For teacher resources - Arts - Artists
From the CBC website, a look at the life of reknowned Inuit visual artist Kenojuak Ashevak and her works.
From the CBC website- "Kent Monkman is an award-winning visual artist who works in a variety of media including painting, film/video, performance and installation. He is a member of the Fisher River Band in Northern Manitoba and is of Swampy Cree and English/Irish descent.
Monkman's work is inspired by his Aboriginal background. His art has exhibited across Canada and has appeared in many exhibits internationally. It is represented in public collections that include the National Art Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Monkman grew up in Winnipeg and now lives and works in Toronto.
From the Isuma TV website: "b. 1957, Kapuivik, near Igloolik) won the Camera d'Or at Cannes 2001 for Isuman's first feature, Atanarjuat The Fast Runner. He is president of Igloolik Isuma Productions, Canada's first Inuit-owned, independent, production company, co-founded in 1990 with the late Paul Akpak, the last Pauloosie Qulitalik and Norman Cohn.
From the website Feheley Fine Arts: " Annie Pootoogook began drawing in 1997 under the encouragement of the West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative in Cape Dorset. Shie quickly developed a preference for drawing scenecs from her own life, and became a prolific graphic artist in the intervening years. In 2003, Annie's first print was released: an etching and aquatint drawn by the artist on a copper plate. The image entitled "Interior and Exterior," is a memory of the artist's childhood, lovingly recording the particulars of settlement life in Cape Dorset in the 1970s.
From the VanArt Gallery website: Lawerence Paul Yuxweluptun, Nationality: Canadian, Born: 1957, Kamloops, BC.
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun as born in Kamloops, B.C. in 1957, though he spent most of his adolescence in the Vancouver area. His father is from Cowichan Salish and his mother is from the Okanagan.
He was active in various art courses in high school and after graduation, enrolled at Emily Carr College from 1978 through 1983. While at Emily Carr, Yuxweluptun was influenced by Don Jarvis, Ken Wallance, Sylvia Scott, Bruce Boyd and Bill Featherston.
Much of the content of this work is derived from contemporary Native social and political issues. His father at one time was President of the North American Indian Brotherhood and his mother was Executive Director of the Indian Homemakers Association.
Most of his work has been large scale acrylic on canvas pieces with brush and/or a palette knife. He makes use of vivid colours and his work represents a positive aesthetic impression as well as expression of content that is often bi-cultural. In his work, he uses Coast Salish cosmology, Northwest Coast formal design elements and the Western landscape tradition.
Art Blogs
From the website - Kayeriakweks talks about Contemporary Native American and First Nations Woodlands Art. It includes commentary on current and past Native American and First Nations Woodlands arts, shows, museums, catalogs, reviews, books, artists and their work.
I am researching Woodlands artists (American and Canadian), their own ideas and actual work to inform my own ideas and work. I will post my on-going completed pieces with commentary and process descriptions. Also see: www.kayeriakweks.com
For Teacher Resources - Contemporary Experience & Issues/and Racism Against Aboriginal People
by Chelsea Vowel, Metis from Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta, BEd, LLB
From the Blog in the Huffington Post
"The short answer first
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The Indian Act First Nations tax exemption is very narrow and applies only to personal property and income located on a reserve.
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First Nations pay all other taxes not covered by the narrow exemption.
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The tax exemption only involves about 272,000 First Nations people when you subtract the number of children aged 0-14 from the potential tax paying base.
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That number is actually even lower because a number of First Nations have exchanged tax exemption for other benefits in self-governing Final Agreements."
For a new section in teacher resources News??/Current Events??
A discussion between Wab Kinew, Director of Indigenous Inclusion, University of Winnipeg and Lloyd Axworthy, President of the University of Winnipeg on the Idle No More movement. From the Globe and Mail: "There has been a major shift in the past few weeks. The seeds of a new relationship are here, but we must work together to sow them. The pipe ceremony we shared last fall offers glimpses at a way forward. In the words of a great Lakota leader, 'it is not necessary for eagles to be crows.' At some time in the near future, we can argue about which side are eagles and which side are crows. For now, let's celebrate each other. Let's work toward mutually beneficial solutions. Let's be divided no more."
For Teacher Resources - Literature - a new category Book Reviews
Reviewed by Richard Wagamese
From the Globe and Mail website: "The truth, as it were, lies somewhere between what is taught and what is endured by indigenous people themselves. So it is that Cherokee/Greek author Thomas King offers us The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People In North America. Though it is built on a foundation of historical fact, King insists that the book is an “account,” resting more on storytelling technique than a true historian’s acumen. . . But the book is ultimately about healing. As much as he uncovers the dirt of history, King shines a light on what is possible in the advancement of Indians to an equal place in both countries. It is essential reading for everyone who cares about Canada and who seeks to understand native people, their issues and their dreams. We come to understand that Indians are inconvenient because, despite everything, we have not disappeared."
