Stanley Greaves: It is a pleasure to see George Tancredo’s work again for several reasons. There was a time when artists including myself, made use of imagery from the culture of our Indigenous people. I stopped after three attempts realising that such imagery was the outcome of their perspective on life and I had to find mine. I also hoped that the day would come when artists from the Indigenous community would begin to assert themselves. That did happen. Tancredo’s figurines are like a history of traditional cultural activities, using the word to mean everything associated with a culture. The figurines definitely belong in the realm of fine craft as opposed to fine art, which does not imply in any way a lower status.
Akima McPherson: Fine craft is high status craft – it exists to be valued aesthetically as well as to be functional, although its aesthetic value may be so high as to render it sacred to utility.
