Biography:
-Algonquin, born on March 17th, 1972 in Syracuse, New York.
-Family re-located shortly after to my parents' place of origin: Kitigan-Zibi Anishinabeg reservation near Maniwaki, Quebec.
-Always had ability to draw. To take an image from my mind and transfer it to paper was almost second nature to me.
-Saw George Lucas' "Star Wars" at age of five. It influenced me for the rest of my life.
-My child-hood/adolescent years were basically a whirlwind of "Star Wars", comics, monster & sci-fi movies, "Friday The 13th" and Fangoria magazine.
-Saw George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" at age 12. It became the second biggest influence in my life because it was the first time I had really paid attention to the credits. In that credit listing I saw the title "Special Make-up Effects" and the name of some guy called Tom Savini. I realized that there were actually artists who did this for a living: making monsters. I thought "That's it! I want to be one of these guys!"
-Began practicing and everything in my life became geared toward becoming a special make-up effects artist.
-Finished high school and decided
I wanted a college degree in something so I attended John Abbott
College in the Professional Theatre Design program. While there, I found
out that I was the first Aboriginal student in the history of the program.
I graduated, with honors, in 1994 and left the college having experienced
the hard work, long hours and stress that accompanies a career in the theatre
and movie business.
-Took up smoking. Wisest choice
in my life? Perhaps not.
-Won a scholarship from the Canadian Native Arts Foundation for a six-week film,t.v, theatre and sp/fx make-up course at Complections International in Toronto. Completed course at top of class.
-Worked on first movie "Habitat"
as set decorator in Montreal. While there, worked with individuals from
local prop house. By pure chance their shop was located only a few doors
down from the largest sp/fx make-up shop in Montreal: Maestro Special Make-up
Effects. After interview with owner, was hired to work on effects crew
for movie "Screamers" in 1995.
-1995-1998: Worked as freelance
sp/fx make-up artist in Montreal, Toronto and Los Angeles areas. Numerous
projects including movies such as "The Assignment", "Hemoglobin", "Species2"
and "Existenz" and t.v shows such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "The Outer
Limits" and "The Hunger: The Series"
-Eventually became disillusioned with movie business and did one too many "all-nighters". Grew tired of working 15-36 hours without sleeping and began re-thinking priorities in my life. Came to the conclusion that making big rubber monsters wasn't worth working my-self into an early grave. Decided career change was in order and so here I am, working on this website.
Decided to give computers and multi- media biz a try. Would also like to try other things: creative writing, comics,
Click on photo to enter gallery
my own artwork, graphic design. That's me! Jack of all trades, Master of none!
Comments on urban experience:
To tell you the truth, when I first left the 'Rez for college it was probably the scariest, most traumatic experience ever in my life. Or so I thought it would be until I actually got to the city. Once there I quickly realized that it wasn't nearly as horrendous or over-whelming as I thought it would be. Sure everything wasn't gravy 100% of the time. There were no dancing Hawaiian girls there to greet me with a kiss on the cheek or place a string of flowers around my neck (Lord knows I've always wanted this to happen to me whenever I take a trip. It never does though!) but it wasn't all terrible either.
What got me through the hardest times was never losing sight of my dream: to one-day see my name in the end credits of a film as a Special Make-up Effects crewmember. After a short period of patiently waiting and continu- ing to hone my skills, it finally came true in 1995.
Living and working in the city does strange things to the eyes. It opens them and makes you see things differently than you would on a reservation. Probably the greatest revelation I had in my off-reserve travels is that the attitudes and opinions ingrained in me since child-hood weren't entirely true. As a child growing up on a reservation I found my-self, very early in life, of the opinion that white people, in general, are never to be trusted and really don't want you included in their society anyway. Keep your head down, your mouth shut and don't draw attention to yourself were also advised. I realized, however, that I wasn't going to get very far if I continued to heed to what I was taught. Another idea that my eyes were opened to was that for every non-native, narrow-minded, racist, bigoted, idiotic redneck that I encountered, there were many, many non-native people who were very receptive to my ideas and input. These same people never passed judgement on me for anything including something as stupid and insignificant as the color of my skin.
To all the co-workers, classmates and friends I met I was not a Native artist. I was an artist period. Which was just fine by me. In the whole time that I worked and lived off reserve, I was never in favor of having my-self specially classified because of my heritage.
I was also strongly opposed to the idea that if I went into a job interview and I was the sole Aboriginal hopeful there, I would automatically get the job simply because of who I was. Call me crazy, but I always enjoyed getting a job more because of the fact that I was the best person for the job. Honestly, I never really saw the point in classifying my-self as a Native artist; not to go out of my way to show that I was Native or so that I would never forget my roots or for any other reason. Not once did I ever forget who I was or where I came from nor did I ever try to hide it from anyone.
In fact, one important thing that I was eventually made aware of was that many non-native people are curious about Aboriginal people and their culture and want to know more. Sadly, a lot of their ideas are misconceptions gleaned from television,
Now some of you reading this may be thinking to yourselves at this very moment: "Oh boy! They really ought to have a picture of this guy under "sell-out" in the dictionary!" or: "Hey, check out the "apple" boy here! He's a riot!" I disagree. We all go about changing things in our own way. There are organizations out there such as CAP and the A.F.N that are changing things in their own way. I'm all in favor of what these organizations are doing. I'm just trying to initiate change in my own fashion.
Although I live and work in the city now, I always make time for a weekend jaunt back home. A visit with the kinfolk and the peace and tranquility of the 'Rez is exactly what I need from time to time. This isn't always a pleasurable experience however. In addition to what I realized about the off reserve experience, some other major facts were brought to light for me. Very often I see that the very people I've been taught not to trust (non-natives) are usually the ones who are most supportive and glad to see me succeed. Coincidentally, I've also seen that the people that I have been taught to trust are the ones most anxious to see me fail or refuse to accept me because of my success. It's incredibly ironic and I guess it would bother me if I actually cared about these things. I'm too busy initiating change in my own life to let it bog me down. Every time I do get back home I also see way too many people with so much talent going to waste. They insist on just sitting there re-hashing past injustices and contemplating how life has dealt them a lousy hand of cards while, at the same time, they do nothing to better their situations. In no way, shape or form am I saying that I'm better than those who do this, but I've always had a very simple philosophy: if you're always looking back to the past you cannot look forward to the future. You must initiate change in your own life to succeed. Nobody can do it for you. This thinking has not only enabled me to overcome all barriers that I've encountered but to smash through them. It's always worked for me and that once large chip on my shoulder has shrunk away to nothing. Well, almost to nothing. There's still a tiny crack there but nobody's perfect. Now if I could only get over my prejudice against small children and dogs, I'd be in pretty good shape.
Anyway, I'll put the soapbox away for now because I'm starting to get on my own nerves. To all you aspiring Aboriginal artists I'll leave this thought. If you want to be an sp/fx artist, then be an sp/fx artist. If you want to be a famous movie director, then be a famous movie director. Actor, artist, astronaught or whatever, it ultimately comes down to you. One day it may involve you re-locating to an urban setting. This is not necessarily all bad for, once there, you will find many people and resources to help you.
(*Important note: keep in mind that the opinions expressed above are from my own big mouth. They do not represent the opinions of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. Enjoy the rest of this amazing website!)
CONTACT/PURCHASE INFO:
126 Ch.Paganakomin Mikan
Maniwaki, PQ
J9E 3B1
Tel: (819) 449-4907
