The Gordon Snelgrove Gallery is hosting "Lunch and Learns" daily from Jan. 7–10. These presentations from across the college community address the intersections of Indigenous knowledges, pedagogical practices and contemporary art, grounding a new collaboration with the working title: anohc kipasikônaw/ we rise / niipawi

This project has developed from a concept proposed by Vanessa Hyggen and Sandy Bonny (Office of the Vice Dean Indigenous, College of Arts & Science) and begins with reclaimed materials: 13 Cambrian slate stairs that were removed from the Thorvaldson Building, having been worn and reshaped by 100 years of student and faculty footsteps.

Our 2020 Indigenous Artist in Residence, Lyndon Tootoosis has responded to the materials with a thematic of the lunar calendar that guides indigenous chronologies. The thirteen slate steps evoke the thirteen moons of the lunar calendar used by Indigenous peoples to guide their movement and life decisions.

The campus community is invited to collaborate in raising new stories from the steps, which will be refigured by hand-carving under the guidance of Tootoosis, Hyggen and Bonny over the Winter Term.

Join us in discussion: Everyone is welcome!

Monday, Jan. 6

• 10:30 am Smudge and blessing, opening remarks followed by a small reception.
• 1:00 pm Blanket Exercise

Tuesday Jan. 7

• 12:30 pm Lunch and Learn: Lyndon Tootoosis, Nêhiyawak, "Battle River” Cree, member of the Poundmaker First Nation. Lyndon is a carver, storyteller, and interpreter of petroglyphs and is joining our campus community as the newest Indigenous Artist in Residence with Campus Art Galleries and Collection.

Wednesday Jan. 8 

• 12:30 pm Lunch and Learn: Randy Morin is a storyteller and language keeper from Big River First Nation, and a faculty member in Indigenous Studies – this term, among other classes, he is teaching Cree 110: nehiyawetan, Let Us Speak Cree! with Indigenous Student Achievement Pathways (ISAP).

Thursday Jan. 9

• 12:00 Lunch and Learn: Sandy Bonny, team lead for ISAP in the College of Arts and Science, is a non-Indigenous member of Saskatoon’s Treaty 6 community with an interdisciplinary background in Earth science and the literary arts – she’s excited to talk about rocks as generative materials for both art and ‘scientific storytelling’.

Friday Jan. 10

• 12:00 Lunch and Learn: jake moore, Director of Campus Galleries and Collection will share a talk titled: “Storied Matter and teaching a stone to talk inverted: Mattered story and learning how to listen”.

Ongoing

• Along with the 13 Slate Steps, the Gordon Snelgrove Gallery will host a temporary installation of the painting, Poundmaker Intercedes, by Kent Monkman 7-10. Its exhibition is made possible through the generosity of the Chief Poundmaker Museum and Gallery, specifically though the kind assistance of curator, Floyd Favel and Milton Tootoosis.
• Historical Portraits plus: Beginning with Annie Maude “Nan” McKay (BA1915), we will present portraits of Indigenous graduates of USask to surround current students and members of the university community with their predecessors and make evident the long line of Indigenous presence and success within the institution and highlight the formative role Indigenous Knowledges have played in building the contemporary institution. This is an active building and an ongoing process, something we are doing now. To mark this becoming, we will have a portrait studio set up to photograph current students and participants in the process. 
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Event Details

When:

January 08, 2020 - January 10, 2020

Time:

10:30 AM - 02:00 PM

Location:

Gordon Snelgrove Art Gallery

Contact

Vanessa Hyggen

•  vanessa.hyggen@usask.ca