Eagle Sculpture<\/strong>\u00a0by Artist\u00a0Corey Bulpitt<\/strong>\u00a0in Vancouver (Image \u00a9 Robbie Werd)<\/p>\n

Corey Bulpitt<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is a multi-disciplinary Haida artist known for his painting, jewellery, graffiti art and wood carving.\u00a0\u00a0Earlier this summer he took his latest creation, a finely sculpted eagle sitting atop a weather-beaten telephone pole<\/strong>, that\u2019s right, a telephone pole, throughout the streets of East Vancouver, home to many First Nations.<\/p>\n

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“There were people weeping, telling me it was a life changing thing,\u201d says Bulpitt. \u201cYou know, just to remember where they came from sitting there in that bleak environment. They see the eagle and they say \u2018oh yeah, we come from this.”<\/p>\n

Bulpitt thought it would be a rapid walkabout but his east-side tour took on a life of its own. People started attaching messages to his sculpture.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Buttons on Pole<\/strong> (Image \u00a9 John Thomson)<\/p>\n

\u201cA lady was walking by and said \u2018can I put this poster here?\u2019 I said sure. It was about missing women and then another guy had a poem that his daughter wrote about being a survivor of a residential school.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Residents attached more messages and buttons too. \u201cIt was one of the best experiences ever,\u201d says Bulpitt, confirming that the experience was as life-affirming to the artist as it was to the people it touched. \u201cMuch like raising a [totem] pole,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Corey Bulpitt in Fazakas Gallery, Vancouver (Image \u00a9 John Thomson)<\/p>\n

Bulpitt is one of many First Nations artists who are taking contemporary, urban influences and marrying them with traditional aboriginal culture.\u00a0\u00a0For Bulpitt, the marriage is easy; he was raised in Langley, a Vancouver suburb. For others, it\u2019s a result of growing up with pop culture, social media and music. Especially music. For the past twenty years, aboriginal youth have identified with the beat and lyrics of\u00a0hip hop<\/a>, turning a South Bronx idiom into their own. Bulpitt, who has been a DJ himself, says hip hop is a potent life force.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat make us human is singing, dancing, art work \u2013all the same elements as hip hop. I find hip hop is basically a way for urban people to identify with the roots of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bulpitt says the native community is OK with the marriage of old and new. Trained in traditional Haida woodcarving by his uncle\u00a0Christian White<\/a>, Bulpitt\u2019s Haida name is Taakeit Aaya or Gifted Carver. \u201cI like to keep it at a respectful level,\u201d he says of his art works.<\/p>\n

His most recent work and that of other crossover artists is currently on tour in a collection called\u00a0Beat Nation.<\/i>\u00a0The show includes poetry, performance, graffiti, sculpture and 16 aboriginal hip hop videos selected by hip hop artist\u00a0Ostwelve<\/a>.\u00a0Beat Nation<\/i>\u00a0is presently on view at the\u00a0Musee d\u2019art contemporian de Montreal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Bulpitt\u2019s eagle atop the telephone pole is now resting in Vancouver\u2019s\u00a0Fazakas Gallery\u00a0<\/a>alongside a more conventional Bulpitt creation, a delicately carved unpainted totem.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Corey Bulpitt’s traditional totem in Fazakas Gallery\u00a0(Image \u00a9 John Thomson)<\/p>\n

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Eagle Sculpture\u00a0by Artist\u00a0Corey Bulpitt\u00a0in Vancouver (Image \u00a9 Robbie Werd) Corey Bulpitt\u00a0is a multi-disciplinary Haida artist known for his painting, jewellery, graffiti art and wood carving.\u00a0\u00a0Earlier this summer he took his latest creation, a finely sculpted eagle sitting atop a weather-beaten telephone pole, that\u2019s right, a telephone pole, throughout the streets of East Vancouver, home to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":38632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[6784,6783,6785,6655,6650,6786,6954],"yoast_head":"\n