The First Eagle

The first eagle I carved sits on our front porch. You’ll pass it by whenever you enter the house. You may not notice it, except when you comment on how different it is from all my other eagles. It’s not in any of the recognizable styles I currently carve in. Almost no one comments on it.

It was carved in Ottawa, Ontario, after a string of odd circumstances.

My then-girlfriend and I had been driving through Canada on our way to British Columbia. While driving into the campground we were staying in, she swerved the car to avoid a child in the road. The car and our travel plans were wrecked. Settling the insurance was not as easy then as it might be today. The plans to end our trip in Vancouver were torpedoed.

Over the weeks we were living in the campground, we formed a friendship with a couple from Ottawa, the Washingtons. They knew that their landlord had a vacant apartment, and suggested that living in Ottawa might be more comfortable than additional weeks, or months, in a tent.

That was how I came to be living in Ottawa for about six months in 1969.

Looking for a way to enhance our funds, which by now were very limited, I visited almost every shop that sold crafts in town. My skills at that point were up to creating some simple carved jewelry. As a result of just walking around and talking to people, I was fortunate in making acquaintances with members of the First Nations living in Ottawa, and Ron Campbell, a wood sculptor. Not only were these people skilled artists, but they were generous in showing me techniques in working wood.

My developing skills as a woodcarver needed a place to work. So an impromptu work surface was created on a table in the apartment’s dining nook. I carved every day, turning out what I termed the best Hippie Jewelry in Ottawa.

I might have stayed in this rut a long time, except for my friend Ron. He was going to open a gallery – The Creative Foundation. He challenged me to create a sculptural piece that he could use in the opening exhibit. After long, thoughtful sessions, I decided on an eagle, but not the typical eagle gracing ships and buildings. Something suggestive of both those and a Roman eagle. Frankly, too, within my limited carving skills at the time. The eagle above is what I carved. For the exhibit, it stood on a metal stanchion and was titled Fetish. A slap at our use of national symbols to envisage a nasty version of nationalism and imperialism. This was the very end of the sixties. The war in Vietnam was on my mind, and I did not mind if the symbolism was offensive to right-wing Americans.

The eagle needed a piece of wood larger than the scraps I used for Hippie Jewelry. Still, I was lucky enough to find a sympathetic sawyer at a local lumber company who generously gave me a lovely piece of Mahogany. The pounding required to turn a block of hard wood into an eagle was more than the landlord would tolerate, so most of the carving was done in the basement workshop of Rene Plourde’s craft shop, where many of my First Nations friends sold their carvings. When finished, Fetish took its place in the gallery exhibit alongside the works of other artists.

Eventually I returned to the States, quit my Pius Itinerant ways, and went to college. This past summer I finally returned to Canada for an enticing Visit to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I was on board a cruise ship, so I couldn’t just jump ship and set my own itinerary. On occasion, I had to calm myself because the port stays were entirely too brief.

So what’s on my bucket list? A more leisurely jaunt back to Canada; it’s not just an interesting country. It’s very important to me as the place where I began to develop into an artisan and artist.

What’s a country that’s at the top of your bucket list?

View all responses