Indigenous artists teach elementary students about their craft and culture

For a second year, Indigenous artists and the elementary school students they've taught in workshops are showing their artwork in Simcoe, Ont.

Creative Together or Skatne Ionkwate'nikonrattokáhtskon at the Lynwood Arts Centre in Simcoe, about 120 kilometres southwest of Toronto, features the work of four Indigenous artists and local elementary students. The project is a partnership between Lynwood Arts and the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board.

Michael Barber, who is Mohawk and lives in nearby Port Dover, Ont., is one of the artists featured in the exhibit. Identity and family are major themes in his art.

His most recent work titled Father, Grandmother and Son opened concurrently on Thursday with his students' exhibit titled 100 Families.

The workshops he's doing with students centre around his own intergenerational experiences of residential school. Barber said his grandmother's experience at residential school led to a breakdown in his family.

"I realized that people could connect with the artwork visually just by creating a mood or a feeling from your work," said Barber.

"Because we've all walked different paths, we've all got different experiences in life, we see different things in each piece, right?" 

His presentation teaches students mark-making, a form of art that uses different textures and patterns to create a visual representation of their family and what that means to them.

"The important thing is that they recognize, and they understand families," he said.

"Some of the pieces I read, it's heavy. One says, 'Love is broken, but it can be fixed' and that's a kid in Grade 4 who wrote that."

Bead artist Matthew Vukson, who is Tlicho Dene and lives in Brantford, Ont., did loom bead work with the students and taught them designs which referenced the wampum belt of the local territory.

Chris Raitt, the arts consultant for the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, said when he put a call out to teachers about the program, he received an overwhelmingly positive response.

The school board's theme this year is "We are many, we are one" which, he says, aligned well with the Creative Together art program.

"It was like a big hit last year and we had a bunch of students come through and work with the artists and do workshops and so then we just decided to do it again this year," said Raitt.