Gallery Indigena & indie art

On a recent visit to Canada, wonder | wander | women blogged about the Inuit art featured at the AGO in Toronto.

WoaWomen Urra in Stratford, Ontario

Before we even set foot at the AGO though, we had fallen in love with much of the First Nations arts and crafts exhibited in Gallery Indigena in Stratford.

Gallery Indigena - Stratford, Ontario

In Toronto they also have merchandise available at the AGO and in their other outlet located in the Distillery District.

Gallery Indigena - Distillery District, Toronto

This flagship gallery in Stratford has an extensive collection of Canadian native art as well as Inuit and Iroquois sculpture. Including limited edition prints, paintings, Pacific Coast masks, totems and wood art.

Sisterhood - Maxine Noel/Ioyan Mani, Sioux Artist

Song of the Mountain

The gallery also has a gift shop with many products designed by aboriginal artists. Prints of indigenous art reproductions are available in affordable souvenirs.

Issa's birthday card from Mahala
Evening Star Woman - Betty Albert Licenz, Cree Artist

Including mugs, clothing, jewelry, cards, glass ornaments, books and more. We were hard pressed deciding which ones to purchase for ourselves and as gifts to return home with.

Muskox March - Kellypalik Qimirpik, Inuit Artist

Stratford is a city on the Avon River within Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada. This is home to the Huron Nation or the Wendat.

Embracing the New Dawn - Benjamin Thomas, Iroquois Artist

This is territory made famous by misleading historical novels like The Last of the Mohicans whose author, James Fenimore Cooper, tended to side with fellow Euro-Americans. Even when portrayed by a much beloved and multi- awarded actor like Daniel Day-Lewis, the tales told are inaccurate.

Totem Charm - Canadian Jewelry Celebration, HCL

As fellow colonized folk, we may have been raised on the traditions and history presented by our colonizers, yet our heart strings are hooked more to indigenous creative expressions from other colonized nations.

abstract teardrop earrings by Christine Rio, Slate

When we come across art of the First Nations, the primordial pull and grip on us is inexplicable yet very tangible. It calls to us and we are in its thrall. Imagining shared joys and sorrows down the annals of lifetimes long gone. No matter how bright, now nothing but ash.

free form bowl by Corrine Hunt

These fantastical prints and carvings are the closest we come to them - to our ancestral past, to our native pride, to the call of our true nature.

Note Cards of Cape Dorset - Kenojuak Ashevak, Inuit Artist

We are so blessed to have them still with us today. In all parts of the world. Uniting us in our shared dreams. Then and now. Forever and always.

Raven Head - Harvey John, Haida Artist