Arts exhibit opens in Toronto

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Neekawnisidok, an exhibition of fine arts, had its official opening on June 14 in the rotunda at Toronto City Hall. The opening kicked off a week of events marking the ninth anniversary of National Aboriginal Day.

Neekawnisidok, which means "all our relations" in Ojibway, featured work by 14 artists, including Michael Barber, Patrick Doherty, Lorraine Hughes, Gordon Miller and Joshua Peltier. The media includes acrylics, oils, digital images, mixed media and watercolours.

It was the second location for the exhibition, which had been at the Law Society of Upper Canada's museum room for 12 days before opening at city hall. The Law Society also co-sponsored a panel discussion entitled Panel Inquiries and Access to Justice for Aboriginal Peoples, which was one of many events leading up to the June 21 celebration of National Aboriginal Day.

Mae Maracle, who heads Toronto's department of diversity management and community engagement, delivered opening remarks. Maracle is also a member of the Toronto Aboriginal city celebrations committee, which plans National Aboriginal Day events with various co-sponsors including the Law Society.

"I've been involved with National Aboriginal Day events for four or five years," Maracle said, "and the city's celebration of this day continues to grow."

Jane Pitfield, a city councillor and chair of the city's Aboriginal affairs committee, read the city's official proclamation of National Aboriginal Day signed by Mayor David Miller and city council.

According to Pitfield, the city has purchased one of the artworks in the Neekawnisidok exhibition to add to its art collection.

"I'm excited about this exhibition," Pitfield said. "I'm especially happy that the emphasis is on contemporary forms of art."

That contemporary form was best illustrated by the work of artists Barber, Hughes and Miller. Barber's mixed media work on mahogany plywood showed fragile, abstracted human figures rendered in cloth, bracketed by cross hatches on distressed wood covered in a layer of epoxy. Barber used hand tools, shovels and hoes to scratch and gouge the wood, exposing earlier layers to create a sense of time.

"They're not pretty," Barber said. "I want to create works that people can relate to from the inside."

Hughes' abstract oil paintings were marked by an explosive centricity, as if the images-which recalled natural objects such as flowers and trees-were viewed through a peephole.

"They're very spiritual for me," Hughes said. "I channel my work; I work in concert with nature."

Miller's work, Cree Warrior, featured abstracted, overlapping images in the style of Jane Ash-Poitras. All the artists are represented by the Toronto-based Association for Native Development in the Performing and Visual Arts.

The Red Spirit Singers and Dancers sang and demonstrated various types of powwow dancing for the 60-odd spectators. The all-female hand-drum trio Spirit Wind also contributed three songs, including the opening honour song. It was a night off for the women, who were in the middle of mixing and mastering their new CD, Awakening.