Snake Lady - Limited Edition Print
Snake Lady - Limited Edition Print
Susan Point
17" x 17"
Silkscreen 35/90
Many years ago there was a woman and her children who lived by the beach. One morning the woman dressed her children and sent them out to play. While the children played on the beach amongst the logs, they came across a nest of snakes. The snakes were startled and began attacking the children, who screamed and cried out. The woman heard the screams and went to investigate. Seeing the snakes attacking her children, she picked up a big stick and began clubbing the snakes to death, except for the mother snake, who was only wounded. The woman brought her children home to safety.
That night when she fell asleep, she dreamed of a beautiful lady who was crying for help. The beautiful lady told the woman that in the fight she had killed all of the beautiful lady's children and wounded her seriously too. Then the beautiful lady explained that since the woman had killed all of her children, her own children would also perish; if she had spared at least one of the younger snake children, her own children would have been spared. As time passed, the beautiful lady's prediction came true and the woman lost all of her children one by one. After all those happenings, the woman and the beautiful lady became the best of friends. When the woman became a Spirit Dancer her powers were those of the snake song. The beautiful lady also blessed her with good luck, and anything she did because of that good luck, she did well.
- Susan Point
Croes, Dale, et al. Susan Point: Works on Paper. Figure 1 Publishing, 2014.
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Susan Point
CULTURAL GROUP:
Coast Salish
BORN:
April 5, 1952
BIRTHPLACE:
Musqueam Reserve, Vancouver, BC
Susan Point, although primarily self-taught, has received training in wood carving from master carver, John Livingston. She also completed a jewellery course at Vancouver Community College with Jack Leyland. In 1981, she began to study and work in Salish art, especially with jewellery and small sculptures. Susan has been a part of numerous group and solo exhibitions. In 2009, her work was featured in Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, ON. In 2010, her work was exhibited in Visions of British Columbia: A Landscape Manual at the Vancouver Art Gallery in BC; Coast Salish Nation Carving Gallery, BC; and Pavillion, and in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, BC. In 1986, she exhibited in New Visions: Serigraphs by Susan Point, Coast Salish Artist, which was organized by the Museum of Anthropology, UBC. Her work has also been featured overseas, including in galleries in Switzerland in 1989 alongside artists Joe David and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.
Susan has been commissioned for many large-scale private and public collections since 1981. In 1993, Susan created various glass, copper, and cedar panels for the Vancouver International Airport, and in 1994 she was commissioned to also carve a 16" diameter red cedar spindle whorl titled Flight. In 2011, she carved a housepost titled Rebirth for the Vancouver Art Gallery, BC, and that year she also carved a red cedar Welcome Figure for Douglas College in New Wesminster, BC. Many of her pieces are featured throughout the city of Vancouver, at the Vancouver International Airport, and at UBC's Museum of Anthropology.
Since the early 1990s, Susan has received numerous awards that recognize her great artistic abilities and achievements. In March of 2004, she was appointed to the Royal Canadian Academy, and in 2006 she was awarded the Order of Canada. In 2007, she received a BC Creative Achievement Award for Aboriginal Art. Susan has been awarded Honorary Doctorates in Fine Arts from Emily Carr College of Art and Design (2008), Simon Fraser University (2008), and the University of British Columbia (2009). Susan has works in private and corporate collections in over 20 countries.
