Celebrating the Creators ‘amazing, overwhelming’

The Celebrating the Creators exhibition at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery is among Wawatay’s arts and culture stories of the year.
Lakehead University art student Candace Twance exhibited an acrylic on canvas piece called Surrender, which speaks about her struggles with anxiety, during the April 3-May 23 exhibition of 53 Aboriginal artists and craftspeople.
“It’s kind of like an overbearing figure which came to represent what I was struggling with in my life at that time,” Twance said. “I think you just have to accept your life the way it is and work with what you have.”
The exhibition was a snapshot of the art production of Aboriginal artists over the past year and the culmination of a yearlong project lead by Jean Marshall.
Marshall is a Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug band member who was arts outreach liaison at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
Musician-actor Ira Johnson exhibited three acrylic on paper pieces.
“Two of them are about the vision quests we go on to clear our minds and to get on a clear path,” Johnson said. “The idea of the starry sky and the night sky and the mountain tops, those are very harsh elements. When you look at them you don’t know what it is, but when you go on a vision quest and you clear your mind you actually see the harshness of those elements.”
Wawatay Native Communication Society’s Adrienne Fox and Brent Wesley screened their portrait series I am Indigenous during the opening reception, which was attended by about 400 people.
Ahnisnabae Art Gallery owner Louise Thomas was overwhelmed with the work.
“It’s amazing to see this many artists together in one place,” Thomas said. “I’m just overwhelmed to see such wonderful work, to see what our artists are painting. It’s good to see what they see.”
The exhibition also featured an April 10 Celebrating the Creators Arts and Crafts Sale.