A Meeting with the Turtle: Native American Center for the Living Arts

 

We'd ended up getting to Niagara Falls later than expected and got caught up in a rain storm.

After ducking under several business front awnings, we stumbled upon what Google Maps had marked as "The Turtle: Native American Center for the Living Arts", only, it was a vacant building. It was perfect due to it having an awning and lacking employees to tell us to "Fuck off and get soaked".

Upon settling underneath, I did some internet research. Named after its exterior having been built in the form of a turtle, the building is an homage to the land it sits on, Turtle Island; from the Haudenosaunee creation story of Sky Woman. It was designed by Northern Arapahoe architect, Dennis Sun Rhodes.

Apparently, the Turtle had been a center for the local Native community. It had been created with the idea of preseving and promoting traditional and modern Native American culture, specifically the arts. Native American Center for the Living Arts (NACLA) was an organization created for this endeavor by a group of Native peoples, notably including, singer, Buffy Sainte-Marie and the director of the organization, sculptor of the Tuscarora, Wilmer "Duffy" Wilson.

Wilson, also named, Ha-Da-Noh, apart of the Beaver Clan, departed from this world in 2002. He was very active in his community and had a passion for art, music, history, and keeping the Haudenosaunee culture alive and well. You can read more on his memorial page at Find a Grave.

It was surreal. To peek in through the tinted windows in the grey gloom of the storm and see three empty stories. It was as though the building was asleep, wrapped in shadows, frozen in time. I could almost feel the hopes and exhilaration of the people who had once strided across the floors.

It's ashame that such a grand building is sitting all alone with its light snuffed out, all due to a lack of funds.

(I'd also been disheartened that I wouldn't get the chance to buy some beadwork, HOWEVER, down near the Maid of the Mist, there was an Indigenous Artisan Market [I completely forget if it said Indigenous or Native, pardon me]. So if you'd like some bead work and you're in the area, go check them out. I was especially fond of the choker necklaces and regret not shelling out the 20$ for one, but I'm usually on a budget and settled for a beaded ring... I should've splurged on myself, I don't usually get to, ugh.)

Unfortunately, the building is under the ownership (gross) of Niagara Falls Redevelopment (NFR), which is owned by the Milstein family (blergh). They're pretty intent on tearing down such a stunning work of architecture just to put up another overpriced hotel that probably isn't chill with animals. Thus far, the city seems to have denied such endeavors.

But still, as of 2024, almost 30 years after its closing, the Turtle still stands dormant. Maybe the building stands for hope, hope that all our dormant potential will someday be awakened once again.