Collection search - Aakideh: The Art and Legacy of Carl Beam

Record information – Brief

1

Aakideh: The Art and Legacy of Carl Beam

Item number (ISN):

439424

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

2010

Item number (ISN):

439424

Type of material:

Moving images

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

W.E. PRODUCTIONS

Accession:

2012-0034

Media:

Video

Original title:

Aakideh: The Art and Legacy of Carl Beam

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

2010

Production company:

W.E. Productions

Production credit:

director/photography/editing, Robert Waldeck; director/producer/script, Paul Eichhorn; editing, Dan Drysdale; sound/music, Dan Drysdale; still photographer, Anton Sosnowski; animator, Andrew Thiessen; art consultant, Virginia Eichhorn

Country of production:

cn

Current distributor:

McNabb Connolly

Description:

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Born in an Ojibwe community on Manitoulin Island, Carl Beam's illustrious art career was cut short after his death in 2005. The documentary begins at that point not long after Beam received the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. His story is then introduced by his wife Ann, and daughter Anong. Following the introduction are 11 sequences that each highlight specific parts of his life and his art:AAKIDEH - As Anong explains, Beam was given the Ojibwe name "Aakideh" as child meaning "one who is brave" or "braveheart." Even as a youngster, the elders in the community saw this quality in him through his actions. This quality would prove important as an adult in relation to his art. His wife says he would always "tell it like you want to tell it" and "don't be afraid of what you want to say."FORCED IDEAS - Beam was sent to a residential school like many other Native youths. This experience impacted him greatly in the years to come. Those years resulted in him losing much of his Ojibwe language. To Beam, the residential schools contributed to cultural loss for generations of aboriginals. Later he relates his experience through his artwork as well as the challenges facing Native culture in North America.ALTERED EGOS - This was the title of the first series of works he exhibited in the early 1980s. These came out of early years as artist and the subjects were very much about his own life experience and sense of himself. Curator Dr. Elizabeth McLuhan and wife Ann offer their recollections about Beam from that time. His journey as artist begins in a "dark place" but his work is transformed as he starts a new life with his wife and daughter. As McLuhan says, he was able to "transform the personal to the political."BURYING THE RULER - It begins with a archival clip of Beam "Burying the Ruler" - a seminal image found in many of his works. His wife explains "his art is always about layers" and that the ruler image was a "distrust of grids and systematic thinking found in science." Canadian Art editor Richard Rhodes explains that Beam offered a lesson about Native history and its impact on North America. He adds Beam's works served an education function to help reclaim history that was overwritten by "white" history.NEW WORLD - Another archival clip shows Beam installing a graveyard of crosses on a beach in the Dominican Republic in 1989, roughly where Columbus had landed. This was the beginning of his landmark Columbus Project works. Though Beam admired "the discover" in Columbus he had issues with the political New World. Then Richard Rhodes and Greg Hill explain the importance of The North American Iceberg work and how it addressed directly the idea that Native history and culture was as legitimate as European/Western cultures.THE WHALE OF OUR BEING - Beam often focused on issues of extinction - both in nature, knowledge and human terms. These works focused on state of the world and that "what happens to whale happens to us." He also brought in celebrity images like Jennifer Lopez to illustrate how everyone is obsessed with trivial pop icons when they should be focusing on environmental destruction. CROSSROADS - Crossroads was the last series of works he created. He often used images of musicians in his work but also had a loved playing guitar and had a passion for the blues. Family members recall this great passion and how it was incorporated into his art.FAMILY - Anong Beam recalls that her father felt everyone was family. His wife then recounts there early days in New Mexico creating ceramic works and paintings. They explain the significance the iconic Shaman Family imagery in his artwork and what it means.MARGINS: FOOD/SHELTER - Ecological issues became an important focus of Beam’s works by the 1990s. He felt that many of the "environmentally-friendly" lifestyles and methods of previous cultures had been lost to the detriment of contemporary society. He expresses his views about this topic along with footage of the family’s landmark adobe house on Manitoulin Island. His daughter points out that Beam predicated people in the future would make money from "green" alternatives.OBSERVER - Beam was never afraid to tell people what he thought. Through his works, he addressed head on important issues that faced society and aboriginal people. Curator Virginia Eichhorn explains that his art and his activism was about what was good from a culture and using that for the greater good. Part of this was his quest to preserve the Ojibwe language through radio.ARTIST FLYING STILL - Dr. Allan Ryan begins by saying "Carl is still with us" because of his artwork and the legacy he left behind. Much of that legacy is the focus of the National Gallery’s retrospective exhibition opening in fall 2010. Curator Greg Hill explains the importance of what Beam left behind. Not only was he a role model for future artists, but much of his ideas continue to live on through his wife and daughter, who are also artists. <66mn>

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. Purchased through the Canadian Feature Film Fund.~2. Produced with the financial assistance of the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund; CTV Southwestern Ontario Script Development Fund; Cathleen Eichhorn; PIE Corp.; and DryWal.~3. Interviews: Ann Beam, Anong Beam, Virginia Eichhorn, Greg A. Hill, Joseph LaFont, Mark Larochelle, Dr. Elizabeth McCluhan, Victor Migwans, Crystal Migwans, Richard Rhodes, Dr. Allan J. Ryan.~4. Awards and Festivals: Available Light Film Festival, Whitehorse, YK, Feb. 2012; Local Focus Film Festival, Kitchener (Jury Award & People's Choice Award for Best Feature Documentary), ON, April 2011; Reel Artists Film Festival, Toronto, ON, Feb. 2011; Detroit Windsor Internatonal Film Festival, 2011.~5. Synopsis taken from the distributor's web site (page consulted on 2012-04-03).
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Restrictions on consultation:

No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions

Copyright status:

Under copyright.

Copyright owner:

Copyright owner: W.E. Production, 2010.

Reproduction access:

With written permissions / Avec les permissions écrites

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Date modified:: 2024-07-04