Art launch: anohc kipasikônaw / we rise / niipawi

On the day of the full moon, the first of 13 carved stone steps will be installed at the Gordon Snelgrove Gallery

The College of Arts and Science is excited to announce the installation of the collaborative art project anohc kipasikônaw / we rise / niipawi in the foyer of the Gordon Snelgrove Gallery.

The installation will kick off with a small gathering on Oct. 2 during pimihâwipîsim (ᐱᒥᐦᐋᐏᐲᓯᒼ, the migrating moon). The space will be prepared with a smudge and prayer offered by Elders Evelyn Linklater and Florence Highway, followed by words from Department of Indigenous Studies faculty member and language keeper Randy Morin.

Physical attendance at the event is limited due to COVID-19. However, the public is invited to participate remotely through a livestream.

Friday, Oct. 2
11 am (Saskatchewan time)
Livestreamed on YouTube

About anohc kipasikônaw / we rise / niipawi

As a space dedicated to student voices and central to our campus, the Snelgrove Gallery is an ideal venue for this project, which celebrates Indigenous presence in the academy and foregrounds Indigenous knowledge systems.

Honouring the lunar calendar, anohc kipasikônaw / we rise / niipawi will be installed over the course of 13 moons. Each installation will be marked by the placement of a reclaimed slate stair tread inscribed with the name of the current moon in Cree / Nehiyaw syllabics.

Carving of the slate was initiated during Indigenous Achievement Week 2019 as a collaborative initiative of the University of Saskatchewan Galleries Artist-in-Residence Program, Indigenous Student Achievement Pathways, and the College of Arts and Science. Many student and staff members of our campus community participated in carving the stone under the artistic leadership of Lyndon Tootoosis, Sandy Bonny and Vanessa Hyggen.

In the absence of students within our physical campus spaces this fall and winter, ISAP and the galleries want to celebrate the power and permanence of students' role within the College of Arts and Science's communities of learning, research, scholarly and artistic work. Alongside installation of anohc kipasikônaw / we rise / niipawi, Indigenous faculty will be invited to share messages to University of Saskatchewan students, released as social media posts the day following the full moon of each lunar cycle along with images of the artwork as it is installed. 

Project Development: anohc kipasikônaw/ we rise / niipawi

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. 

This project is a partnership between the College of Arts and Science, Kenderdine/College Art Galleries and Indigenous Student Achievement Pathways.

Event Details

When:
January 08, 2020 - January 10, 2020
Time:
10:30 AM - 02:00 PM
Location:
Gordon Snelgrove Art Gallery