Ursula Johnson’s party at MSVU Art Gallery

MSVU Art Gallery  //  February 16, 2012

MSVU Art Gallery invites you to:

URSULA JOHNSON’S
END OF RESIDENCY CATALOGUING PARTY

Organized by MSVU Art Gallery
with support from HRM Residency Initiative

www.msvuart.ca

CATALOGUING PARTY: Enjoy a drumming performance and refreshments at Johnson’s end of residency celebration. All are welcome to view the pieces created during Johnson’s residency and to assist in naming them. The pieces will be catalogued and tagged for a future exhibition. Saturday, 18 February, from 12 to 3pm

As the transit strike is still in effect, please consider carpooling to this event, or sharing a cab with friends.

From 10 January through 18 February, Mi’kmaw artist Ursula Johnson will work in a studio space within the gallery, hosting basket-making workshops, open studio days and other events. As an activist, Johnson employs contemporary, theatrical and traditional Aboriginal practices to engage viewers in social situations. A skilled basket maker, she frequently combines basketry with performance and relational aesthetics.  For example, in the performance Elmiet (2010, detail above), Johnson’s actions and basketry “scalp” headpiece reminded a crowd on the Grand Parade of the continued existence of the 1756 Scalping Proclamation in Nova Scotia legislation. In Ke’Pitemn (2008), she served tea and bannock to strangers in the North End, to reinforce a sense of community among persons of various backgrounds. As an urban resident, she interprets the sense of urgency of aboriginal cultural preservation. Johnson has exhibited widely and participated in artist’s residencies across Canada.