Paul Rasporich

In Profile — By admin on June 5, 2010 3:02 pm

If Fire in the Belly is what I was looking for when I interviewed Okotoks artist Paul Rasporich, Fire in the soul is what he delivered. This artist’s story is indeed a tale of passion – fiery passion with a mystic twist.

By Pat Fream

Photos by Neville Palmer

An artistic type since the tender age of five, Paul Rasporich has painted hundreds of people; some common, some famous. In the big name category, he’s painted prima ballerina Karen Kain, Field of Dreams author W.P. Kinsella, and most recently, Alberta musician Ian Tyson.

He’s been shortlisted to paint seven prime ministers, and this spring, he was asked to submit samples of his work for consideration to paint the Queen’s portrait to mark her Diamond Jubilee. In the common category is Paul’s favourite painting, a blue-tinged portrait of his great-grandfather.

His big name work is the stuff of a great story; a talented artist in our midst. But fame and popularity is not Paul’s thing. He doesn’t get fired up until he gets to the part about his affinity for First Nations people – a detour in his life journey that began with an extraordinary vision he experienced over ten years ago. Here’s the story as Paul told it to me…

“I was in my early thirties and I was at home painting and looking after my two boys. Suddenly I got extremely tired, and my body felt heavy, so I lay down.

I had this strange dream; only it wasn’t a dream – it felt like an out-of-body experience. I felt a loud drumbeat, or thunderclap, and I was an eagle, flying over ridges toward a mountain where there was an enormous tree with two aboriginal men, one on each side of the tree.

I didn’t know these men but they knew me, and they wanted me to remember what I was seeing and what they were saying to me, although words were not necessary where I was. There was this huge red cliff behind the tree and it was full of holes. They said the holes represented youth who had not realized their potential – I understood they were referring to youth who had committed suicide.

They told me ‘you know what to do about this; you can help eliminate this barrier’. Then I was back, and I didn’t know what to make of the experience. It was completely real. Later, I did research and found out that the two men were holy First Nations men from the 1800s: Black Elk, a Sioux visionary, and Walking Buffalo (George McLean) a former Chief of the Nakoda First Nation.”

Soon after that profound experience, Paul turned his career in a new direction. Feeling that he couldn’t properly support his family on an artist’s wage, he went back to school and supplemented his fine arts degree with a degree in education. His first teaching job was as a Native Liaison at the Cochrane High School. There, he got to know the Nakoda people and their culture, and he began to devote his art, both painting and sculpture, to scenes that depicted First Nations life and traditions.

“I felt at home with these people. I owe a lot of what I know about our connection to nature and animals to my adoptive grandfather  the late John Stevens, a medicine person who is famous for bringing a peaceful outcome to the Gustafsen Lake conflict in 1995,” said Paul.

Compelled by his calling to help youth at risk, Paul began to dream about a school that would more effectively engage and include the aboriginal perspective. He envisioned a cross-cultural school that would teach kids through art. As his idea began to take shape, a Charter School, Calgary Arts Academy, opened in Calgary. Its mandate – “Arts Immersion” – to teach the Alberta curriculum through the five art forms: visual art, music, drama, dance, and the literary arts. Paul took a job at the school, teaching Grades 1 and 2. This was four years ago, and today the school is quickly outgrowing its temporary sites and is in the process of raising funds to build a K-12 facility, possibly on the Calgary Stampede grounds.

Paul’s goal is to see the school built and teeming with kids of diverse cultures who flourish in an environment that lets them learn through their creative instincts. If he has his way, a school will be designed by Alberta architect, Douglas Cardinal – an accomplished visionary and First Nations artist. “I have corresponded for years with Mr. Cardinal about such a school; he is the right person to design it,” said Paul.

For now the path of this artist/teacher is a slow and steady trek; a soulful journey that appears to have been carved out by late enlightened spirits, still shining for their people.

“I’ll never forget that experience on the mountainside,” says Paul. “I think about it every day of my life.”

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