A lot of things happened when computers arrived on First Nations Reserves across Canada, not the least of which was the birth of a new medium for the expression of culture. Literature, music, art and handiwork were suddenly shared by aboriginal peoples from the east coast to the west. Soon there was a plethora of programs available for aboriginal art students, bringing many young people from the reserves into larger cities to access CAD courses.
Carrying their hopes in their portfolios, they left one sort of world, and entered upon another. Even native songstress Buffy Ste. Marie took up computer-aided painting, as young people from isolated communities with few amenities left home for the big bad world and a chance at a change in life.
One such brave youth was Lance Sero Court, son of a Mohawk elder, who spent his early childhood at Tyendinaga, near Belleville, Ontario. His direct ancestors include Joseph Brant, founding chief of the Six Nations Reserve at Brantford, a revered Canadian hero. Lance came to the big city with high hopes, a love of his people’s traditions, and a huge artistic talent. Fortunately for him, his dedication to his craft paid off, such that he was Canada’s representative in the World Craft Festival, part of the World’s Fair in New Orleans in 2000, and became another sort of national hero, like his ancestor.
Sero Court has been involved with programming for aboriginal art students for many years, as student, teacher, and programmer; his is a unique perspective, spanning the entire process from hoping, to learning, to striving for success in the real world. He’s done pretty well for himself, if a lot of page references on Google is any indication. But notwithstanding his own not-insignificant success, Lance has great concern for the future of aboriginal artists, as the white world continues to treat them as a niche market resource.
“There was a time a few years back when every school was after what they called ‘Indian Bucks’, grant funding from Ottawa. But nobody bothered to provide avenues of employment. Students got a free education, but for what?” says Sero Court. “A diploma is no guarantee of realistic employment. And unfortunately, there is an expectation of aboriginal artists to create in a native style. Natives are not hired to do general design.”
Sero Court also notes that many of the students took the opportunity to learn new media more because they wanted a skill to make money with and were “interested”, not because they were especially gifted. “After all, coming from the reserve, who’s going to say no to free school and a few hundred bucks a month,” he muses.
Typical of many government programs, those sponsored by Ottawa for indigenous people are often a bone thrown to a loudly barking dog, enough to shut the beast up, but not enough to fill its belly. Sero Court says that the “creative native” is not so much of a political football nowadays, and in response, aboriginal arts groups are uniting to support, fund, and further the careers of art students and graduates.
“Native student unions are forming in schools like York, Ryerson and OCAD,” he notes, “ and they are beginning to influence things positively. There are native organizations which help, like NAAF, the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, ANDPVA (Association for Native Development in Performing and Visual Arts), and others. But the policies for handling these organizations and the board models need to be changed, or we risk being stuck to policies not conducive to today’s culture, or to the promotion of aboriginals as skilled and talented artists who can compete in the world at large, meeting and surpassing the demands of new media.”
To that end, Lance Sero Court has become a member of the Board of Directors for CARFAC (Canadian Artists Representation / Font Des Artistes), where he currently serves as Chair of the Communications Committee. He welcomes your comments and questions at plumesociety@hotmail.com.