Living Cultures & Archives
This page brings together videos from the Living Cultures and Living Archives series. Living Cultures highlights artist profiles, while Living Archives shares the voices and perspectives of Knowledge Keepers.
Living Cultures
In the summer of 2019, the Royal British Columbia Museum held the first iteration of the Indigenous Summer Arts Studio. This program was a revitalization of a previous carving studio that operated in Thunderbird park from 1952 to 2008. Each week showcased different featured artists and media, such as beadwork, carving, painting and cedar weaving.
The Indigenous Summer Arts Studio provided a space for Indigenous artists to learn from one another and share their work, talents and cultures with the public. Providing these opportunities for cultural exchanges was the core of this program.
Due to COVID-19, we were unable to host this program in subsequent summers. However, we have continued to find opportunities to share these artists’ talents.
In the summer of 2021, we began filming interviews and demonstrations with previous artist participants. Videos covered topics such as Métis beadwork, native plants, drum-making and more. While we know nothing can replace face-to-face interactions and conversations with artists, these videos will help you learn from Indigenous artists in new ways.
We hope that as you view these videos and learn from a number of past participants of the Indigenous Summer Arts Studio, you will gain a greater understanding of Indigenous culture as you witness it thriving today.
Chazz Elliott
A way to document knowledge
Chazz Elliott was born to the W̱SÁNEĆ and Lekwungen Nations, and raised in W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip). Chazz was inspired and influenced by his father’s carving and his mother’s knowledge of plants and medicine. Through his work, he has a curiosity for his relationship to nature. He says that the western ideals and beliefs have had a “harmful impact on the plants, animals, lands, oceans and ourselves.” Decolonizing the ways in which he thinks, works, eats, consumes, and entertains is his way of developing and recovering a bond with the natural world.
David Bodaly
Bring our culture forward in a good way
David Bodaly carries his great grandfather’s name Laxiya. Laxiya is a Snuneymuxw First Nations photographer, genealogist, weaver and cultural tour guide on Saysutshun Island.
Dave has been teaching cedar weaving classes since 2007. For Dave it’s important to share his views about truth and reconciliation in a cultural perspective with all who are willing to listen and learn.
Myrna Elliott
The blanket speaks to me
Myrna Crossley Elliott is a Coast Salish Weaver with Indigenous roots from the Esquimalt and Songhees Peoples. She is a Songhees Band Member through her mother’s side and English Settler from her father’s side.
Myrna has been weaving since 1993, through the teachings of Master Weaver Rita (Louis) Bob of the WSANEC Nation- who continues to be Myrna’s life-long mentor and close friend. Her weavings are normally commissioned and are often created for ceremonial use. Her latest weavings were commissioned for the University of Victoria. A nobility blanket was woven for the Installation and Welcoming Ceremony for UVIC’S new President, Kevin Hall for the President of UVIC and the other 8×4-foot piece was unveiled as a public art installation at the University of Victoria.
Myrna primarily works on a 6×6-foot traditional upright loom. She prefers to use natural dyes and resorts to commercial dyes only when the colour cannot be sourced otherwise.
Ernest Swanson
Symmetry is a big part of it all
Haida artist Ernest Swanson is known for his creativity as he digs deep for design inspiration. Ernest has apprenticed with top Haida artists, inclu-ding Chief Jim Hart, Christian White and Jim McGuire, and is a descendent of famed Haida carvers from the past, Charles Edenshaw and Rufus Moody.
Ernest works between mediums of metal jewellery, visual art, argillite, wood and totem pole carving. Each design concept is new and unique.
Doug LaFortune
An Artist’s Journey
Doug LaFortune is a Tsawout artist who practices both carving and design. Doug began his journey as an artist under the mentorship of master carver Simon Charlie. Doug has since been practicing carving for nearly 50 years and has become a renowned carver and artist.
Doug LaFortune and a selection of his work, including a thunderbird feather, hummingbird, bear, and frog.
In this video you will hear of Doug’s personal journey as an artist and his advice for future emerging artists. As you learn of Doug’s life, you will gain a greater understanding of Indigenous art and culture.
kQwa’st’not (Charlene George)
Willing to listen in a different way.
kQwa’st’not~Charlene George is a band member of the T’Sou-ke Nation, active in her local cultural community and recent master of arts graduate.
kQwa’st’not observes that change or transformation is not easy or comfortable for most. However, this work is imperative to our collective ability to survive and thrive. After all, we are all in one canoe, and together we will journey well or capsize. So we must strive to better balance our relationship with each other, Western and Indigenous knowledge systems, and ways of knowing. This is a process that can be difficult and requires hard work, an open mind, humility and willingness to change.
Lynette La Fontaine
Traditional Materials of Métis Culture
Lynette La Fontaine is a Métis, Two-Spirit, mixed-media visual artist who utilizes traditional and contemporary materials and knowledge in their work. Through independent learning and mentorships, Lynette has learned of beading, moccasin making, whitefish scales, hide tanning and tufting art, as well as traditional materials, design and other identifying Métis cultural elements.
In the video below, learn a little of Lynette’s journey as an artist, traditional materials and the importance of connection to the land and using all parts of harvested fish and animals in Métis culture. You will also hear of how these traditional art practices help connect Lynette to their culture.
Dr. Richard Hunt
We’re evolving. We never stayed the same.
Richard Hunt was born in Alert Bay, British Columbia, in 1951 and has lived most of his life in Victoria. He began carving with his father, the late Henry Hunt, at the age of thirteen. In 1973, Richard began work at the Royal BC Museum as an apprentice carver under his father, and the following year assumed the duties of chief carver in the Thunderbird Park carving program.
In 1986, Richard Hunt resigned from the Royal BC Museum to begin a new career as a freelance artist. He comes from a family of internationally respected artists.
For Teachers please view and download our Teacher’s Resource Guide
Sarah Jim
Art as a Connection to Land and Culture
Sarah Jim is an emerging artist of Coast Salish, Mexican, and Russian-Jewish ancestry and is proud member of the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation from the Tseycum village. Sarah is a visual artist whose work consists of paintings, prints and murals. Native plants and Sarah’s involvement in environmental restoration have been sources of inspiration for her work.
Watch the video below to learn of a mural Sarah and fellow Coast Salish artist Chaz Elliott created at SNIDCEL (Tod Inlet) and how Sarah’s art connects her to the land, her language and her culture.
Virgil Sampson
A Willingness to Learn
Virgil Sampson is a Coast Salish artist from the Tsartlip Nation and Nez Perce Territory. Virgil practices traditional and contemporary Coast Salish art through painting, prints and drum making.
Watch the video below to learn more of Virgil Sampson, hear the significance of drums in Indigenous culture, and the importance of artists in Indigenous culture.
Living Cultures: an Empathy Building Toolkit
If you are an organization or an Indigenous artist (First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit) who hopes to create or engage in a program similar to the Indigenous Summer Arts Studio, we have created Living Cultures: an Empathy Building Toolkit to help you do so in a way that fosters mutual respect and understanding.
This toolkit is a resource for both cultural program facilitators and Indigenous artists who will work in unity to create unique experiences for guests. Our goal for this guide is to give you the tools and information needed to find success in your program and collaboration.
Click ‘fullscreen’ on the bottom right hand corner to enlarge
Living Archives
Living Archives are a new series of videos collaboratively developed and produced with a group of knowledge keepers and cultural ambassadors who were keen to share their knowledge, stories and perspectives of RBCM’s Indigenous collections.
By collaborating with each of these important and knowledgeable folks, we aim to share and demonstrate a renewed commitment to meeting the goals of UNDRIP, DRIPA, and the Calls to Action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We worked hard together and in doing so have highlighted the direction and road that we would like to continue on together.
C’tasi:a and Suxixeluq (Geraldine and Earl Manson)
Snuneymuxw First Nation
Respected Snuneymuxw Elders and Cultural worker C’tasi:a (Geraldine Manson) has conducted research at RBCM for a number of years now. She is dedicated to teaching and educating everyone with an interest in learning about the history of her ancestors and recently completed a book about the history, stories and meaning behind the petroglyphs throughout Snuneymuxw traditional territory
We asked C’tasi:a and her husband Suxixeluq (Earl Manson) to spend some time with some of the ICAR team and share some of her valuable research and knowledge of RBCM’s Indigenous Collections.
“Some of these petroglyph images are considered spiritual and continue to be used in sacred ceremonies. I will continue to work with RBCM to speed up the return of these petroglyph rubbings and castings from our territory.” she explained.
C’tasi:a and Suxixeluq (Geraldine and Earl Manson) Teacher’s Resource Guide
Tutakwisnapšiƛ (Joe Martin)
ƛaʔuukʷiʔatḥ (Tla-o-qui-aht) First Nation
Tla-o-qui-aht Elder and Master Carver Joe Martin has dedicated most of his life to mastering the art of the dugout canoe carving.Joe is said to be responsible for sparking the revitalization of the ancient art form in his own community and among neighbouring Nations across the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Ocean.
Joe came to visit RBCM’s First Peoples’ Gallery prior to it’s closure in early 2022. We asked Joe what should be understood and known about some of the treasures and cultural items on display in the Gallery.
“Many of these important cultural items that were said to have been ‘collected’ by peoples were actually confiscated because at the time it was illegal for our people to speak our language and hold potlatches and things like that. So a lot of things were confiscated rather than collected.” he explained.
Lorilee Wastasecoot (and Krystal Hunt)
Peguis First Nation
Lorilee is the Curator of Indigenous Art and Engagement at the University of Victoria’s Legacy Art Galleries. She is an Ininew iskwew (Cree woman) with ancestral roots stemming from Peguis First Nation, York Factory in northern Manitoba and Winnipeg.
She visited the RBCM and met with Krystal Hunt RBCM’s Indigenous Collections Manager to view various Indigenous cultural belongings from the museum’s Indigenous Collections. During her visit she shared how important it was for Indigenous people to have access to these cultural belongings in collections like the RBCM’s.
Lorilee sees these collections as a way for Indigenous people to learn about their history and gather knowledge. She looks forward to the day when it is common practice for museums to return the Indigenous cultural belongings they have in their collections back to Indigenous people and communities.
Lorilee Wastasecoot (and Krystal Hunt) Teachers Resource
Leslie McGarry
Kwaguilth First Nation
Leslie McGarry worked in partnership with RBCM for over twenty years developing and facilitating RBCM Indigenous school programs and events. She is now a cultural programmer and liaison for CRD Regional Parks developing and implementing cultural awareness and understanding.
We were lucky to sit with Leslie and learn about her connection to the Jonathan Hunt House which is part of RBCM’s First Peoples’ Gallery and how the cultures survived along the coast for millennia.
This project has been made possible by the Government of Canada
