Part I (Photo Essay by Clarissa Hudson): " Raven, Hundred-Pace Viper, and the Ocean" Cross-Cultural Exhibit in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan Sponsored by the Kaohsiung Commission on Indigenous Affairs and the University of Washington Burke Museum, Seattle

Contact Clarissa for permission to use images or text for educational purposes only

In June 2006, I was invited as one of three artists from the Northwest Coast tribes to collaborate with six artists from Taiwan.

The other two Northwest Coast Native artists were Shgen George from Juneau, Alaska; and, Shaun Peterson from Tacoma, Washington. We worked as artists-in-residence in the southern-most Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, each commissioned to create a sculpture for the Kaohsiung City Cultural Park. With local materials, my husband and I created a bamboo "totem pole."

I like the look and feel of bamboo, and I have always imagined a home furnished very simply with bamboo; I’ve imagined some rooms to have bamboo-textured walls, room dividers, bamboo trim, bamboo flooring---including bamboo in the garden, as well as pots of bamboo on the wrap-around porch and indoors. I have an attraction to bamboo. It is only natural I would want to create something of bamboo for the Taiwan park, which grows abundantly in Taiwan. Although I have never worked with bamboo, I “jumped in” anyway!

We bought the bamboo from a Taiwanese elder who had a small stockyard of bamboo outside of his little furniture shop. He said that since he was a young boy, his life was bamboo; he harvested bamboo, made furniture of bamboo, and built his house with bamboo. He said bamboo makes him happy and therefore he in turn makes other people happy with bamboo; and that although he has not done anything else in his life, that it was okay because whatever you choose that makes you happy and spreads that happiness is all that a man needs.

Inside, I wore a smile.

Hudson and I spent a week fabricating the totem pole in 100% humidity/100 degree weather; it was quite the feat (by 9am the temperature was already 90 degrees)! Using the two-strand twining technique in Chilkat weaving, I wove the bamboo “robe.” We engineered the pole to have an interior “frame” wiring each strand of bamboo in place. With assistance from fellow artists Dafung and Dakai, we dug a 2-foot trench to secure the totem pole to withstand the wind. The “Raven” totem pole stands approximately 15 feet with its wingspan approximately 6.5 feet. A red hundred-pace viper winds its way through the “robe” swirling from the front to the back of the totem pole.

“Thinking the Sky, Thinking the Water” is the title of the totem pole; it was a phrase I caught during a “description of the Universe” relayed by Taiwanese artist Akin, who assisted us in painting the transparent turquoise stain, all the while wearing a smile!

 

Buddha was salvaged from a fire and remains a holy deity no matter the change of physical body. Photo by Clarissa Hudson

From the Mountainside cafe, the scenery was all too familiar! Photo by Shaun Petersen

Our host, Joseph Lin awaits us to board our travel van. Photo by Clarissa Hudson

Dodo explains her experiences living with three other artists establishing the "new tribe" who lived for two years in the forest at the edge of the beach. Photo by Clarissa Hudson

"Cafe Boys" hanging out on the patio of the mountainside cafe. Photo by Clarissa Hudson

Read Part 2| Read Part 3

Taiwan Exhibit Main Page

* Read the Curators' essays written in anticipation of the collaborative exhibition:
Lin Yu-shih, Curator | Stevan Harrell, Partner Curator