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ARTIST’S STATEMENT ED PEEKEEKOOT, Ahtahkakoop Cree First Nation British Columbia Singer-songwriter/ Instrumentalist / Artist I relate in many ways to the man I describe in one of my songs (Wild Lilies to Wheat Fields – © 2006) as being “a farmer, provider, a warrior and survivor, a daydream catcher, a seeker of visions and truth. He’s a hunter, sundancer, and he’s a rain cloud watcher. . .” I’m a musician and an artist but the farmer in my song and I are both blending our cultural ways with the mainstream world, holding our truth, and working to provide for our families when it seems like a long time between those vital “rain clouds” that nurture growth in the things we’ve been steadily and quietly looking after. Music, art, and a supportive and loving family have helped me travel on a good path throughout my life. I can’t call myself self-taught but my education in art and music has been both intentional and informal, learning on my own as well as going to workshops and classes and spending time with friends who are artists and musicians. I give deep thanks for the creative and generous people in my life who have shared their gifts with me. I would have had to work hard not to become a musician in my family, where my mother was my first guitar teacher when I was about four. Art was the one thing I excelled at and got positive recognition for in school. Life was not always easy but art and music fed my soul and do to this day. I was sixteen when my grandfather decided to move us away from life on the reserve and we came out to BC. He wanted us to have opportunities he didn’t see in Saskatchewan. I have lived in BC most of my life, both in the Interior and now on the Coast. For many years, I worked as a solo musician in the mainstream country music scene – mostly in BC but also across the Prairies. Even though my Cree heritage and growing up in a musical family shaped me, I avoided being labeled as a “Native musician”. I wanted to be known as a great musician who just happened to be “Native” as I paid my mainstream dues. This all changed a few years ago after a visit to my home community, Ahtahkakoop, in Saskatchewan. On this trip, I saw signs that the people in my community were starting to practice their cultural ways once again. There were sweat lodges and the sun dance grounds had been reclaimed. This and other important experiences opened me to a deepening interest in exploring my First Nations heritage through music and, in 2006, I released “In the Key of Cree”, a CD of original pieces from my cultural perspective. For decades before this, I had been using prairie First Nations themes in my paintings and carvings, which are now in collections around the world. With the release of that CD, I am now working with both music and art as contemporary expressions of my life in BC blended with my Cree heritage. With guitar, Native flute, fiddle, drum and voice I create what I call “ear paintings”. These are the sounds and melodies heard in our dreams that take us on spirit journeys. In songs and instrumentals, I move from evoking nature, myth, and traditional ways of knowing to offering encouragement to First Nation people facing the sometimes stark realities of urban life. Raven and Coyote, tricksters and transformers, make their way into my music, stories, performances, and art. Just as my music evokes nature and myth, these are also the themes of my paintings and carvings. While I am careful to honor BC First Nations artists by not working in their traditional style, I have been deeply influenced and inspired by them and by living close to the ocean and forest on this beautiful Island. My mystical cottonwood bark carvings of animals, birds, plants, family groupings, and spirits are like totem poles. Each image relates to the others and has spiritual significance. My carvings and wildlife paintings speak of the interconnectedness of All Life. I love the way my music and art uplift people and give them happiness and hope. There is a spirit of renewal that new generations of children and youth are bringing to the Earth; and music and art walk hand in hand with that spirit. I would like people to hear and see a lifetime’s work by a contemporary British Columbia artist and musician whose Cree roots have been nurtured and have taken hold in this soil. |