Coast Mountain News Thursday, June 4, 2015
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Vol. 31 | No. 12 Thursday, June 4, 2015
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Local artist Heather Elliott with Copper Sun Gallery Assistant Danika Naccerella, BCVT summer student Carrigan Tallio, Copper Sun Journey's Chris Nelson, Ernest Hall of BCVT, and Copper Sun Gallery Assistant Clyde Young behind the display case generously provided by Dathan Harris
Copper Sun, BCVT and cooperation in Bella Coola; the logo tells all BY ERNEST HALL As told in the Nuxalk creation story, before the first mortals descended to Earth on the eyelashes of the Sun, the Earth was dark – in the colour of Copper – until Raven stole the Sun from Nusmata (Heaven) to enlighten the world. The Copper, in the form of a flattened three-part shield, came to represent prosperity and to honour those in the spirit world, with its slanting rays on the lower plates emblematic of the sloped rafters of the Big House, sheltering a whole community under one roof. This Nuxalk story explains the design of the logo for an exciting new Bella Coola busi-
ness: The Copper Sun Gallery which recently opened in the former RCMP Building on the Townsite. More than that, it describes a cooperative venture taking place in a space where Mounties used to live and work. The iconic red-brick building, in a style erected by the dozens across Canada in the 1950s was vacated by the RCMP decades ago. It recently sold to an “outside” entrepreneur whose generosity has given the building a new life. It is now home to the Copper Sun Gallery, an office for the Nuxalk cultural tours, Copper Sun Journey’s, the Bella Coola Music Festival, Coast Mountain News, and Bella Coola Valley Tourism’s Visitor
Information Booth. “It’s amazing!” says Randy Hart, CEO and President of the Nuxalk Development Limited Partnership. Hart, who oversees a number of projects aimed at developing new businesses and improving the economic opportunities for the Nuxalk people and the wider community, says a community-based gallery for Nuxalk artists “has been needed for a long time”, and to see the various groups working together under one roof is “an exciting example of intercultural community building.” As Hart envisions it, the venue will give the participants an opportunity to run a business, and the artists involved will have
a highly visible opportunity to market their work, leading in time to web-based marketing. The Nuxalk Development Corporation is the Nuxalk “umbrella” company that since 2010 has managed the Nuxalk Forestry Limited Partnership (a community forestry enterprise), and since 2013, its Totem Sawmill Limited Partnership has been producing kiln-dried dimensional lumber, timbers, and specialty wood products. The corporation also manages Bella Coola Traffic Control Services and is working on a pilot project to develop an indoor, all-season, hydroponic gardening business which might
be producing vegetables by this summer. This latest enterprise, “Copper Sun Journeys & Gallery,” enjoys the support of Aboriginal Tourism BC (AtBC) including provision of a consultant to advise on the gallery operations and the development of a website. Hart especially appreciates the support that the effort is receiving from AtBC and its President and CEO Keith Henry. Heading the Copper Sun Journeys project is Chris Nelson, who has served as a director on the Bella Coola Valley Tourism board for the past year. The Nuxalk corporation’s Culturist and Special Projects Coordinator, Nelson is renowned both locally and far
afield for the narrated tours to the Thorsen Creek Petroglyphs that he and his twin Lance have conducted for many years. His tourism interests and guiding experience have led Nelson and his group to develop a package of tours including a Petroglyph Tour and a “Walk of the Totems.” The tours will involve Clyde Young and Ocean Pootlass, operating out of the Copper Sun Gallery venue, where Nelson also expects to be offering theme nights and special event nights. These events may involve music or carving demonstrations, seen as a means to attract people to the Townsite during Bella Coola’s long summer
evenings. The Copper Sun Gallery itself is managed by Caitlin Thompson and staffed by local artists Clyde Young and Danika Nolie, home for the summer from The Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in Terrace. Another familiar face on site is Carrigan Tallio, also home for the summer from the University of Victoria. She is the Visitor Information Booth Attendant for Bella Coola Valley Tourism (BCVT), which has moved its venue back to the Townsite following three seasons at the Norwegian Heritage House in Hagensborg. While expressing his gratitude and appreciation to the
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