Monumental: The 3 WatchMen and Other Works by James Hart

[RUSHING WATER]

[GENTLE, ATMOSPHERIC DRONE]

[A carving featuring three figures sitting back to back stands in front of a body of water. Text reads, “Three Watchmen”.]

[Chief 7IDANsuu - James Hart, a man with gray hair tied back in a ponytail and wearing a plaid shirt, carves in a woodworking shop.]

JAMES HART - CHIEF 7IDANsuu (Hereditary Chief, Master Carver): Our old ancestors, you know, they really developed our art form to a high level.

[Camera pushes in on a large, impressive carved wooden panel featuring human and animal-like figures.]

HART: And the Haidas really come up with a classic style of formline.

[Various beautifully carved figures in the formline style, featuring swelling and tapering primary lines that flow to create the shapes.]

[Jim Hart speaks to camera. His grey hair is pulled back and he has a mustache and a small goatee. He wears a tan long-sleeved button-up outdoor shirt and a long strand of dark blue glass beads.]

HART: It's really quite an amazing way to handle tension—formlines so crisp and precise.

[Close up of wooden carving by Hart featuring human-like figures.]

HART: All the stuff we’ve created has a story behind it and a history of it.

[Wide landscape of a building on the shoreline. Monumental carvings tower above the structure, and all are surrounded by trees.]

HART: We're warriors, right? We kind of warred on everybody and each other. Because our villages were all on the seashore. We always had lookouts.

[Hart speaks to camera.]

HART: We have our Watchmen, one facing out, one facing this way and one facing this way.

[Hart indicates with his face and hands that one figure faces forward, another to the right, and the third to the left.]

HART: And that's to look out for any danger coming from any direction.

[Hart spreads his arms wide and then draws his hands back towards his face, indicating a wide field of direction.]

[Looking out from a building rooftop, past monumental carvings and to the shore and sea.]

HART: Not thinking about behind in the forest. 

[A weathered and lichen-covered monumental carving featuring three human-like figures—three watchmen. Vibrant evergreens tower behind it.]

HART: We had a lot of taboo stories about the forest and stuff, and it scared people in those days, right?

[Various archival photos of Jim Hart as a younger man, carving Watchmen figures.]

HART: But these three Watchmen figures, you could use one, two or three on a pole. It didn’t have to be on the top.

[Various archival photos of monumental carvings featuring Watchmen figures.]

HART: They could be situated throughout the pole. They're not there as guardian figures in this world only. They're in the spirit world at the same time doing the same thing, looking out for you and your future.

[GENTLE, LILTING MUSIC WITH LIGHT PIANO]

[Camera flies over buildings that feature monumental carvings with watchmen figures standing in front of them.]

HART: Pretty cool. And this is where my idea come, for my three watchmen.

[Close-up of Hart’s Three WatchMen carving—three figures situated back to back and facing in three different directions.]

HART: Melting out of each other sort of thing. Facing the different directions. 

[Hart holds miniature version of the Three Watchmen carving in his hands as he speaks.] 

HART: Because we live in the world of today where everything's all around us, not just from the sea anymore.

[Camera pans up the Three Watchmen carving to the hats the figures are wearing. From the conical bases of their hats, thick ring sections are stacked atop each other, to a height about equal that of the Watchmen’s bodies.] 

HART: And I put the rings on the hat because you have to earn these things in our way. Have a big potlatch so you can wear a ring after that.

[Hart speaks to camera, holding the miniature carving.]

HART: Save someone's life and they give you a lot of stuff for that and you earn the right to wear another ring.

[Close-up of Three Watchmen carving as light plays across the figures’ faces.]

HART: And also giving these guys more importance—lifting their stature a little bit more.

[Hart holds the carving in his hand.]

HART: The original piece is a fraction bigger than this.

[Hart and another man use welding gear in a metal shop on a large, bronze version of the Three Watchmen. A photo of a man in traditional blanket, clothing, and hat, standing in front of a monumental bronze version of the Three Watchmen.]

HART: And then I worked to make a series of 14 footers in bronze.

[Camera circles close to a monumental version of the Three Watchman as it is silhouetted against a vibrant blue sky. It stands at the entrance to the Audain Art Museum. Mountains rise in the background.]

HART: Then I did an addition of three 20 footers.

[Various archival photos of Hart and another man carving and working with a large piece of wood.]

HART: And then I created another, a 7 foot out of wood, which is the one where my good friend is donating to the American Museum of Natural History.

[Various close-up photos of the Three Watchmen, carved out of a wood with a glowing, yellow-ish hue.]

HART: And, that one’s made out of yellow cedar wood and it’s beautiful. I love the wood.

[Hart speaks, holding the small version of the Three Watchmen.]

HART: I'm pretty proud of that one. It's morphed from this one.

[Close up of Hart drawing sketches of the Three Watchmen figures.]

HART: The faces are different, position of the hands are all different. The eyebrows, the nose, the mouth. I like to grab the audience. And when they start looking, things start popping out.

[Hart speaks to camera and indicates a large photo posted on a board behind him.]

HART: And there's one of the characters I fashioned after my uncle back here,

[Close up of the black and white photo, which shows five men on a boat deck. The man on the far right wears a rain slicker and galoshes. He rests his right arm on the shoulder of the man next to him.]

HART: …the guy on the far right. My uncle Oliver. Oliver White.

[Hart speaks to camera.]

HART: And I was thinking about him and his nose because he had a broken nose. 

[Close up of the face and nose in profile of one of the Watchmen figures. There is a slight rise in the nose’s bridge.]

HART: He used to fight around a lot and,

[Profile view of Hart speaking to interviewer.]

HART: you know, when I was growing up, I never seen any Indians with a straight nose. [LAUGHS]

[Hart sketches Watchmen figures on paper.]

HART: The way I handle the chin and that, there’s some other people here 

[Close up of face of Watchman figure with a slightly receding chin.]

HART: with that kind of characteristics and how they looked.

[Close up of Hart sketching Watchmen figures.]

HART: So that's kind of reminiscent of all the folks from around home here,

[Hart in profile, speaking to interviewer.]

HART: Which I love. That's what it's all about, too.

HART: You know, creating interesting stuff. Fun.

[Hart in a puffy blue jacket and a flat cap walks along a rocky coastline. He looks out to the sea.]

HART: You know, you’re thinking about the Watchmen and what they mean to us as a people and where it comes from and the meaning behind it.

[Low-angle view of a carving featuring the Three Watchmen at its pinnacle. Shot of a monumental Three Watchmen standing near an evergreen tree. Camera flies around an older, weathered and lichen-covered monumental carving featuring the Three Watchmen.]

HART: Because these guys are up there day and night, winter, summer, stormy or hot sun. 

[Hart holds the small version of the Three Watchmen in his hands as he speaks.]

HART: Or, you know, they're up there looking out for you and looking out for that danger.

[Monumental version of the Three Watchmen stands in front of evergreen trees, looking out in three directions.]

[Image of young man with shoulder-length brown hair and a blue cap working on a large carving of the Three Watchmen. Text reads, “DEDICATED TO Tllgidgaaya Carl Hart, 1989-2015”.]

[Credits.]