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S.06-59

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Senate Committee on University Priorities

Memorandum

TO:

Senate FROM: John Wate

Chair, SC

Vice Presic

RE: Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast

At its March 8, 2006 meeting SCUP reviewed and approved the proposal for the

creation of the Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies. This Centre will be a

Schedule A Centre in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, housed in the

Department of Archaeology and the First Nations Studies Program.

Motion

That Senate approve the creation of the Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast

Art Studies

Rationale

The proposed Centre will promote understanding of the history and principles of

Northwest Coast Indigenous art through research and connoisseurship, and to promote

its application to contemporary art and design in British Columbia with special reference

to the interests of Indigenous Peoples.

Through various fundraising efforts detailed in the proposal, Centre activities are

expected to be self-sufficient.

Further details about the objectives of the Centre are provided in the attached

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

OFFICE OF VICE-PRESIDENT, RESEARCH

TO: Sarah Dench, Secretary

FROM: B. Mario Pinto

Senate Committee on University

Vice-President, Research

Planning (SCUP)

RE: Bill Reid Centre for Northwest

DATE: February 8, 2006

Coast Art Studies

Attached is a proposal from Dr. John T. Pierce, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social

Sciences, for the establishment of the Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies

as a Schedule A Centre.

The Governing Committee for Centres and Institutes recommends that the

Centre be granted approval by SCUP. Once approved by SCUP, the proposal is to be

forwarded to Senate, followed by submission to the Board of Governors.

Governing Committee:

Dhn lVateroe-J

ze-President, Academic and Provost

Dr. B. Mario Pinto

Vice-President, Research

Attachment

C: ?

Dr. John T. Pierce, Dean, FASS

40 ?

Dr. G. MacDonald, Archaeology Department

Dr. David Burley, Chair, Department of Archaeology

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Office of the Dean,

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences?

MEMORANDUM

To: ?

From: ?

Subject:

A Proposal for the Creation

Date: ?

December 16, 2005

of the Bill Reid Centre for

Northwest Coast Art Studies

John, please find attached a proposal for the creation of the Bill Reid Centre for

Northwest Coast Art Studies (Schedule A Centre). Although the proposal comes

from Archaeology, its inspiration comes from George MacDonald, the Director of

the Bill Reid Foundation and an associate member in the Department of

Archaeology.

Appended to this proposal is a more in-depth rationale from George MacDonald

regarding the need for such a Centre and the numerous functions that it will

perform. SFU is well positioned to act as a digital library and archive for

Northwest Coast Native art, one of the key innovative functions of the proposed

Centre.

SFU is indeed fortunate to have someone of the stature of George MacDonald

who is prepared to assist us in networking and fundraising with the larger

G. MacDonald, Director, Bill Reid Foundation ?

D. Burley, Chair, Department of Archaeology

MEMORANDUM 

. ? DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY 

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY 

?

TO: ?

JOHN PIERCE, DEAN

ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

FROM: ?

DAVID BURLEY, CHAIR

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY

SUBJECT:

Creation of The Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies

DATE: ? 

December 13, 2005

Please find enclosed a proposed constitution for creation of "The Bill Reid Centre for Northwest

Coast Art Studies" for your consideration. This is proposed as a Schedule A Centre in

accordance with university policy R 40.01). Also attached is a more in depth proposal for the

Centre prepared by Dr. George MacDonald, Director of the Bill Reid Foundation and associate

member of the Archaeology Department.

It is my understanding that, once receiving your approval, the proposal must be submitted to

Gwen Bird of the WAC Bennett Library for library resource review. Here I would like to note

. ?

that virtually all courses potentially to be taught by the Centre have already been delivered

through Archaeology and First Nations Studies course offerings, including one in Northwest

Coast Art. I believe, therefore, that no new library resources would be required. Indeed, if the

Centre operates as proposed, and brings together a digital archives of NWC art and related

documentation, it would massively expand the library's holdings in these areas with no additional

cost. As for sources of funding for the Centre, the in-depth proposal indicates a fund raising

campaign of the type successfully undertaken for the Bill Holm Centre at the University of

Washington. I think it important to highlight the fact that Dr. MacDonald was the manager and

critical individual in that campaign. Dr. MacDonald also has been a very successful fundraiser

throughout his lengthy career in the Museum field and I have little doubt that also will be the case

for the Centre.

Should you have queries or concerns, please let me know.

BILL REID CENTRE. FOR NORTHWEST COAST ART

STUDIES

CONSTITUTION

1. Statement of Purpose:

The objective of the Centre is to promote the understanding of the

history and principles of Northwest Coast Indigenous art through

research and connoisseurship, and to promote its application to

contemporary art and design in British Columbia with special

reference to the interests of Indigenous Peoples.

Governance:

2a.

The Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies shall be

governed in accordance with University policies including

R.40.0 1, CENTRES AND INSTITUTES. If this document and

University policy differ on any issue, University policy shall

prevail.

2b.

The Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies is a

Schedule A Centre (R40.01, page 2) and comes under the direct

authority of the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences. The Dean shall

be the Administrative Officer responsible for the governance and

budgetary accounts of the Centre.

2c.

The Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies is housed

in the Department of Archaeology and the First Nations Studies

Program.

/11.

3. Appointment of Director

3a. The Director of the Centre shall be appointed by the Dean of

Arts and Social Sciences under advisement from the Centre

Steering Committee. Term of office for the Director shall normally

be for three years.

4. Internal Governing Procedure

4a.

The Centre shall be governed by a Steering Committee

including three Simon Fraser University faculty members with at

least one representative from each of the Department of

Archaeology and the First Nations Studies Program, the Director

of the Simon Fraser University Museum of Archaeology and

Ethnology, and up to three representatives from the community,

including at least one First Nations representative. Members will

• be appointed by recommendation to the Dean of Arts and Social

Sciences by the Director. Appointments shall be for a three year

term with the possibility for renewal.

4b.

The Steering Committee shall be chaired by the Director of the

Centre. Meetings will normally take place once a quarter.

Associate Members of the Bill Reid Centre for Northwest

Coast Art Studies

5a.

The Centre shall consist of a body of interested associates

from both within the University Community and outside it and

individuals linked to the Centre through the projects and other

activities it sponsors and supports. Associate member status is

proposed by the Director and approved by the Steering Committee.

The Bill Reid

Centre

for Northwest Coast Art Studies

Dr. George MacDonald

Prologue

The role that the Haida artist Bill Reid has played in the revival of Northwest Coast

Native art is recognised both nationally and internationally and has been well

documented in books and articles. Reid's expertise was accumulated and refined over

more than four decades during which he was closely associated with scholars like Wilson

Duff, Michael Kew, Bill Holm, Edmund Carpenter, Claude Levis Strauss and others.

Reid also worked closely with museum curators in America and Europe from which he

gained a thorou

h knowledge of the best historical collections of art and ethnography

worldwide. Reid put great effort into establishing good working relationships with

aspiring young Native artists on Haida Gwaii and throughout the coast who continue to

carry on his artistic legacy.

His own talents ranged from fine jewelry in precious metals to monumental pieces in

plaster, bronze and wood. All of his monumental pieces are now national icons which in

turn has led to the inclusion of three of his large bronzes and a two dimensional graphic

on the reverse of the new Canadian twenty dollar bill

(of

which more than two billion

examples are planned to be issued over it's twenty year life cycle). Much of Reid's time

was spent in supervising apprentices in the grammar of Northwest Coast graphics and

sculptural forms. Successful contemporary artists such as Robert Davidson, James Hart,

Don Yeomans, Guujau and many others obtained much of their training from him, and

his emphasis on the well-made object has subsequently guided them in their highly

successful careers.

Objectives for the Bill Reid

Centre

for Northwest Coast Art Studies

Since Bill Reid's death in 1998 and the closing of his atelier on Granville Island, there

has been a void in the training of apprentices in Northwest Coast art forms in British

Columbia. Vancouver now lacks a dynamic centre open to scholars, visual and

performance artists involved in Northwest Coast art and art studies. It is therefore

appropriate that a centre bearing Bill Reid's name should be established to promote

scholarly research and greater public understanding of the Native Art of the Northwest

Coast at Simon Fraser University.

Based on the phenomenal success of the Bill Holm Centre for the Study of Northwest

Coast Art recently established at the University of Washington, it is anticipated that a

centre in honour of Bill Reid will attract sufficient funding through research grants and

private support to operate the centre and to nurture new generations of students and

artists. Over three million dollars was raised in a period of two years by the Bill Holm

Centre to fund graduate student research assistanships, guest lecture series and digital

collections building. Significant grants were received from corporate and family trusts.

State, local and federal arts agencies contributed over half of their funding. The benefit to

the Art History Department and the Burke Museum at the University of Washington are

already significant.

A Bill Reid Centre associated with SFU's downtown campus would provide a place

where students and artists could meet with Native and non-Native members of the public

at workshops, studio sessions, lectures, seminars and a variety of social and cultural

events. The resource centre would include some traditional reference materials but would

emphasise digital libraries and archives that draw together seamlessly the contents of

literally hundreds of repositories on Northwest Coast Native art that have already been

digitised. Consortia of digital museums and archives are forming between institutions in

American, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Region that can benefit future generation of

students and scholars at universities that host the relevant portals. The University of

British Columbia through the Museum of Anthropology has received multi-million dollar

grants from the Federal Government of Canada to make their collections digitally

accessible to Native communities throughout the Province and between other museums.

A Bill Reid Centre would provide a needed physical meeting ground for students and

scholars of diverse background on the west coast and serve as a virtual access portal for

Native Community Centres, museums and academic departments around the world. It

would be uniquely focused on contemporary art and art history rather than ethnography.

Much of Reid's artistic production pushed the boundaries of materials and fabrication

. ?

processes that led to new kinds of Northwest Coast art including fashion, furnishings,

architecture and personal adornment. He embraced new technologies like binocular laser

scanning of his monumental works for conservation and replication purposes using

technology developed by the National Research Council of Canada. His work laid the

foundation for the imminent development of a vernacular style for the Northwest,

analogous to the Southwestern style in the US, the latter being a multibillion dollar a year

industry that made Santa Fe the second largest art market in North America. The

powerful elements of the Northwest Coast style communicate across cultural frontiers

and would be most appropriate as the lead expression for the evolution of a Pacific Rim

Style. Simon Fraser University, with its range of campus specialties and interests is

perfectly suited to spearhead such a stylistic innovation.

Faculty and Associate Faculty Involvement with the Centre:

Dr Geor g

e F. MacDonald, Director Bill Reid Foundation and Associate Member of

Department of Archaeology

Dr. Barbara Winter, Curator Simon Fraser University Museum

Dr. Knut Fladmark, Professor, Department of Archaeology.

Dr. Annie Ross Assistant Professor, First Nations Studies and School for the

Contemporary Arts.

Dr. Roy Carlson, Professor emeritus, Archaeology for courses in the origin and

development of the prehistoric art of the coast

Dr. Alan MacMillan, Adjunct faculty, Department of Archaeology

Expenses Related to Simon Fraser University

Expenses for the program would be required to mount specialized courses either through

sessional stipends (regular SFU course delivery) or in a cost recovery format (workshops

or special non academic courses). Through various fund raising efforts as outlined

above, Centre activities are expected to be self-sufficient.

Infrastructure Requirements

Negotiations are currently underway with the Chief Dan George Centre to house exhibit,

office and studio space for the Centre. This will include a research library in Northwest

Coast Native Studies, with study area, workspace and suitable equipment for up to six

students. Shared studio space for artists and workshops may also be negotiated with the

School of Contemporary Arts and other possible partners including remote Native

communities.

If established in the Chief Dan George Centre and the SFU Downtown campus, courses

potentially could service needs of the students of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and

Design for art historical courses and provide a basis for reciprocal use of specialised

studio facilities at their Granville Island location.

Summary

The time is appropriate for Simon Fraser University to establish the Bill Reid Centre for

Northwest Coast Art Studies in association with its downtown campus in the heart of

Vancouver. The location is ideal to bring together students, Native people and increasing

numbers of academics and artists from the Pacific Rim who live in, or frequent the area,

to interact and celebrate their various skills and identities. In the words of Bill Reid

himself:

"Once we discard ethnocentric, hierarchical ideas of the how the world works, we will

find that one basic quality unites all the works of mankind that speak to us in human,

recognisable voices across the barriers of time, culture and space; the simple quality of

being well made."

[Bill Reid from the introduction to a show by Bill Koochin at the Burnaby Art Gallery,

1980]

By creating a centre that is open to all and which lays equal stress on the value of cultural

traditions of the past, along with creative challenges of the global society and economy,

there is a unique opportunity to create a highly visible and effective dynamo for new

cultural creativity. It would take advantage of the heavy investment of the cultural

community world wide in the di

itisation of knowledge and heritage assets and serve as a

hub for new creativity and community pride.

SFU Library ?

02/24/2006 09:11 Al

SFU Librar y

Horne > About the SFU Librar

> Collections> Librar

Course Assessments> bill reidcentre.htm

Library Assessment for

Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art

February 23, 2006

This is the Library's report on the proposed Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art.

The SFU Library supports the establishment of this Centre as outlined in the proposal. Library personnel have had

discussions with Centre proponents, and both parties have agreed to the following:

1)The

proposal indicates that the Centre will be involved in offerin g

courses in Archaeology and First Nations Studies,

including Northwest Coast art. As these courses will be offered at SFU Vancouver, not in Burnaby where visual and

print holdings exist to support such courses, the Centre agrees to provide a list of core resources and $2,000 one4ime

funds to cover the cost of establishing a core collection of related materials at the Belzberg Library.

The SFU Library will be an active partner in the digitization projects undertaken by the Centre in order to ensure the

broadest possible access to the repository, and to capitalize on the university's existing substantial investment in

digitization infrastructure in the SFU Library.

3) On pages 2 and 3 of the proposal, there is reference to the formation of a resource centre that would "include some

traditional reference materials..." and "include a research library in Northwest Coast Native Studies..." The Centre will

work closely with the SFU Library in the establishment of such a resource centre, with the goal of centralizing

important information resources in the established branches of the SFU Library.

Total additional library cost: $2,000 one-time

Maintained by: Gwen Bird lgbird@sfu.ca

]

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