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Robert Amos: Museum artist brings the past to life

Jean Jacques André came to Victoria from Marseilles, France, where he had trained at the museum of natural history, and worked as a taxidermist.
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Carol Christianson working on the Wanapum Village model.

robertamos.jpgJean Jacques André came to Victoria from Marseilles, France, where he had trained at the museum of natural history, and worked as a taxidermist. Arriving in Victoria in 1961, André set up a business on Government Street, offering his services as an exhibition designer.

At that time, the Provincial Museum of British Columbia was a hall of big glass cases and stuffed animals, in the east wing of the Parliament Buildings. Slowly, André gathered a team, including graphic designer Flemming Jorgensen and filmmaker Karl Spreitz — “our fake uncle,” as a family member recalled.

Among André’s early projects was Barkerville. At the time of its opening, he found a prospector panning for gold and was convinced to give it a try.

“He got some colour,” his daughter, Bianca Message, told me, “and at that moment he felt the excitement. He realized that he needed to experience the story before he could convey it properly. And it had to be as accurate as possible.”

Victoria’s new provincial museum was built as our centennial project in 1971, and André was in the forefront of a brilliant crew of young and imaginative people who essentially trained on the job. Their vision of an “interpretive” style of museum was refreshing and attracted international attention. At this new museum, the “story line” became central, and immersive dioramas allowed visitors to walk right into the displays. Over the next decade, these fabricators created the Old Town (1972), and many of the other exhibits, including the First People’s Gallery (1976).

Curator Peter Macnayr took André up north to visit old village sites, and meet with the elders. “It really moved him,” Message recalled. From then on, his motto was: “How should the visitor feel?” Museums should be more than text panels on the wall. The visitor must be engaged. In this, he was ahead of his time.

By 1982, André’s vision for the museum was partially in place, and he decided to stay home and paint. Yet his business exploded. He was called on to create the “visitor experience” at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in southern Alberta. His wife, Joan, helped with the administration and his daughter Bianca, then a fledgling archeologist, was called in.

Rennie Knowlton took leave from the museum, and came on as senior illustrator and graphic designer for the company now called André and Knowlton.

“He’s an amazing master in his own right,” Message told me about Knowlton. “Rennie could see Papa’s vision, and could draw it.”

By this time the associates were working for the Los Angeles County Museum and prestigious jobs all over the world. In 1991, they created the first Hong Kong Museum of History in Kowloon, which was such a success that they were immediately contracted “to do it again, bigger and better,” Message said. A few years later, the Hong Kong Story opened in an 80,000-square-foot building designed by Boston architect Verner Johnson.

At this point, André gave over the directorship of the projects to his daughter and designer. Tom Palfrey, who had worked with André since the provincial museum days, was one of the “magic people” Message has continued to work with.

“Tom brings heart and poignancy to an exhibit,” she noted.

The list of accomplishments by André and Associates is extensive and extraordinary. The Skirball Center in Los Angeles is a museum of the history of the Jews in America, in a building designed by Moishe Safdi. The Atomic Testing Museum near Las Vegas tells the story at the heart of the Cold War. Particularly close to Message’s heart is the Ziibiwing Centre of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The Anishinabe people have suffered greatly from the continent-wide holocaust against aboriginals, and Message learned a lot from them.

“You don’t come in like some prima donna designer,” she said. “They are the ones with the knowledge.”

Back in 1976, Jean André had been seconded from our provincial museum to create the Makah Culture Centre in Neah Bay, Washington — really, the first museum that included the tribal voice. It is a small museum, and “nobody sees it much, except for the Makah,” Message went on. But it was her father’s favourite.

For the past 15 years, she has been working closely with the Wanapum, a small tribe on the “endangered peoples” list. They have for millennia lived in a remote location on the Columbia River. The Wanapum had their river land expropriated and flooded by the Grant County Public Utility in 1950 and were moved to a site on higher ground.

“We’ll look after you forever,” they were told, and were promised a cultural centre. Now, 67 years later, at their home at Priest’s Rapids, Washington, they at last have a fitting place to remember their past and continue their teachings.

Reflecting on the profound community involvement in creating this thoughtful heritage centre, Message said simply: “It is theirs.” It has been a long journey for the Wanapum and the designers. Located “in the middle of nowhere,” this cultural centre recently received an Honorable Mention Award from the American Alliance of Museums.

“Healing is happening there,” Message told me. “That’s better than any award.”

Working out of their nondescript offices off Keating Cross Road in Central Saanich, André & Associates continues to create award-winning museum exhibits. As well as installations further afield, André & Associates is currently working with the Cowichan Valley Museum, presenting the Asian Canadian experience, and developing a paleontology exhibit for the Qualicum Museum.

We are fortunate to have them here among us, helping to tell our stories.

On the web: aaid.ca