Atlantic Canada has a many examples of Indigenous visual artists in mediums of photography, painters of landscapes, wildlife, animation, portraits, geometric, abstract, realist paintings and stylized stone sculptures. There are carvers who work with live trees and sometimes a stump in their design style that even involves the aid of a power chainsaw. Award winning professional Aboriginal Artists like Maliseet Shirley Bear and Mi’kmaq Alan Syliboy have leaded the way for decades to role model present and future generations of visual artists to find continued cultural expression through the arts. Many of the artists describe being moved preserve their respective oral teachings to pass onto present and future generations. The animals, symbols of nature and even colours chosen are all ways to save timeless oral teachings.
The recent announcement by an Atlantic Aboriginal art show bound for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver is an example of how established Indigenous works of visual art is throughout the Atlantic region. In Featuring ten Aboriginal artists the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in collaboration with the Mi’kmaq Association for Cultural Studies and the Vancouver Olympics Committee hosted the inaugural exhibit Keepers of the Eastern Door with the Olympic-themed Atlantic Aboriginal art.
Featured are:
Maliseet artists: Shirley Bear, Tobique First Nation, NB; Ned Bear, St. Mary’s First Nation, NB; and Dozay Christmas, Membertou, NS (originally from Tobique First Nation, NB).
Mi’kmaq artists: Peter Claire, Elsitpotog First Nation, NB; Charles Doucette, Potlotek First Nation, NS; Jerry Evans, St. John’s, NL; Gerald Gloade, Millbrook First Nation, NS; Todd Labrador, Acadia First Nation, NS; Mary Louise Martin, Millbrook First Nation, NS; and Alan Syliboy, Millbrook First Nation, NS.
Visual art through archival photography can be found in the more than 700 databased portraits and illustrations of the Mi’kmaq Portraits Collection in the Nova Scotia Museum. This visual art collection is akin to a modern way of sharing oral teachings where the viewer is compelled to see moments captured in history for Mi’kmaq peoples from Atlantic Canada.
Labrador Métis Lisa Learning was nominated in the 2006 Atlantic Aboriginal Entrepreneur Awards for her talents as a visual artist inspired by the northern landscapes from her Inuit roots. Her business, Wandering Spirit Aboriginal Artworks, (www.wanderingspirits.ca) is influenced by reinforcing indigenous knowledge of the land and their environment has enabled the Métis to live in harmony with nature for centuries.
This article is a non-comprehensive and living document that provides an overview of artistic activities in the region. It will be revised as necessary as part of our ongoing process of continuous updates.