Drawing

These 62 small works (3223/1-62) comprise a collection of drawings in pencil, ink, pencil crayon, and felt pen made by the artist between the years 1968 and 2015. During that period the artist has identified himself by the following names: Ron Hamilton; Hupquatchew; Ki-ke-in; Kwayatsapalth; Chuuchkamalthnii; and Haa’yuups. The drawings are, for the most part, applied to the backs of bookmarks acquired from a range of bookshops; some are applied to other pieces of paper or cutouts from his earlier silkscreen prints. Many of the images represent killer whales, often in conjunction with accoutrements and symbols of Nuu-chah-nulth whaling. The juxtaposition of bookmark and representation of Nuu-chah-nulth himwits’a, or narrative, is a deliberate and meaningful placement of two distinct knowledge systems in relationship with one another. Ephemeral drawings like these were not created for the market; the artist has long made them for himself and sometimes as gifts for relatives and friends; they are a way of sharing his knowledge and experience about Nuu-chah-nulth ways of knowing, thinking about, and being in this world; they are expressive of what he calls kiitskiitsa: marks made with intention.

A drawing on a piece of paper. The front-side of the paper depicts a hand-drawn, vertically oriented image of a lightning serpent(?) with bared teeth. Yellow stars, of varying sizes, decorate the off-white background of the drawing. The serpent is outlined in grey and yellow pencil crayon; the backside of the serpent is lined with grey hair(?). The body is shaded in with green pencil crayon and decorated with blue, red, and yellow details. A blue snake-like creature extends from the serpent's nose; to the right is a red projection decorated with an elongated diamond-shape. Three tufts, outlined in grey and green, are drawn at the base of the serpent's head. Beneath its jaw is a human-like face with bared teeth; the forehead, nose and chin are coloured red, the brow is dark grey, and the area surrounding the eye is blue. In the bottom right corner is the artist's signature, a "M" with a line through it and two dots. The reverse-side is blank except for machine-printed blue lines running vertically down the page.