The power of partnerships...

Sorry to bombard you with another long winded regale of my experience on this journey. So much has been happening that it's nearly impossible to keep up.
On Monday our two senior classes spent a full day at the Mendel Art Gallery. On a whole, it was a pretty amazing day. The students spent time rotating through the gallery learning about message and content, and then into the studio to create. They learned a few new art techniques, and clearly understood that art is about sending a message. It's pretty amazing and cool if you stop to think about it. Art can engage us and speak a powerful message without using a single word. We viewed Steeling the Gaze: Portraits by Aboriginal Artists.

These portraits were full of symbolism and messages. Some of the messages were more disturbing than others as they tackled stereotypes of the First Nations and Metis culture. Words like gang member and alcoholic subtly placed on t-shirts in beautiful photos gave way to the harsh reality of what comes to mind for many when they think of First Nations people. The beauty of children and their innocence was apparent when many of them said they didn't "get it." They didn't get it because they hadn't heard some of these stereotypes, not because they lacked the understanding of a stereotype. Wouldn't it be amazing if in the future these stereotypes became something of the past and most of our youth grow up and never learn these misconceptions and generalizations?

There was so much information to mine out of these photos that I think I'll have to follow up with some of the on-line links offered through the Mendel. The gallery is huge and the acoustics aren't great for teaching and discussing, and that leaves me with a feeling like our look at this art isn't quite over yet. Our tour guide was amazingly kind, gentle, and encouraging of all the students, as she led them through the gallery and art activities. Here are some examples of the graffiti art she had them do.

The goal was to create a positive "I am" statement in graffiti style on black paper with pastel. They turned out wonderful. The Mendel Art Gallery sponsored a portion of their time with us, which is another amazing gift and opportunity for our students.

The next day our students spent the afternoon with two First Nations guests, Alexander Kennedy and Josephine Kennedy. They spoke to our students about growing up on reserve. Alex spoke of spiritual beliefs, attending day school, and wisdom passed down from his grandfather. He tied this all together at the end by explaining the Idle No More movement. Josephine spoke to us about her experiences in residential school. Her stories were sad and haunting, but also hope filled. She explained how the residential school experience left many First Nations people with difficulty loving and parenting and masking pain with alcohol. She spoke to our students for an hour and a half, and I don't want to minimize her amazing presentation, but I also want to be sensitive about broadcasting her story online. The students connected with these two individuals and had many poignant questions to ask them. One of my students told me that meeting them made it clear how difficult residential schools were. I wish I had copied down a direct quote, but she said something along the lines of, "She is here all these years later speaking to us about her experience, and you can tell from her voice, her body, and her face that this is painful and her heart still hurts." I heard several students say that meeting these two people helped them to understand the harm done by our government.
So now all the learning around treaty, the Indian Act, and residential schools is not so abstract. It also became clear to the students that while this happened before they were born, it didn't happen too long ago, and the impact is still evident today.
I have to acknowledge that our funding for this project comes from the Saskatchewan Arts Board through a TreatySmarts grant. We also need to acknowledge our partnership with the Mendel Art Gallery, The Saskatoon Tribal Council and the Office of the Treaty Commissioner. These important partnerships and funding help us to create rich learning environments where students have a deep understanding.