Artist works to share his talent with the people

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When stone carver Jason Noel practices his art, each of the steps he takes is part of an unbroken circle of creation.

Keeping that circle whole is important to Noel. That is why, whenever possible, he goes out, finds the raw stone and digs it out of the ground himself, giving thanks to mother earth as he does so.

It is also one of the reasons he tends to shun the galleries and chooses instead to bring his work to the people, so he can meet with those who buy his work, and they can meet him.

Noel has been carving for more than a decade, and he credits the art form with keeping him on the straight and narrow in his youth.

It was 1990, and he had moved from his home in northern Manitoba to the big city of Winnipeg, where, he explained, there were a lot of opportunities for him to get into trouble. Instead of finding trouble, though, he met up with a cousin who had also moved to the city, and who had been carving for about eight years.

"So I went and hung out with him because it intrigued me," Noel said, admitting that at the time it was the money to be made through carving that was more intriguing than the art itself.

"I thought it was an amazing opportunity for me to make some money. I was still in high school... but it taught me a lot. It turned out that it wasn't as easy as I thought. It took a lot of hard work. But the fulfillment was way better than I could ever imagine. It taught me a lot about life, relationships, myself."

Noel works mainly in soapstone, pipestone and alabaster, most of which come from northern Manitoba. The inspiration for each piece begins before the rock is even removed from the ground, he explained.

"It all starts with the insight, the prayer. I dig the stone out of the bush myself. So I try to uphold the traditional way of giving thanks right to mother earth, and participating in the extraction of the stone. And of course you've got to study the stone. And that has a lot to do with it. What it looks like," he said. "Sometimes I want to make something else, and I've got to argue with the rock. 'I want to make this.' And the rock says, 'No, this.'

"I also pray and ask for inspiration, too, because I believe that there can be many things in the rock, but there's one specific thing I need to work on, for whatever reason," he said.

"A lot of times I'll look into a rock... and I might see 10 different things. And then I have to ask the spirit for guidance, and show me OK, which one should I do."

While seeking inspiration in this way is the ideal, sometimes the ideal bumps up against the realistic, and to find a balance is important.

"It's always a little struggle between economics and the creativity of it, you know. The artistic flow and trying to put gas in your tank and feed yourself, that sort of thing."

While that struggle may always be there, Noel has had some experiences that have taught him that choosing art does not necessarily mean economics have to be sacrificed.

He shared a recent experience he had where he had a piece of soapstone he was planning on carving into a dancing bear.

"Dancing bears are very popular. I enjoy making them very much, a celebration of life and all. But a lot of times it boils down to economics. They sell, people like them. I had an order for a dancing bear. I was looking at this rock, and I saw a dancing raven. I'd never ever made a dancing raven before, and so I hemmed and hawed over it for a long time."

The first sign he received that making the dancing raven was the right choice came when he started carving it. He was teaching carving to a young boy in Squamish, B.C., where he now lives, and the boy got excited when he saw the raven taking shape. It turned out the boy was from the raven clan.

Any doubt that remained in Noel's mind about carving the raven disappeared a few weeks later, once he had finished the piece, when the spirit told him to go up to Shannon Falls Provincial Park.

"So I went there, and was carving away. I was there fo about two hours. No one even talked to me the whole time . . . and this guy comes up, young guy, early 20s, just freaks out over the raven. Just speechless. 'Wow, oh, wow.' He picked it up and stared at it for about 10 minutes or so, said, 'How much do you want for it?' I wanted five, but I told him four. So $400. He's like, 'OK, here's $100, I'll be right back. Took off, gave me $100 and left. Left the piece and everything. Trusted me, which really made me feel good. He left, came back about three hours later, gave me $450 on top of the $100. He actually gave me $550 and wouldn't give me anything less. And he was so floored by it. And I was just like, 'Wow.' It just filled me up with so much power that day. It clicked in there. I was meant to make that raven. It's encouraging to me not to always go for the economics of it, but create what you see, and trust the spirit."

One of Jason Noel's favorite things about practicing his craft is going out to where the people are and doing demonstrations. He usually picks either a relaxing park-like setting or a busy location right downtown in the middle of the city, then takes out a large piece of stone and starts to carve. And when people admire his work and say he should be in a museum or gallery, he tells them that if he was, they would never have met him or seen his work. That connection-between the audience, the piece and the artist-is important.

"Even the collectors that I meet don't know artists. A lot of them are buying from galleries, and they've never even met the person who is creating... to me that's sort of a break in the circle of power."

While sharing the art with the public is something Noel likes to do, he also likes to share the craft itself. He teaches stone carving to kids, both to pass on the art form to the next generation, and to give them what carving gave to him in his youth.

"Like I said, I got into it in my teens, and it saved me lots from getting into the gangs. I'm a big guy, you know, and tere's a lot of gang activity in north Winnipeg. It just kept me busy. It taught me a lot about finding myself, being patient, seeing things develop slowly in front of you... so now I always look for opportunities. If any young people are interested, I always, boom, right there, come and grab a file, grab a saw," he said.

"I used to do community services... where you get groups of kids, just dropping in and stuff. And that was always very exciting. You'd see the talent just spring out like a fountain. You'd have a group of 30, and they'd all be struggling to make a simple little bear head or something, and then within half the time there, stumbling along, somebody will pull out something completely different, really nice you know. 'Look at this, what do you think teacher?' Whoa. Just talent. The first time they ever picked up a rock. So you jump all over that, and you give them the stone, you give them the tools so they can pursue it."

While it is obvious Noel has found the path he wants to travel in his life, he has advice to young people who haven't yet found theirs.

"Look for your talent. Find your gifts. I used to ask people what they do for a living, but now I ask them, 'What's your talent? What's your gift?' Because most people don't even know that."