Splash, Arts Umbrella’s highly anticipated art auction and gala, is back for its 36th year on October 13th, 2018, at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, with all proceeds going to support youth arts programming across Metro Vancouver! We chatted with B.C.’s own Don Yeomans, whose incredible work, Forton, has been generously donated to the auction by the Douglas Reynolds Gallery, about his art, his life and his favourite childhood medium of choice! —Noa Nichol
Hello Don! Tell us a bit about yourself/your artistic background.
Firstly, I was born and raised in Prince Rupert, B.C., and took a carving class taught by my aunt, Freda Diesing, when I was 11 years old. It was an amazing experience. I continued to dabble in areas of mask and totem carving throughout my teens, but at that time dreamed of attending art school to find out what art really was. It never occurred to me until halfway through my first year in art school that what I was doing was every bit as valid as the art I was being shown. From that point on, my aim was to seek out artists I respected and learn from them personally rather than from the books. My best friend and mentor Bud Mintz, who was a native studies teacher at Langara College, made this all possible. I am proud to say that I have never been self-taught. I take no pride when it comes to finding a better way to do things. I had the pleasure to work with many artists in the native art world who contributed to the knowledge I have today; these artist include Bill Reid, Robert Davidson, Phil Janze, John Livingston, Larry Rosso, Beau Dick, Art Thompson, Frances Williams, Gerry Marks and of course my greatest teacher, Freda Diesing, who had all contributed kindness, techniques and helped me progress.
Tell us about the piece of art that you and the Douglas Reynolds Gallery have so generously donated to this year’s Arts Umbrella Splash event.
The piece that is in the auction is a wolf and moon, which repeats as a pattern. It is a resin cast called Forton, which contains a lot of metal dust allowing for the same patinas used on bronze to be implemented. The inspiration for this idea came from the realization that I had not done a wolf and thought a repeating design would be cool. I see wolves as creatures who are never alone, their survival depends on the group.
With a plethora of excellent causes to support these days, why have you aligned with Arts Umbrella at this time?
Both of my children have attended programs at Arts Umbrella, and my wife and I have always believed in their cause.
Why, in your opinion, is art education so fundamentally important to our youth?
I took music lessons as a child and while I never kept it up, I still love music to this day. The carving classes I took as a child definitely changed the course of my life. Now, I do not believe everyone who takes up a creative hobby as a child will become an artist, but it will open that child’s heart to love and appreciate an art form. For those who are artists they will continue to have an audience.
Finally, a personal question: if you could go back to being a kid, what would your artistic medium of choice be, finger paint or playdough?!
I would first have to confess to being one of those kids who had to eat or at least taste everything that was given to me. So hands down, I always chose finger paints. Playdough was way too salty, where as finger paints tasted better than the porridge my mom used to make every morning!
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