George was quick to agree and brought daughter Hailey into the project as his carving apprentice.
“We have certain Indigenous artifacts and pieces of culture within the school district and I just felt that the sign at the Prince George school district office really had deteriorated honestly over the course of time,” Aziz said.
“And Peter was sharing with me details about how it was first created and the number of students that were involved in the process of the creation of the sign, the carving and the painting and I was really quite moved to hear that because I didn’t realize the origins of the sign.”
When the sign was initially installed it was exposed to the weather and over time it became obvious the weather was taking its toll on the sign, Aziz added.
“Then we put a plexiglass covering over top of it but then it was probably too late for the deterioration that occurred,” Aziz explained.
“So we just really wanted the sign refreshed because it is the first thing people see when they enter our offices and I think it really is a very positive acknowledgement to Indigenous culture and the Lheidli T’enneh and other rights holders we have in the Prince George area.
"I am so honoured that Mr. George agreed to revisit the work for us because having the original carver engage in reburbishment of the work isn’t always a simple thing to do and the fact that he wanted again to engage students. So we’ve had a lot of classrooms visit, a lot of students hands on during the refurbishment process. I hope that our community and our schools and are families will see this as an act of reconciliation that the school district can engage in and we’re looking forward to engaging in many more.”
Peter, who is a residential school survivor, said he was honoured that Aziz wanted to restore the sign in the proper way.
“He wanted to do it respectfully,” Peter said. “As you show respect to the culture and the traditions you’re showing respect to not just me for doing the art but to a whole group of people.”
On the sign is the Bear Clan, which is Peter’s clan, and Grouse Clan, which is his father’s clan. There is also the Frog Clan and Caribou Clan displayed along with the Eagle in the centre.
The idea to make the sign a cultural depiction of the Indigenous Clans within School District 57 came about, Peter said, when he was invited to teach a Native Art and Culture program in the schools from primary to secondary.
“I was one of the first few through the door to teach the culture and the history of our people because the only other source was the history books written by non-Native people," Peter said.
Often students would find Peter in the foyer of the school creating art.
“And they would come and ask me questions,” Peter said.
He and another artist, Rose Thomas, would do the demonstrations.
“We used to tease each other, we were 'the only ones left in captivity' because they would rope of us off in the foyer,” Peter laughed.
The work is taking place at the Centre for Learning Alternatives, located in the building once known as John McInnis high school.
There is a full wood working shop in the building and taking up one corner is the sign where the artists Peter and daughter Hailey are working their magic.
“There was a lot of black on the wood and then somebody tried to fix it and there’s glue on it,” Peter said. “To try to get it off it’s like chiselling stone.”
The process sees Peter take off the top layer of the carving from an eighth of an inch up to a quarter of an inch.
“All of that had to be taken off the top and that took almost two weeks and since then I’ve been trying to get the worst parts off first,” Peter said, who’s been working on it since school started in September.
“The rest of it seems to come a lot easier after that.”
There are a lot of knots in the wood that present a challenge, especially to newbie Hailey as she tries to reestablish the original intent of the carving.
“I feel very proud because I am only one of two female apprentices that have worked under my father - the other is my sister,” Hailey said. “I’m very enthusiastic about that. I would like to see more females show some interest in carving so I am hoping this will inspire others to try.”
Hailey’s recent focus has been to try and remove the damage to the wood carving and the glue.
“That way my Dad can focus in on the artistic features of the sign,” Hailey said.
“And this is how I learn. By the time we’re done with these spots my hope is that I will be able to start work on the design so that in 10-20 years or so if this needs some work done again I’ll have the skill level where the original artist’s daughter can come do the work.”
An incredible legacy piece.
“I had originally helped carve this and now my work is a lot more in depth this time and then hopefully have the skill to take on more of the artistic designs when it needs to be worked on again in the future,” Hailey said.
“She’s earned herself a set of tools,” Peter said.
“Yes, my Dad passed on his original chisel set to me and I’ve got myself one knife so far and I am working hard to see if I can earn myself another one before this is all done,” Hailey said.
“That’s how I started,” Peter said. “My grandfather gave me his pocketknife.”
Hailey is an artist in her own right and started making Dreamcatchers as a way to commit to learning more about her culture.
“So I have always followed my Dad’s way of doing things, where everything tells a story, so I have taken his knowledge and applied it into my own art and now that I have reached a certain level with my Dreamcatchers what I am wanting to do is take on something like this where I can start at the bottom and work my way back up again," Hailey explained.
"One thing that I do is name every Dreamcatcher that I make in our traditional language. My Dad always named his pieces and he told stories with them and that’s where I started following in his footsteps but in my own way. And now the idea is that I will be able to do the same thing but with his skill as a carver.”
Hailey said she felt she had to make her own way as a Native artist before she ever stepped into something like carving.
“Now that I have I am satisfied with that,” Hailey smiled.
Woodworking is a fine art.
“And after you’ve finished, you’ve felt like you’ve accomplished something,” Peter reflected.
The School District 57 sign was created with wood donated from McBride.
The piece came to Peter as a section of log and until he cut the slab for the sign he didn’t know what he was getting.
“There were a lot of knots and that’s where the repair has come in,” Peter said.
When the sign came into the building to be refurbished, it dried out and started to bow and the end pieces were rotten and had to be replaced, Peter explained.
“This is where the sign was first created,” Peter said, looking around the wood working shop.
“The wood was put through this machinery to make the sign from four different pieces of wood. The shop teacher back then was Mr. Glass and we worked together. With his knowledge and my muscle we dowelled it all together. There are no nails.”
The majority of the hard work is done now.
"We’re getting down to where the wood is solid again,” Peter said. “We’ve got most of the weather rot gone. There were four garbage bags filled with just wood chips from the rotted wood.”
There are students that come through the shop to experience carving which imparts some cultural knowledge to the students first hand.
It won’t be long before the painting starts.
“All of our cultural designs represent something. In Hollywood they further marginalized us and they would say things like ‘low man on the totem pole.’ But traditionally that’s where the story starts on a totem pole and it holds up the rest of the story.”
Peter’s grandfather carved totem poles and as a kid growing up he helped.
"Probably more or less got in his way but he enjoyed it and he started telling me stories and that’s why I enjoyed it so much,” Peter said.
People say Indigenous people didn’t write their history down and that it was passed along in their oral storytelling, he added.
“But it was told in all of our legends and all of our history is in the artwork,” Peter said, indicating the SD57 sign.
Find Peter’s work on Facebook at Peter B. George - Native Art and Culture.
