A community-engaged collaboration between the Wiyot Tribe and Dell'Arte International about the life and art of Wiyot artist Rick Bartow.

Honoring Gene Brundin

A dear member of the DAI community has passed on....Awok Gene Brundin served Dell'Arte for over 15 years as a member of our board of directors, as our primary video archivist, and as a friend to students and staff alike. Awok Gene showed up with his camera for every student presentation, every Mad River Festival event and every Dell'Arte Company show. An enrolled member of the Yurok tribe, he also had affiliations with Karuk, Tolowa, and Wiyot peoples and danced in many inter-tribal ceremonies and demonstrations. To spread knowledge about the indigenous peoples of our region, he invited student participation in these gatherings; many students signed up to serve at the annual Elders Dinner and pow-wows. Awok Gene died in the house in which he was born in 1944. Learn more about his service to the greater Humboldt community in his Obituary  We are grateful to him for his years of generous service. And we will miss him.

 

At many inter-tribal gatherings, awok Gene would lead the line of dancers ("Gene, Gene, the dancing machine"), and lent his collection of regalia to many local tribal events. He was also the guy in the fly red T-Bird, who loved old movies (Louise Brooks in "Pandora's Box", especially);  he was a regular at pawn shops, looking for Native baskets, as well as other cool stuff... he was the guy who fried eggs for Mad River Grange Breakfasts... a leading figure in the re-patriation of Native artifacts, regalia, and remains... an art connoisseur who long worked for the Santa Barbara Museum....who'd bring bushels of apples in season to give away to staff and students... who loved to watch student work--in other words, someone who had a foot in many worlds. I am grateful to have known him.

 

- Joan Schirle, DAI Founding Artistic Director