A Sense of Place by Robin Laurence

Author:Robin Laurence
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Figure 1 Publishing
Published: 2015-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

1 Susan Point, artist’s statement, 1996.

FLIGHT (SPINDLE WHORL)

Susan Point

1995 red cedar I 4.8 m in diameter

Susan Point’s immense spindle whorl, carved in red cedar, twines together a number of themes and traditions. The images incised into the overall circular form include eagles, salmon and human figures, their arms raised in a gesture of welcome and also as a suggestion of flight. The eagles symbolize power while the salmon, whose sleek bodies are incorporated into the human arms, represent the Coast Salish First Nations who have lived and fished along the Fraser River for millennia. Musqueam Village, where Point lives, is located near the mouth of the river and is surrounded by the city of Vancouver; YVR, built on Sea Island in the municipality of Richmond, stands on traditional Musqueam territory. In spite of the intense urbanization that has taken place around them, the Musqueam people retain an active cultural and political presence in the Metro Vancouver area.1 These facts inform all aspects of the Musqueam Welcome Area in the International Terminal where Flight (Spindle Whorl) is installed.

Point has drawn inspiration for the overall shape and design of her sculpture from historic spindle whorls, flat disks approximately twenty to twenty-five centimetres in diameter, made from wood or stone.2 Carved with figurative or abstract designs and having a hole in the centre where the spindle was inserted for spinning wool from mountain goat hair, such objects were essential in the creation of Coast Salish blankets. These blankets were symbols of wealth, and could be used as a sort of currency,3 and spindle whorls were also accorded great respect. The form of Point’s monumental relief sculpture — the largest spindle whorl in the world — also honours countless generations of Salish women who produced both the wool and the blankets that served their people’s social, religious and economic systems.

Susan Point is one of the leading artists of her generation and has won numerous public art commissions. Self-taught and immensely prolific, she has worked across multiple disciplines, including painting, printmaking and sculpture, in a range of contemporary and traditional materials.

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