The longest day of the year, June 21, also marked Canada's National Aboriginal Day and the appropriate time for the Egmont Heritage Centre (EHC) to celebrate their second annual Aboriginal Art Show.
Many of the eight artists exhibiting work are showing their facility for bringing the traditional art of their ancestors into this century.
Campbell River's Kyle Silvey, for example, screens his designs onto T-shirts. His optical illusion image Skulls/Broken Heart is clever. Sechelt Nation master carver Tony Paul presented an eye-catching eagle mask painted in brilliant contemporary colours.
One of the more interesting ideas was the hand-crafted graduation cap. A mortar board, usually made of black fabric such as a graduate would wear with honour, had been woven from cedar strips. The graduate would also likely receive a beaded feather at the ceremony, and an example was on display along with the cap made by Grace Paul, a bead artisan. Many of the parents had been taught cap weaving skills in a class given by Leonard Williams who exhibited one of his own cedar works. The Quatsino First Nations cedar bark artist has had an opportunity to learn more about cedar as an archaeological and traditional use assistant.
Jessica Casey is a self-taught artist of Coast Salish and Portuguese descent. She has turned her cedar bark artistry into larger functional containers as well as traditional hats. After gathering the cedar one day with her young teen daughter Bella, she received a touching Mother's Day card that indicated Bella had understood the importance of the work: "This is the tree of ancestral lands," Bella wrote in a poem to her mother. Casey has put the card on display, and it adds meaning to the work.
Arnold Jones, the Egmont carver whose half finished totem sits outside the building, is also passing on his skills. On display were some of the traditional paddles made by his students along with his own work, carvings in the time-honoured designs.
Sonya Stewart, a Nisga felt artist, showed her ceremonial decorations, and Russell Silvey, raised in Egmont, showed his drawings based on Coast Salish images.
Also on show is the mural painted June 5 by artist Davyd Oram depicting the Skookumchuck. Limited edition prints will be made of the scene. Another mural painting event is planned for Saturday, July 3, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. when visitors can gather at the EHC for music and a barbecue and to watch the prolific painter create another local mural. The Aboriginal Art show will remain up until July 4.
The EHC is a contemporary, West Coast style building tucked away in the woods at the entrance to Egmont. First Nations history is featured as well as more recent history of the area, and in its gift shop visitors can find native jewellery, locally made crafts and books for sale. Summer hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. For more information, call 604-883-9994.
