Tag Archive for: Muskoday First Nation

SaskScapes – The 60’s Scoop – with guest Dr. Raven Sinclair

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Kevin Power brings voice to the “60’s Scoop” as a feature story in the SaskScapes season. The “60’s Scoop” is a dark chapter in our Canadian and First Nations history and culture. There are four episodes in total which were recorded over the past few months. These are the stories of a few…there are thousands more. Thank you sincerely, to these four guests, for being generous enough to share this part of your story. We all have much to learn from you. 

In this episode Kevin is joined by Dr. Raven Sinclair

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SaskScapes is a podcast featuring the stories of arts, culture and heritage in Saskatchewan Visit www.iheartculture.ca. Click on the Community Engagement Animateur link to view the work being done by all three of the SaskCulture CEA’s.

Host: Kevin Power www.kevinpower.net

Music provided by Jeffery Straker www.jefferystraker.com

SaskScapes is also available through the iTunes Store and on Stitcher Radio. SaskScapes now has its own app for both apple and android devices available in the iTunes store and Google Play.

Follow SaskScapes on Twitter @saskscapes

Evacuee relief concerts with guest Sheryl Kimbley

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This is a special bonus edition of SaskScapes being posted during a time when the northern communities of Saskatchewan are facing a very difficult situation. Over 100 forest fires continue to burn and have forced thousands of residents out of their homes. The evacuees have moved swiftly to various locations across the province without a great deal of time to take all of their belongings.  Sheryl Kimbley has put a call out to local musicians in the Saskatoon, Regina, and Prince Albert areas to come together in a show of support and hold benefit concerts to raise funds. The support so far has been overwhelming. This podcast was recorded in Saskatoon on June 30, 2015. If you are in the Regina area on July 4, 2015 or Prince Albert on July 5th, come by the venues announced in this podcast and show your support.

Stay tuned…Season two of SaskScapes is about to launch with a great new line up of guests and a very exciting announcment to follow!

The Wolf Clan Mother Mosaic is Installed

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Well, the ceramic tile mosaic of the Wolf Clan Mother is installed on Muskoday First Nation.

But, it never would have happened without the help and endurance of Jay Kimball and Shannon Smith.

Shannon spent two days inserting all the necessary tiny tile pieces into the spots that were missing tile–a job coveted by very few. Plus, she helped polish for the better part of an afternoon. Additionally, Jay Kimball agreed to a very long day of travelling, grouting, polishing, and installing on the powwow grounds.

The mosaic will be celebrated with a ceremony on the Saturday of Culture Days Weekend.  But, in truth, the mosaic will  be celebrated for years to come when people gather for ceremony and tradition on Muskoday First Nation’s Powwow Grounds.

 

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All Nations Healing Moon Gathering

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Most of my Culture Days Activities (and therefore these posts) focus on the bright side of our society. They focus on the fun, creative, celebratory nature of Saskatchewan.

While I enjoy the positivity of these endeavours and those aspects our Culture, I also feel that if we’re going to put forth a call  to engage in Culture we have to be open to all potential aspects of what this might be.

The “All Nations Healing Moon Gathering” is one such example of what I am speaking about.  Muskoday First Nation invites the families of those who have murdered and missing loved-ones to gather during the August Full/Super Moon, so as to grieve and heal. During this gathering there is much ceremony and cultural activity.  There is a Sweatlodge, drumming, smudging, talking circles, the drying of meat and fish, the collection of sweetgrass and sage, feasts, and more.

That said, I was more than happy to be asked to attend this gathering and facilitate a craft or art workshop that could run alongside all the other activities.

They set up a tent for me and during the day I ran a simple styrofoam print workshop.  I had many children come and stay the day and make several prints, which we then hung by clothes-pin on twine, around the tent.  Even a few adults came and sat and visited for the duration of my stay.

I’m not sure if it was the nature of the gathering, people’s vulnerability, or the magic of the Super Moon, but there was a ‘closeness’ that is difficult to articulate.  Perhaps  a couple of examples will suffice: the Autistic boy who would only address me as Auntie, or the War Veteran who told me various stories from his three tours of duty.

It’s challenging to look at aspects of Culture such as the missing and murdered.  But it’s there.  So what better way to deal with this troubling experience than with creativity, song, traditions, ceremony, and Art.

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The Symbiosis of Art, Culture, & Community

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The ways in which Art creates community, and the symbiotic nature of Art and Culture, never ceases to amaze me.

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When I first spoke with the group at Muskoday’s Culture Camp I told them about Marvin’s, the Camp Director’s, request that we depict one of their Clan Mothers: the Wolf.  So as to create discussion about the imagery we’d use in this depiction, I asked the youth group, “So, I’d like you to tell me what the Wolf Clan means to you.  Do you have any stories you could share?  Any information that would help us?”

Nothing.  Complete silence.

So then I asked,  “Okay, let’s back up a bit.  Does the Wolf Clan mean anything to you?”

Again, nothing.  The youth did not know about their Clan System.  They did not know about the role of Clan Mothers.

At this point Marvin intervened and imparted a little bit of information and said that he would invite someone out that night to tell the group about the Clans.

And so he did.

The next day when I arrived I took my cup of tea and walked over to the Archery Area to visit with the girls.  And sure enough I could hear them speaking and retelling the stories they heard the previous night, about the Clans and how they worked.  When I asked further questions about the stories they were told the girls would confer with each other to make sure they had their story straight.

And, just like that a decayed portion of Muskoday’s Culture is reignited via the creation of a tile mosaic.  It is the spark that starts a wildfire of cultural transmission.

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So here’s what the process of making of this large broken tile mosaic looks like: I usually arrive at the Culture Camp around 8:00, 8:30.  Most times I get a big smile on my face when I pull up to the camp, because there is someone (if not two or three) working away already.  I grab a tea or coffee, put on my apron, and join them in figuring out the puzzle.

The day is filled with the constant stream of tea, glueing, and conversation.  Some work on the piece for hours at a time.  We stand beside each other and dance around the bucket of tile and the pan of glue, and talk…. and talk.  It’s amazing the conversations that come about.  Some of it is just fun: silly stories and anecdotes.  But some of what is said is serious and morose: kids tell me about deaths in the family, sickness, and injuries.

Everyone takes breaks from glueing and breaking tile to go participate in other activities: canoeing, swimming, biking, archery.  And of course there’s mealtime!  But, eventually, they come back to the tile pieces either in groups or solo and the conversation begins again.

Most nights I quit around 9:00.  But, one morning I came back to a finished wolf.  So I know the kids don’t stop. Some continue even when I’m not there.

All those conversations, all that sharing, all that trust that occurs while co-creating art is building community.  We are becoming friends….And that is the elusive, subversive, magical potential of community art.

 

 

Muskoday’s Tile Mosaic

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Before July15, most (if not all) of the ceramic tile work I had done had been executed in a clay studio, my studio, or at my make-shift outdoor studio (which really is a big table under a canopy ten feet from my actual studio). Now, however, I can say that I have co-created a very large (four by eight feet, to be precise) broken tile mosaic in the bush alongside the Saskatchewan River.

Awhile back, Marvin Sanderson, of Muskoday First Nation, invited me to work with a youth group during one of their Culture Camps.  After discussing a few different options, Marvin asked that I facilitate a tile mosaic of one of their Clan Mothers (the Wolf Clan), with the future intention of then installing said mosaic at Muskoday’s Powwow Grounds, in the picnic area, during Culture Days weekend.

So, on July 15, I was taken down a very bumpy dirt road to Muskoday’s metaphorical “Island,” which is where the camp is located.

They’ve nicknamed this space “The Island” even though it’s still connected to land.  But, after spending some time there, I feel it is aptly named.  It is a distinct place where the youth and children of Muskoday can come and camp for three days in the middle of the week, during the month of July.  They have fun and celebrate and engage in their Culture.  There’s archery, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, story telling, talking circles, fishing, and more.

Shortly after I arrived, Marvin gathered the group so I could speak with them.  I shared with them my story of how I became a full-time Visual Artist, showed them some photos of my artwork, some photos of examples of what I hoped we could achieve, and then we quickly got to work.

I set up three wood panels of plywood that would make up the entire mosaic on empty coolers in their ‘kitchen’ area, and asked for a volunteer to draw the wolf image we had decided to use.  I also did a demonstration of how to break the tile, and asked a group to begin that task.  And, lastly, I showed them how to glue the broken tile onto the plywood.

And that was it. For the next three days, kids came to the panels and worked on them when they wanted and could.

Some worked in small groups.  Others would come in solitary fashion.  But, indeed, they did work.  In three days they finished the entire foreground: the wolf, the ground, the moon, and the clouds.

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