One of the first things a body notices about our wee island is the spirit of community.
That spirit comes through in many ways — the current only slightly incendiary debate over whether to turn Crown land into a national park, for instance — and a combo Native/Celtic monthly after-school art class is another.
Gerald Morrisseau, of Scandinavian-Cree heritage, leads the clutch of young artistes who tumble once a month into the community school’s multi-purpose room into an examination of some of the more beautiful elements of B.C. native art.
This particular month Gerald spoke about traditional button blankets used amongst some of B.C.’s native people to display their family crests.
On their first meeting with Gerald, my little mice were a tad, ah, intimidated. I believe The Princess counted his earrings (11) and Homeboy assessed that additional tattoos (angels’ wings) decorated the man’s back. And like most gone-wrong first impressions, Gerald has been a great source of artistic inspiration.
For this class, Gerald prepared simplified versions of iconic First Nations images which the children then copied in black and white felt and then pasted on a red felt background. Small or extremely detailed areas were outlined in white shells or beads — an excellent way to detail tiny elements of the design.
And speaking of iconic, the Hot Glue Gun saves the day again. Not sure what the First Nations folks did before thermoplastic adhesives, but hot glue should most definitely reside in every artist’s paintbox.
Beautiful. It hangs on her wall.
The Country Mice 