I know this native man, his name is Rick Beaver. I got to know him by way of his wife, Ruth Clarke. Ruth was a student with me at writing classes at Queen's University in Kingston.
To me, Rick looks more like a Ukranian boyhood chum of mine, Donald Boychuk, than he does a native man.
But Rick is very much a First Nation guy, he and Ruth live on a reserve in Alderville, Ontario, just a short drive form my place in Port Hope. And being a First Nation guy, Rick is well... "different".
Rick Beaver lives in a home he built himself that has a great southern exposure and a stone floor to absorb heat from the sun in the winter. The house is dug in to the south slope of a mound of earth to advantage the natural warmth of the planet. In the winter, he burns wood for heat, and when it gets really cold he has a propane furnace he can use. There's a tandem axel gravel truck parked in his driveway when he's not driving it.
Of course Rick is a famous artist too, but his profession and his house are not what makes him different from us white folks. It's his way of being in the world that is different, something I have notice in First Nation people all over Canada. No bullshit in that.
Without going in to too much detail, I think First Nation people must "see" differently than white people. This has enabled Rick to transfer his mind onto canvas, and that is popular in the last 20 or so years, so he has a market to work toward.
I think if Rick did not have his art he would go nuts in a white man's world. I have, and I'm not even that much different than Rick.
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