Aboriginal artists popularity soars

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The good news for Native artists and craftsmen is that the interest in purchasing Indigenous art is at an all-time high.

What may tarnish that soaring star and drag it back to earth is the proliferation of copycat items on the market that undercut prices by 40 per cent or more.

Associated Press reports this has happened in Seattle, Wash. There, a wholesaler sold Philippines-made reproductions - complete with phoney signature - of model totem poles crafted by Makah carver, Stacey Raub. Raub successfully sued, but the problem is bigger than just one artist, U.S. Federal Trade Commission spokeswoman Eleanor Durham says.

"I'm not so sure we've seen quite this volume of really pricey stuff" counterfeited before, Durham said about a recent case.

To complicate matters further for the consumer, there is a long list of associated problems cited by retailers. For example, there are wholesalers who do not guarantee either the authenticity or the place of origin of goods. Then there are some Native people who manufacture or sell Native-made items alongside mass-produced items from foreign countries in a setting, such as a powwow, that implies the goods sold are made by Indians.

Only in the areas of Inuit sculpture and original paintings by established Native artists does there seem to be some protection afforded the consumer. That protection lies in the reputation of the museum or art gallery. Other than that, there is just the Copyright Act, retailers say.

Today, most Inuit art is marketed through collectives, which authenticate the work and affix an "igloo" tag prior to sale. Reputable galleries and shops generally will say they only purchase items so tagged. In the case of paintings done by Indians, they buy from people they know, or whose work they can validate.

But even at the retail level, differences of opinion exist about what constitutes a rip-off, or the extent of the problem of rip-offs.

Agnes Bugera, owner of the Bearclaw Gallery in Edmonton, says that in her experience, Native carvings or paintings "have not been a problem."

"We buy very little from mass-produced things," Bugera adds, "so we never come across [counterfeit carvings]".

At the Fort Door in Edmonton, proprietor of "Canadian Native and Inuit Products" Tom Sawchuk says he does think foreign reproductions are a problem, and his first concern is to buy Canadian. "I don't want to do Third World stuff or things that are copied by other countries - I simply don't handle it."

Sawchuk scoffs at the suggestion put forth by some retailers that there is a dearth of genuine Indian art for sale, therefore, they have to offer mass-produced items.