Bkejwanong Kinomaagewgamig hosted an Art Fair on Wednesday, November 22, showcasing student art, which was fashioned after different native artists the classes had been studying.
Nebeesh Shognosh, the literacy lead teacher at the Walpole Island school, told the Sydenham Current the fair was held to encourage more parents to come out to progress report night and to get the community out to support their students.
“One way we can do that is through art because a lot of people like to see their students complete some kind of art project, but also art provided the teachers ability to do something cross-curricular,” she said.
“Also, studying a native artist also connects the student to our heritage. Some of our teachers class did Benjamin Chee Chee. A few did Norval Morrisseau, other people did Allen Sapp from Saskatchewan. A few did Alex Janvier from Alberta. Somebody did Jackie Traverse.”
Shognosh added: “So they are all native artists that everybody studied and then they did something inspirational from that artist.”
Shognosh said having the art on display was an extra incentive for parents coming to meet the teacher.
She said parents and guardians also got a raffle ticket to win a door prize.
“It’s a really good way to bring the community into the school rather than say sports… this is actually academic, so it’s really nice,” she said.
Duane Rajsigl, a teacher at Bkejwanong Kinomaagewgamig, said he believes it is important for students to learn about art.
“Education right now it goes in a pendulum,” he said.
I have been teaching for 30 years. You have got the importance of art… and we have got to look at science and math and literacy, which I am not discounting. It is extremely important. So we are putting a lot of our energy and I’m optimistic now that the pendulum is now swinging back and a lot of educators across the province are seeing the value of art, whether it is visual arts or drama or music or dance or whatever, for self expression, especially living in a multi-cultural country where that is identity for people.”
Rajsigl said his class studied Benjamin Chee Chee.
“He is a artist that went through a lot of personal upheaval in his life,” Rajsigl said.
“His father died when he was quite young. His mother abandoned him. It dealt with residential schools and the things that the mother was going through. So he was then sent to different places all across. He became homeless. He spent most of his life trying to find his mother and there is a lot of that mistrust. In the 60’s and 70’s he was one of the First Nations artist that white society out there didn’t really see his worth.”
Rajsigl added: “So he would sell his art on the streets of Montreal for a minimal amount of money just to get by. He spent most of his time looking for his mother and all of that stuff. It ended up being a tragic end to his life where he was convicted of loitering and other types of stuff. He went into alcoholism and drugs and stuff like that. Again we can just infer or speculate what he was doing that because of residential schools or because of identity cultural issues not being accepted in Canadian society.”
Rajsigl said Chee Chee ended up dying in a prison cell in Ottawa.
“The kids when they were researching that were really kind of upset about it,” he said.
“So we got to talk about dealing with mental health and issues and stuff like that. He is a great example of, he never went to school, he had a natural ability, his art is famous and its beautiful art.”
Rajsigl said studying art is a way to get connected with their ancestors.
“The spirit of our ancestors, our family, community members,” he said.
“It is something that this holistic view has always been part of First Nations people for thousands and thousands of years and we can carry it on to our next generation and the other generations to come. So we watch each other.”
Here are some more photos of the students work:
– Photo credit: Dana Haggith
