A Memory Talking Stick: Residency with Peter Morin

Date: February to June, 2010

Openinng and Performance: Friday, June 11 at 6:00 p.m.

Artist, storyteller, writer and curator Peter Morin embarked on an artist residency and collaborative workshop series. Morin focused on celebrating stories of cultural learning, sharing questions about cultural practice and honouring how our cultural learning has positive effects on our lives. A Memory Taking Stick was about creating a ceremony to connect Aboriginal experiences of cultural practices with our larger community's identities and nationhoods.

Community members were invited to work with Morin to create collaborative drawings of these stories. These drawings were then shaped into birch bark basket forms for the final installation. This new collaborative work was cross-cultural; everyone was invited to share their stories or inquiries about culture and Aboriginal cultural practice. A printed resource was published in support of the culturally based programs and services provided by Surrounded By Cedar Child and Family Services. This book was used to deepen the experience of Aboriginal cultural ways of being for the children, youth and families who access services from Surrounded By Cedar.

Peter Morin was on site at Open Space, working in the gallery on Thursdays and Fridays from February 4 to May 31, 2010.

Video Clips of Morin's opening:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=621F371BAC497D69