Art Thompson, renowned Indigenous artist, was an alumnus and long-time friend of Camosun. In his honour, and on the occasion of the college's 50th anniversary, this is his story.
Bukwila by Art Thompson, set at the steps of Lansdowne campus鈥 Wilna Thomas Cultural Centre, has been welcoming students to campus for since 1997.
Standing tall, proud and watchful, is a 15-foot-tall carved welcoming figure in front of Lansdowne鈥檚 Wilna Thomas cultural centre dedicated to the Dididaht whaling chief of the same name. Created by late master carver Art Thompson, also known as Tsa Qwa Supp, it is one of his many legacies to Camosun, both seen and unseen, that makes the college what it is today.
Born in 1948, Thompson suffered from tuberculous in childhood. After a long spell in hospital, he was removed from his community and placed in a Nanaimo residential school, where he experienced nine years of abuse. A member of the Ditidaht First Nation of the Nuu Chah Nulth people, he grew up learning the history, art, and culture of his people from his grandfather and was determined from a young age to carry those legacies forward, despite many efforts from others to suppress them.
In the early 1970s, Thompson studied fine arts at the newly formed 少妇免费直播, in what was then called the West Coast Native Indian Art program. Subsequently, he enrolled at the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver. As a carver, silversmith, printmaker and painter, he grew into an artist of world renown.
鈥淚t was in the early 1990s when I first started working at the college and got to know him,鈥 explains his good friend Janice Simcoe, Director of Ey膿蕯 Sq葍鈥檒ewen, Camosun鈥檚 Centre for Indigenous Education and Community Connections. 鈥淗e always had this strong sense of connection with Camosun 鈥 it was the first place that awakened his love of learning and helped him recognize how very smart he was.鈥
Many years after surviving his own experiences of abuse, he was one of the first witnesses testifying at