a short biography of a north west coast Indian artist

 I began carving at a place called  K'san in nearby Hazelton. At that time a lot of really good artists  worked together there. Ken Mowatt, Vernon Stephens, Art Sterritt and Earl Muldon. I learned from all of them, but mostly from my Chief and uncle Walter Harris (GEEL). I started an apprenticeship with my uncle that lasted about 4 years. We hunted and fished and carved together 8 dayz a week. When I wuz old enough, I wuz put into K'san's 'Kitanmax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art'. I continued my apprenticeship at the same time. When I graduated from the art school, they hired me as an instructor. That wuz a great and extremely lucky start for my career. I wuz 18 years old. Right from the start my uncle had me working on some of his many large commissions. At first I got to hollow out the backs of big totems and as my craftsmanship improved, he gave me small portions of the front to carve. And when I won my own commissions, I could  only  think of  getting my  uncle Walter  to help me and he did so very  happily  and proudly. I also got to work on a large totem with Ken Mowatt, we made that  one for Kansas City Missouri. About the same year I got invited to give carving demonstrations at the 'World Artists Symposium' in Toronto. That wuz a nice time and my first ride in a jet airplane. Another time I wuz helping my uncle with a 40 foot totem pole that wuz raised at University of B.C. in Vancouver. They made a documentary film about that one but I wuz being camera shy. K'san wuz a great place to learn but I wanted to spread my works around. I  started selling my carvings in Prince Rupert and then I moved to Vancouver for a couple of years. I met some more Indian artists and gallery owners and sold everything I made.

When I got homesick I moved back to my Kispiox village. A while later I got invites to go to Ottawa and show them all how I can carve at the Canada Canoe Festival. On the way home the plane stops in Vancouver and I meet Robert Davidson. He wants me to help him with some big totems. So me and Reg Davidson started a 2 year 'apprenticeship' with RD. We made two 30-foot totems and a 50 -footer. All 3 ended up in Toronto. We also made masks for Roberts dance group. Next Robert wants my help with some more large totems for Pepsi Art Gardens in NYC? I wuz working on those until my uncle Walter called me and asked me to go to Ottawa with him to carve a 40 foot totem for Canada Day. So I quit working for RD and moved 3000 miles away. After helping my uncle, I stayed in the east and worked on a few of my own commissions, including a large blanket for Expo 86. About a year later I got invites to the 'Native Business Summit' in Toronto. I met some stone carvers from Six Nations Reservation. So I moved there with Benny Thomas and Vince Bomberry and they showed me all about rock carving. When I got lonesome for home I started heading west. Back to Kispiox. The centre of the world. I came home and briefly retired from the starvin art business. I got fattened up by hunting and fishing. That's when I noticed my Gitxsan jungle wuz disappearing fast, so I got involved in LAND CLAIMS. Delgamuuk vs the Queen. I became a computer expert working with g.i.s. mapping equipment. I wuz also a teaching a few computer courses at the same time. Then one day I started carving again, I got invites to participate in an art show at the Vancouver Art Gallery. That was called 'Topographies' I made a real nice Chiefs chair for them to show the world. (This chair and another are both now on display at K'san) One summer I worked with my cousin Earl Muldon in nearby Kitwancool village. We were makin full size duplicates of some of the very best old totem poles in the world. I got to do work on three large poles that year. Real totems for real people. I continued to enter art shows in Vancouver and even made it onto the cover of two catalogs. Then I finally got to do a big carving that would stay in my own village. A large wall panel for our new school. Now that’s my favourite carvin!!?!!

YA'YA s
CURRICULUM VITAE

Chuck Heit
# 89 - K
Hazelton B.C. Canada}
VOJ-1 YO
(250) 842-5142

yaya@bvl.net

EDUCATION:

1984 2 year apprenticeship with Robert Davidson in Vancouver B.C.

1977 2 year arts program at Kitanmaax School of North West Coast Indian Art

1974 4 year apprenticeship with Chief Walter Harris in Kispiox B.C.

AWARDS:

1974 Mongo Martin Award

2009 Vancouver Foundation - Visual Arts Development Award

2009 Canada Council Award

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

1994 Geographic Information Systems - computer course. Gitxsan Treaty Office

1994 Trapping Instuctor - Gitxsan First Nations High School

1978 Art Instructor. Kitanmaax School of North West Coast Indian Art

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2009 TRICKSTER SHIFT - Humour & Irony in Contemporary Native Art

Dr. RYAN (book only)

1998 PREMONITIONS - Artists Exploring the Possibilities

        Spirit Wrestler Gallery Vancouver B.C. (catalog also)

1996 TOPOGRAPHIES - Aspects of Recent B.C. Art

       Vancouver Art Gallery Vancouver B.C. (catalog also)

1994 TRANSFORMATIONS - A Unity of Sprits

Derek Simpkins Gallery of Tribal Art

Vancouver B.C. Canada (catalog also)

1991 OKANADA - A-Space Gallery Toronto Ontario Canada

         DEPARTMENT of INDIAN AFF AIRS - A Juried Art Show - Hull Quebec

1986 CANADA CANOE FESTIVAL - Ottawa Ontario Canada