Canadian galleries exhibit Aboriginal art

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Several Canadian art galleries will be featuring installations, pieces and other work by Aboriginal artists this summer.

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is featuring Vancouver-based Micmac artist Theresa Marshall with an installation entitled "Bandstands." Her work is described as a "drum-based, interactive installation." An installation refers to a work of art that is created specifically for a particular space.

According to the gallery's brochure, the "component parts of the installation - Talking Sticks, Cultural Briefs, Warriors, Moccasin Telegraph, Landescapes, and a series of refigured stereo speakers titled by the artist Hide and Speak, reference the drum and the ceremony of sound either overtly, with the possibility of interaction by the viewer, or metaphorically.

In this work, the artist combines materials such as stretched hide, sweetgrass, bead fringes and leather with stereo speakers, briefcases, a rotary telephone and microphone stands. There is a juxtaposition of both traditional and contemporary materials and modes of communication that reflects Marshall's exploration of the maintenance and transformation of traditional Indigenous values in a modern, technologically driven society."

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is located on the Confederation College campus and holds work by several First Nations artists in its permanent collection. Marshall's exhibition runs until June 22.

Twelve Aboriginal artists' work will be featured until June 30 at the McMullen Gallery which is located in the Walter C. MacKenzie Health Sciences Centre on the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton. Sponsored by the Friends of the University Hospital, the exhibition displays the work of Tanya Harnett, Brenda Jones, Ilona C. Cardinal, Jeff Kam, Evelyn Carter, Clayton Kootenay, Rhonda DeLorme, Stewart Steinhauer, Gail Duiker, Jay Supernault, Fred McDonald and Garry Todd.

According to the press release, many "viewers may find their preconceptions about 'Native Art' challenged with this exhibition. There is nothing stereotypical or conventionally traditional about the images, materials or messages contained in this work, as compare to the often more familiar commercial examples that abound."

The McMullen Gallery is located at 8440 - 112 Street in Edmonton. For more information you can call (403) 492-8428.

In Duncan, B.C., the Cowichan Tribes have the Native Heritage Centre which focuses on Canadian First Nations art on a continual basis. The centre was established in 1987 by the Cowichan First Nation to use interpretive and entertainment programming as well as arts and crafts to share the Cowichan culture. The Khowutzun Arts and Crafts Gallery includes baskets, drums, jewelry, knits, original and limited edition prints, soapstone sculptures and carvings, dolls, button blankets, and a variety of wood sculptures from the Coastal Salish, Nuu-Cha-Nulth and Kwagulth First Nations in British Columbia.

For more information call (604) 746-8119.