0:06

don’t be afraid to experiment

0:09

[Music]

0:11

follow a lot of other artists but don’t

0:13

copy them

0:15

and expose yourself to

0:18

every type of media you can

0:20

or medium i should say

0:22

every type of medium learn to experiment

0:25

and

0:26

kind of push your own boundaries

0:28

that way you can find your own

0:31

way through

0:33

your own

0:34

art style

0:38

i hope they take away that

0:41

some of the antiquated notions of our

0:43

people

0:45

are outdated

0:47

but also that we’re also a people that

0:49

are expanding within our own culture

0:53

that

0:54

we can be different things

0:56

just like anybody else any other society

0:59

we expand we learn from everybody

1:01

and we can teach others about

1:04

our ways

1:05

so it’s not we’re not uh kind of

1:07

pigeonholed into this one specific

1:10

you know this is our culture and that’s

1:11

it there’s nothing else

1:13

yeah and that’s what i like about

1:15

doing a piece like this is that they

1:17

gave me the freedom

1:19

to include anybody in this that had a

1:22

high place of honor in our community

1:25

well for us that means

1:27

many different things

1:29

to be held in high regard in a community

1:32

it could mean you’re doing certain

1:34

things this way or else you are a

1:36

physical leader like a chief a counselor

1:38

things like that or else you’re just

1:40

like my uncle george who’s an artist

1:43

so yeah we’re definitely expanding and i

1:45

hope

1:45

people take that

1:47

from the show

1:53

the women there

1:54

they are the heart of the community

1:58

they

1:59

without them the community would not be

2:02

anywhere near what it is now

2:05

in any way shape or form

2:07

it starts with the family the mother

2:10

aunts grandmothers passing on stories

2:13

traditions discipline all those types of

2:16

things

2:17

and

2:20

honestly it’s

2:23

it’s a shame that i wasn’t able to

2:25

include more women in this uh in this

2:28

exhibition

2:29

if possible i would like to do one with

2:31

just just women

2:33

because they play such a huge role in

2:36

our our communities definitely

2:45

exhilarating

2:47

nerve-wracking

2:50

and very humbling quite honestly i was

2:52

very humbled when

2:54

mj had called me and

2:57

messaged me on facebook and said she

2:58

wanted to do

3:00

a show with me and

3:03

if she had done that

3:04

say maybe four or five years ago i would

3:07

have said no

3:08

because i wasn’t mentally prepared and i

3:11

would have been like no i can’t do it i

3:12

won’t be able to

3:14

provide what you need

3:16

but thankfully

3:18

i’ve worked on myself and my art and

3:21

i’m at a level where i’m

3:22

more than comfortable i’m quite proud of

3:24

the pieces i do now

3:30

to teach them that art isn’t one thing

3:32

or another

3:34

simply because we are native does not

3:35

mean we simply have to do native art

3:39

that’s one thing i hope to take away

3:41

from this too is that i will just be

3:43

known as an artist who happens to be

3:44

native not a native artist

3:47

because that kind of

3:49

just is just a whole other can of worms

3:52

that we don’t want to get

3:58

into for now it’s my main focus just

4:01

because

4:02

i like the complexity of

4:04

the expressions and the details of every

4:07

individual person

4:09

because not all people are the same

4:12

and you can tell that like details in

4:14

one person’s face is different from

4:16

another and that’s why i keep doing

4:18

portraits is because it’s always

4:19

different

4:20

as opposed to animals i’d hate to say

4:23

this but

4:24

because people love animals

4:26

but a horse will always look like a

4:28

horse

4:30

it’s just quite basic with animals

4:32

and there are little things that

4:35

delineate a person’s pet or whatever for

4:38

animals but the complexity of a human

4:41

face is so much more challenging and

4:43

that’s why i like doing it is knowing

4:45

that i’ve conquered one of the hardest

4:47

things to

4:48

capture

4:56

you

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