Coast Mountain News Thursday, December 4, 2014
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Vol. 30 | No. 24 Thursday, December 4, 2014
Serving the Bella Coola Valley and the Chilcotin
Page 6
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Alvin Mack accepts his Lifetime Achievement Award from the BC Achievement Foundation from Chair Keith Mitchell and John Rustad, Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation
Artist selected for prestigious lifetime achievement award BY CAITLIN THOMPSON Ask Alvin Mack to reflect on his life and you will get a very candid tale of hardship, personal struggles and the deep-rooted desire to create meaningful art and from that, a meaningful life. “I left Bella Coola at 17 and I swore I was never coming back,” Mack recalls. “It wasn’t always easy, I had no confidence, no self-esteem or belief in what I was doing.” That statement seems to echo an elusive shadow of Mack’s past. Last week he was presented with the BC Achievement Foundation’s Creative Lifetime Achievement
Award for First Nations’ Art. It is an honour bestowed on individuals who have made a profound contribution to their First Nations' culture. “BC First Nations artists play a significant role in the creative life of British Columbia,” said Foundation Chair Keith Mitchell. “These awards highlight the immense cultural traditions of each recipient.” Over the years Mack has been a teacher and mentor to hundreds of students at Acwsalcta School and the Bella Coola community at large, but he humbly describes himself as a ‘vessel’ for Nuxalk art and culture. “I live
everyday to help our young people, ” he shares. “It’s my ultimate goal.” While Mack was drawn to traditional native art from a very young age, the road to his present career as a renowned carver, teacher and artist was full of ups and downs. Born and raised on Nuxalk territory, Mack’s parents raised him and his four siblings to work hard, respect the land and engage in traditional activities. Despite their own struggles, Mack says what his parents taught him had a profound impact on his style as both an artist and a teacher. “They were both alcoholics;
my dad was a residential school survivor,” said Mack. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but they taught us all to work hard. My dad taught me to set goals and follow them through.” It was his father, Willie Mack, who inspired him to start carving. Although Mack recalls little carving or other art being created in the community at the time, he remembers his father carving totems and creating leatherwork in the living room. He would ask him repeatedly to teach him to carve. “He said sure,” Mack remembers. “And then he chose a goal for us. We entered our work in the Bella Coola Fall Fair; it
must have been in the early 70s. We won first prize in every category we entered.” Mack continued carving and working on his skills until his father’s premature death. At 16 years old he was suddenly left without a father, and he was angry. Art went by the wayside. He quit school and left the community, vowing never to come back. “I got a job logging,” he said. “I lived all over the lower mainland, setting chokers and running a tower. It was tough work, monotonous, and I was drinking. I nearly got killed a number of times.” SEE MACK ON PAGE 3