From the archives: Traditional and trailblazing...teapots?
Dare to be different. Sculptor Michael Massie on what drives him to create
From 1997 to 2008, CBC's Artspots profiled more than 300 Canadian artists from across the country. We're sharing re-edited cuts of the vintage videos this winter.
Name: Michael Massie
Home: Kippens, N.L.
Artspots appearance: 2004
14 years ago...
Traditional and trailblazing: Michael Massie's art is a little bit of both. But looking at the stone and metal sculptures in this vintage Artpots video, it might strange imagining a time when the Canadian art world would have made a tempest out of one of Massie's silver teapots.
You'll see a few of those pieces in the video — carved owls and other unidentified creatures with handles and spouts.
Obviously, they've got a sense of humour to them, and Massie usually gives his stuff a punny title to match. Take licke-tea split, for example. (Dad jokes, in his hands, are an art.)
I keep striving for wanting to do something completely different.- Michael Massie, artist
Along with the LOLs, every teapot makes a nod to Massie's background. He's Inuit, Métis and Scottish, and the sculptures reflect his blended heritage. His first, may-tea (1991), was dedicated to his Scottish grandmother and was inspired by fond memories of tea time with the family. Each teapot incorporates references to his Inuit roots as well, through traditional imagery, references to myths and legends — while the medium itself, silver, calls back to Western techniques.
At the beginning of his career in the early '90s, fresh from the fine arts program at NSCAD, that was a daring move. The public definition of "Inuit art" included stone carving, tapestry, printmaking — not silver, and not teapots. But as his profile grew, so did the conversation. (He spoke about it recently with CBC's Labrador Morning.)
In this video, though, Massie speaks broadly about what inspires him to create, and it comes down to the basic drive to do something that nobody's seen before.
Says the artist: "I keep striving for wanting to do something completely different. I don't really have intentions of repeating the same design twice in my work."
Today...
Massie became a member of the Order of Canada this past summer. As he told CBC News in June: "It's flabbergasting, actually, to be honoured with something like this." So flabbergasting, he said, that he thought the whole thing was a prank.
It was no joke, though, and as he told CBC News, he wants the award to be an inspiration to anyone unsure about chasing an artistic career.
"People can make a living from this — it just depends on how much you want to dedicate your life to it," he said. "I just hope it draws attention to the young people coming up so they'll have a better chance with the arts and education than I ever did."
Watch the video.
