'Ksan : museum, cultural and artistic activity among the Gitksan Indians of the upper Skeena, 1920-1973
Date
1981
Authors
Dawn, Leslie Allan
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Abstract
The opening of 'Ksan and the Kitanmax Northwest Coast Indian Art School at Hazelton in 1970 established new parameters in the development of museum principles and practices on the northwest coast. It also ushered in a new stage in the scope and context of Gitksan art. An historical analysis of the interaction between museological evolution and Gitksan artistic production demonstrates 'Ksan's unique relationship and contribution to both.
Recent studies on the history and formation of 'Ksan, however, tend to neglect one significant component--Gitksan culture itself. The origins of this neglect may be found in the precepts which directed museum activity in the first decades of this century, when it was widely believed that native culture was on the verge of extinction. Museums saw, as their principal purpose, the study, collection and preservation of what remained. These precepts formed the basis for many precedents for 'Ksan, and provided a point of contrast. They still persist, albeit to a lesser degree, and continue to prejudice observations on Gitksan cultural activity prior to the formation of 'Ksan. Although little material exists on this period, it is generally seen as encompassing a continued decline.
In contradistinction, new information presented here documents a cultural resurgence among the Gitksan throughout the 1930s and 1940s, when museum activity in the area was at a minimum. Th is resurgence reshapes the perception of both the vitality and continuity of Gitksan traditions and the formal and social qualities of the art produced at this time. More importantly, it redefines the actual relationship of these factors to subsequent museum activity. Furthermore, it cast into relief the so-called "revival" program undertaken by various government and private agencies after 1950 to resusitate what were seen as the lost or nearly lost Indian arts in a museum context, as tourist attractions, or for sale. Although the "revival" contributed much to 'Ksan and the Kitanmax School, its effect was tempered by the strength of pre-existing Gitksan traditions which it encountered. The interaction of these two forces is visible in the development and operation of two projects which form the immediate, local precedents for 'Ksan. It is also evident in the expanded Indian village museum itself.
Consequently, this interaction is also contained in the nature of the art produced by those who worked at the Kitanmax School. It is here that 'Ksan differs from its early predecessors. 'Ksan does not so much collect as produce art, for itself, other museums and for sale as part of the "revival." But beyond this, art created at 'Ksan is also used to validate living Gitksan traditions on their home ground in present time. By comprehending the forces which contributed to this virtual reversal in museum prior i ties, the unique arts of 'Ksan can be understood in their cultural and historic context, and a measure of the distance museums have come in their relationship with the Indian cultures of the northwest coast can be made.