This is the sixty-sixth issue of The Beat, a free, independent newsletter, with news about the greatest number of major events yet, reflecting the energy and talent of First Nations artists on Canada’s west coast.
In this issue:
+ The National Gallery of Canada has not just an unusually extensive show of indigenous art, but has partnered with a number of other organizations to present new sculptures, murals and banners to take the theme of Sakahàn, beyond its walls, and beyond Ottawa.
+ Brian Jungen has a show in Vancouver, but a huge seven-room show of his work has enchanted Hannover Germany.
+ more shows and events than ever!
National Aboriginal Day is on Friday, June 21. Wherever you are, it can be a time to remember our ancestors and to honour our heritage.
The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa has opened a major summer show, Sakahàn (see The Beat May 2013), running until September 2. 2013. More than 150 artworks from around the world, from cultures such as the Ainu of Japan and the Maori of New Zealand. Very large pieces are outside the gallery and around [Read more]
The Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa will open Rebecca Belmore’s What is Said and What is Done. Referring to the 1819 capture by British settlers in Newfoundland of Demasduit, a Beothuk woman, this exhibition presents recent works by Belmore that reflect on the traumatic history of contact between Indigenous and European settler populations. The [Read more]
Aboriginal Expressions: National Capital Commission Confederation Boulevard Banners 2013 is a project to exhibit eleven artworks from the Aboriginal Art Centre of the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Developmenttment. AANDC is a federal government ministry at one time often called Indian Affairs. British Columbia artists included are George Clutesi and Walter Harris. http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/places-to-visit/confederation-boulevard/news/2013-05-13/canadas-capital-region-showcases-aboriginal
Vancouver’s Lattimer Gallery’s summer exhibition Collaboration & Contrast features the work of Kwakwaka’wakw artists Rod Smith Galuyagmi and Steve Smith Dla’kwagila Luke Parnell: Transformation and Renewal opens on July 30 to September 7 2013 at the Seymour Art Gallery in Deep Cove BC. Parnell will show three major works on the theme of cultural knowledge. [Read more]
The Haida Gwaii Museum at the Haida Cultural Centre in Skidegate, Haida Gwaii, is presenting a summer art show Thanks but No Tanks on the theme of opposition to the proposed Enbridge oil pipeline and increased numbers of oil tankers on the Pacific coast of British Columbia. The exhibition was organized by a team led [Read more]
The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art will open a ground-breaking exhibition of First Nations Erotica on September 25 2013, with works by 28 artists from the northwest coast. In the spring of 2014 an accompanying publication, Rez Erect, will be put online with works by participating artists and written submissions selected by a [Read more]
The Vancouver School Board has created an Aboriginal Focus School, Grades K-3, within an existing elementary school at Sir William Macdonald public school in East Vancouver. Part of the program of respect for aboriginal values and histories is creating an appropriate environment in the school, including art reflecting aboriginal heritage. Among works acquired were five [Read more]
The winners of the City of Vancouver’s Ironclad Art design competition have been announced: designs by Andrew Enpaauk Dexel and Nigel Dembicki were chosen out of over one thousand entries. Dexel’s design could be seen as a smiling sun. http://www.ipick.ca/vancouver/best-manhole-cover-designs-announced-by-city-of-vancouver Andrew Enpaauk Dexel also had eleven paintings exhibited at the Neubacher Shor Contemporary Art Gallery [Read more]
A larger, seven-room exhibition of Jungen’s work from the last few years, as well as new productions, is at the Kunstverein in Hannover until June 16 2013. The exhibition was accompanied by lectures and was well-covered by the German press. Comments include: “At the core of Jungen’s translation of items of western consumerism and entertainment [Read more]
Coast Salish artist Luke Marston has been awarded a commission for a statue of his great-grandfather, known in British Columbia as Portuguese Joe Silvey. Marston is carving the statue in cedar; it will be cast in bronze for a 14’ high memorial to Silvey to be erected at Brockton Point in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The [Read more]
Haida fashion designer Dorothy Grant is having an Open House sale on June 6 and 7, from 10 to 5 pm at Mama’s Wall Street Studio, 2008 Wall Street in Vancouver. The proceeds of the sale will go to the Aboriginal Mother Centre, a non-profit housing facility to support single mothers at risk. More information [Read more]
A new magazine reports on the art of indigenous peoples, from an indigenous perspective. It is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The pilot issue of First American Art Magazine has articles on Greenlandic Art and Rethinking Native Fashion. It can be found at http://firstamericanartmagazine.com/issue0.html