Christopher W. Smith
Research Area
Education
2024 (anticipated)
Doctor of Philosophy, Anthropology (Museum Studies), University of British Columbia
Co-Supervisors: Dr. Jennifer Kramer and Dr. Susan Rowley
Prospective Thesis Title:
The | Future | Perfect: Rhetorical Sovereignty, Ephemeral Literature, and the Assemblage of Alaska Native Art Programs, 1960 - 1990
2019
Master of Arts, Anthropology (Museum Studies), University of British Columbia
Thesis Title:
"Thunder and Being: Attribution, Continuity, and Symbolic Capital in a Nuxalk Community"
Supervisor: Dr. Jennifer Kramer
2009
Bachelor of Arts, Cultural Anthropology, University of Alaska Anchorage
Minor: Alaska Native Studies
About
I’m a socio-cultural/museum anthropologist interested in federal and state arts programs and the ways that local communities engage with them. For the last two decades, my scholarship has focused on Alaska Native and Northwest Coast material culture, particularly things made for the 20th century tourist art market (e.g. model totem poles, masks, silver work, ivory carvings, baskets). My current work is concerned with understanding how Alaska Native and Northwest Coast artists in the mid-20th century navigated and indigenized the bureaucratic structures of governmental arts programs and policies that were designed to bolster art skills and create sustainable art markets for their work.
Research
My PhD research examines the role of the United States Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) and other federal and state agencies in the inter-cultural emergence of contemporary Alaska Native art. Beginning in the 1960s, the IACB sponsored several training programs intended to bolster skills in craftsmanship and the creation of objects that could be marketed as fine art to a broad consumer base. With the aid of Iñupiaq scholar and artist Ronald Senungetuk (1933-2020), regional retraining workshops were implemented across Alaska, often tailored to local indigenous materials. While these programs were effective in training a cohort of influential Alaska Native master artists, tensions arose over whether “traditional arts” or modernism should be emphasized by the IACB and its attendant workshops.
The passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971 was a turning point in IACB and Alaska Native relations, shifting focus from federal agencies to indigenously-driven programs partnered with Alaska State-based organizations and institutions. Energized by ANCSA, the decade that followed was a time of artistic innovation and self-determination. My research seeks to illustrate how Alaska Native people, through their engagement with these programs, indigenized and reclaimed their contemporary art production and market.
Research Key Words
Circumpolar studies, Government-sponsored art initiatives, Museums, Archives, Development, Policy, Cultural tourism, Art market economies, Local arts councils, Network theory, Institutional critiques, Bureaucracy, Modernity, Alaska Native art, Northwest Coast art
Publications
MA Thesis
My MA thesis investigated the ways that Nuxalk Nation members in Bella Coola, British Columbia, reconnect with long-absent belongings through collections databases and digital photos. Applying a combination of ancestral knowledge and formal analysis, artists (carpenters) and cultural specialists are returning prerogatives to their community through rhetorical claims of ownership, attribution of objects to specific makers, and the reproduction of these objects by contemporary carpenters.
Chapters in Edited Volumes
2021
“Sonny Assu, Pop Culture, and Indigenous Futurisms: From Gen X to Planet X” in Shifting Boundaries: 2021 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, edited by Elisa Phelps and Dorene Red Cloud, Indianapolis: The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, pp. 43-58
2019
“Two Tlingit Medicine Men Figurines” in Art Purposes: Object Lessons for the Liberal Arts, edited by Joachim Homann, Munich: DelMonico Books-Prestel, pp. 104-105
2011
“A Checklist of Model Totem Makers” in Carvings and Commerce: Model Totem Poles, 1880-2010, edited by Michael D. Hall and Pat Glascock, Seattle: University of Washington Press, pp. 201-213
Professional Writing
2023
Consultant’s Pick: Willie Seaweed, Candle Box, ca. 1940s. First Arts Auctions. Blog Post. November 29, 2023
Inuit and First Nations Art: December 04, 2023, Auction Catalogue, Toronto, with Steven C. Brown and Gary Wyatt, Toronto: First Arts Auctions
In Memoriam: Joe Senungetuk, March 29, 1940 – May 31, 2023, First American Art Magazine, No. 39, p. 123
Inuit and First Nations Art: June 12, 2023, Auction Catalogue, Toronto, with Steven C. Brown and Gary Wyatt, Toronto: First Arts Auctions
In Memoriam: Mervin Windsor, March 15, 1964 – September 25, 2022, First American Art Magazine, No. 37, p. 93
March 2023 First Nations Art Online Auction, First Arts Auctions, Toronto, First Arts Auctions Website
2022
Inuit and First Nations Art: December 05, 2022, Auction Catalogue, Toronto, with Steven C. Brown and Gary Wyatt, Toronto: First Arts Auctions
Book Review: Where the Power Is: Indigenous Perspectives on Northwest Coast Art by Karen Duffek, Bill McLennan, and Jordan Wilson, First American Art Magazine, No.34, pp. 84-85
Nuxalk Sculptor and Painter: Lyle Mack, First American Art Magazine, No. 33, pp. 62-67
2020
Ask MOA: What is This Totem Pole? Collaborative analysis with Karen Duffek. Blog Post. September 25, 2020
Coloring, Culture, and Quarantine: Indigenous Artists Create Free Coloring Designs During Lockdown, First American Art Magazine, No. 27, pp. 24-25
Book Review: “Unsettling Native Art Histories on the Northwest Coast” edited by Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse and Aldona Jonaitis, First American Art Magazine, No. 28, pp. 80-81
Tlingit Armor-Maker and Woodcarver: Tommy Joseph, First American Art Magazine, No. 26, pp. 64-69
2019
Book Review: “Proud Raven, Panting Wolf: Carving Alaska’s New Deal Totem Parks” by Emily Moore, First American Art Magazine, No. 23, pp. 94-95
Book Review: “Yakuglas’ Legacy: The Life and Times of Charlie James” by Ronald Hawker, Museum Anthropology, Volume 42, pp. 51-52
2018
Doing Battle with the Halibut People: The Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian Halibut Book by Chuck Smythe, PhD, Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau, Alaska. Research Specialist: research, original illustrations, annotations, transcriptions
2017
Tlingit Ixt’ (Shaman) Amulet Summary. Collaborative analysis with Rosita Kaaháni Worl. Sealaska Heritage Institute. Blog post. July 13, 2017
Tináa Art Auction: A Sealaska Heritage Event. Auction catalogue: Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau, Alaska. Contributing author: art descriptions, research
Yá ch’áagu aan cháatl dusyeegi at (This Ancient Thing Used to Haul Up Halibut): A Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian Halibut Hook Sourcebook. Exhibition sourcebook: Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau, Alaska. Research Specialist: research, original illustrations, annotations, transcriptions
Alaska Native Masks: Art & Ceremony. Exhibition catalogue. Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau, Alaska, pp. 19-24. Contributing author: artist biographies, research
Exhibitions
2020
Beneath Our Feet, Above Our Heads: The Stories Hats and Shoes Tell. Textile Research Lab, Museum of Anthropology, UBC, Vancouver, BC. Teaching assistant: consulted and guided student co-curators
2018
Our Grandparents’ Names on the Land. Nathan Jackson Gallery, Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau, Alaska. Research specialist: research, consulting, content contributor
2017
Alaska Native Masks: Art & Ceremony. Nathan Jackson Gallery, Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau, Alaska. Research specialist: research, label checking, catalogue contributor
2010
Carvings and Commerce: Model Totem Poles 1880-2010. Mendel Art Gallery of Saskatoon, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Object consultant: research, catalogue chapter contributor
2007
Southeast Alaska Native Market Art: Totems and Tourists in the 20th Century. Alaska Native Heritage Center, Anchorage, Alaska. Guest curator: label writing, design, installation
Awards
2023
PhD Writing Award
Department of Anthropology, UBC
Francis Reif Scholarship for Northwest Coast Art Studies
Department of Anthropology, UBC
2021
President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, UBC
2020
Michael Ames Scholarship in Museum Studies
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and Museum of Anthropology, UBC
President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, UBC
2019
Four Year Doctoral Fellowship (2019-2023)
Department of Anthropology, UBC
Kate C. Duncan Travel Award
Native American Art Studies Association (NAASA)
2018
Tina and Morris Wagner Foundation Fellowship (Affiliated Award)
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, UBC
Jacobs Research Fund
Whatcom Museum Society
Francis Reif Scholarship for Northwest Coast Art Studies
Department of Anthropology, UBC
Graduate Student Research Award
Faculty of Arts, UBC
2017
Graduate Student Entrance Scholarship
Department of Anthropology, UBC
2008
Exhibit Research Award
Mendel Art Gallery of Saskatoon
2006
Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship
University Honors College, UAA
Fellowships
2019
Smithsonian Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA), National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute: Washington, DC